Trump Didn't Say What You Heard Him Say About Abortion, Says Trump

By Kristy Puchko | Politics | March 31, 2016 |

By Kristy Puchko | Politics | March 31, 2016 |

There’s spin and then there’s this bullshit.

Yesterday, bile-spewing hate monster Donald Trump told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that if he has his way women who have abortions will be “punished.” Who needs coffee when you can revisit this clip and feel your fight or flight response kick in?

Trump's 3 positions on #abortion in 3 hours: https://t.co/OGhKRtRmzf CNN's @Phil_Mattingly reports. https://t.co/qvWgGqCeyU

— New Day (@NewDay) March 31, 2016

Well, look, there’s what Trump said and what he meant what people wanted to hear, so he definitely meant the latter. Later Wednesday night, Trump released a statement proclaiming, “The doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.” But even though hours before on national television he’d said “There has to be some form of punishment (for women who get abortions),” this affront to all decency insists, “my position has not changed.”

Some sites are calling this a “flip flop,” which is a jaunty phrase that’s supposed to carry political venom with it. But this is worse. This is Trump once again saying whatever he thinks will get him elected. It’s this move:

And it’s far from the first time. NBC has a running list of his changes on positions, from abortion to immigration and how to deal with ISIS. But Trump’s refusal to stand firmly for much of anything (beyond shouting at “losers” and promising a new age of intolerance) isn’t the only thing horrifying here.

When Matthews wouldn’t let Trump off the hook, Trump actually had to answer on a plan of policy. And in it, he said women should be “punished” for getting abortions. So, despite how great he says he is with/for women, Trump thinks women should not be in charge of their own bodies. Then he realizes people weren’t into the idea of throwing America back into the dark ages of dangerous back alley abortions, and making the women pushed to undergo such life-threatening procedures criminals. So, he says, ‘Oh no, it’s not the poor womens who are to blame! They are just victims!’ See, women can’t make decisions about their own health because, women amirite? So blame doctors who perform abortions. This is some dystopian Margaret Atwood shit here. She’s a hell of a writer. Maybe Trump was right, he does have the best words.

There really is no better word than “stupid.”

Kristy Puchko is not so much an angry feminist as much as—no. Fuck that. She’s angry.