Welcome to the online version of From the political deskis an evening newsletter from the NBC News political team that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, political reporter Alan Smith examines how Donald Trump’s new stance on abortion is borrowed from the Republican Party’s 2022 midterm strategy. Additionally, Senior Political Editor Mark Murray asks if President Trump and Joe Biden’s policy announcements on Monday were wiped out by a total solar eclipse.
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President Trump cancels Republican 2022 abortion plan
Written by Alan Smith
Donald Trump’s just-announced position on abortion rights was put to the test during the 2022 midterm elections, and his party’s results were mixed at best.
Pressed for months on whether he would support federal abortion regulations as president, Trump said Monday that the issue should be left to the states.
“My view is that abortion is happening where everyone wants it from a legal standpoint. Each state will decide by vote, by law, or by both,” he said in a video statement. “And whatever they decide has to be the law of the land. In this case, state law. A lot of states are going to be different, a lot of states are going to have different number of weeks, and some states are Some states are going to be more conservative than others, and that’s what it’s going to be.”
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Many Republican candidates took this tack in the midterm election cycle after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, arguing that even though the federal government could act on the issue, the issue was up to each state. , sought to avoid taking a position on federal law.
For example, Republicans Mehmet Oz, Don Bolduc, and Adam Laxalt have all taken this approach to their 2022 Senate races in key battleground states of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Nevada. I was defeated. Conversely, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson took this approach and won re-election in Wisconsin, while Blake Masters supported a federal lawsuit and lost his Arizona Senate race.
In a 2022 debate with Democrat John Fetterman, Oz said, “The federal government should not be involved in how states decide on abortion decisions,” calling the decision “women, doctors.” , adding that he would leave it to “local political leaders.”
The answer was played repeatedly in anti-Oz ads in the final weeks of the contest, as Fetterman and his allies tried to tie Oz to tougher state-level restrictions proposed or demanded by Republicans.
Republicans faced a big problem there, as operatives and lawmakers acknowledged at the time. Just before the election, when Republican candidates were being grilled on the issue, these lawmakers and strategists conspired to obtain a 15-week national ban with exceptions introduced in Congress. It was a move widely seen among Republicans as offering a lifeline to candidates who were closely tied to tough state-level proposals and making it easier for opponents to paint them as extremists. Ta.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who introduced the 15-week bill just before the midterm elections, said Monday that he “respectfully opposes” President Trump’s new position.
President Trump blamed the Republican Party’s shortcomings in the midterm elections on the “abortion issue,” saying on Truth Social last year that “many Republicans, especially in the case of rape, incest, and life, “Republicans who were adamant that there was no such thing did not respond adequately.” I’m talking about the mother who lost many voters. ”
And last year, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a six-week ban.
But if this issue is portrayed as too extreme, the 2022 campaign suggests that once the stage is ceded to the states, candidates will be open to engaging with all the most draconian proposals. showed that.
That includes laws and proposals that Trump, who took credit for Roe’s ouster on Monday, doesn’t think is a very good idea.
Click here for a timeline of Trump’s changing abortion views →
How the solar eclipse cast a shadow on the 2024 campaign
Written by Mark Murray
The sun wasn’t the only thing eclipsed Monday.
The same goes for major policy proposals and statements by Presidents Joe Biden and Trump in the 2024 campaign, as if they were announced knowing that coverage of the eclipse would overshadow everything else.
Let’s start with President Trump, who released a long-awaited statement on his position on abortion. President Trump said in a four-and-a-half minute video that abortion regulations should be left up to the states. He supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother, he said. And “all legal scholars” and “both sides” wanted Roe v. Wade to end (which is false).
There’s a good reason President Trump chose Monday’s Eclipse to announce this news. The Republican Party’s efforts on abortion remain unpopular.
Poll after poll shows that about 60% of voters disapprove of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, about 60% believe abortion should be legal all or most of the time, and about 10% of voters disapprove of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. More than 6 in 10 people support legislation that would guarantee access to abortion nationwide.
The Biden campaign pounced on Trump’s video. “Donald Trump today made clear once again that he is the person responsible for ending Roe v. Wade more than anyone else in America,” the president said in a statement.
Trump’s statement on abortion also left many unanswered questions: Would he sign a federal abortion ban as president? Would he object to states not making exceptions? Will he protect residents who travel to other states to obtain abortions?
It was as if President Trump wanted to just check a box and do nothing more.
And Biden on Monday announced revised plans to cancel more student loans.
Student loan forgiveness is not as unpopular with American voters as abortion regulation, but it is not unpopular with the public either.
About half of Americans support up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt forgiveness for students receiving Pell Grants and up to $10,000 for students not receiving Pell Grants, according to a poll. He supported Biden’s previous plan to waive the exemption.
But Biden’s student loan push is an effort to fulfill a campaign promise to include younger voters after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his original plan a year ago.
So Biden is also looking to check the box — albeit on the same day a solar eclipse blocked out almost everything else.
🗞️ Today’s Top News
- 🗺️ Electoral College level courses: Biden and Trump may be effectively tied in national polls, but if Republicans maintain their electoral college advantage, the president could be even worse off than he thinks. Become. Read more →
- 🛝 Break time is over: House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to steer a stalled military aid program to Ukraine and other allies, update a controversial surveillance program, reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and debate over funding to rebuild the Baltimore Bridge. At the same time, one conservative hardliner is threatening: banish him. Read more →
- 👉 Pressure point: In the Senate, Democrats want to quickly reject the House’s articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week, but Republicans want to make the process as politically painful as possible. Read more →
- 🪖 Sheehy, right? The Washington Post investigated Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy’s campaign claims that he was wounded by gunfire while serving in Afghanistan. After discovering court documents showing that Sheehy claimed to have accidentally shot him in the arm in a national park, the Republican claimed he had lied to cover up a war injury that he had not reported to his superiors. Read more →
- 📺 Improve your rating: Democrats previously accused the media of giving too much airtime to President Trump, but are now urging voters to watch Trump’s rallies to get a true picture of the Republican presidential nominee. . Read more →
- 🌒 Solar eclipse: Tens of millions of people were able to view Monday’s total solar eclipse, flocking from across North America for watch events and celebrations. Read more →
That’s all from the political desk for now. If you have any feedback, whether you like it or not, please email us at: politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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