In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Donald Trump was asked to tackle the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. While Trump continued to emphasize his pro-life views, he sounded a much more defeatist note on marriage:
THR: “On abortion, do you think you can get the women’s vote if you align yourself with the GOP platform?”
Trump: “You know, many women are pro-life. It’s actually a 50-50 number right down the middle. It’s actually 52, 53 percent in favor of pro-life. It’s actually going the way toward pro-life. A lot of people don’t know that. So I think that probably in terms of votes, it’s a neutral. … With pro-life it’s actually trending toward more and more pro-life, I think it’s up to 54 percent.”
THR: “If you changed your position, you might have a radical shift in your support from both sides.”
Trump: “Don’t forget, when I was asked the first time, I was a real estate developer, and that was not a question that people went around asking you. And I actually said that the concept of abortion was always a tough concept for most people. Those Planned Parenthood videos that came out recently are terrible. It was also the cavalier way that they spoke about it. They didn’t exactly have great representatives on the other side. We’ll talk about those issues in six months.”
THR: “You say you would have liked the states, rather than the Supreme Court, to decide on gay marriage. Have you been to a gay wedding?”
Trump: “Yes, I have. [Broadway theater owner] Jordan Roth. You know Jordan, right? Great guy.”
THR: “So is this a dead issue for the GOP at this point?”
Trump: “Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen. Congress can’t pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.”
So where does Trump stand on religious liberty? Social conservatives will apparently have to wait a while longer for an answer on that one.
Paul Dupont is a legislative assistant for American Principles in Action.
