Exclusive: Inside the cynical choices on abortion, women and early voting that drove Trump’s third campaign
CNN
A deferral on abortion. A major shift in turnout strategy. A reversal on early voting.
A deferral on abortion. A major shift in turnout strategy. A reversal on early voting. President Donald Trump and his team made a series of political calculations steeped in cynicism months before the November 2024 election, according to a new book from a trio of reporters who chronicled the election – which ultimately laid the groundwork for his victory. It depicts a candidate more focused on winning than steadfast beliefs. CNN has exclusively obtained a passage from Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf’s “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” The chapter lays out how the then-candidate shifted his perspective on targeting male voters, dismissed pressure to back a nationwide abortion ban and was convinced to support early voting efforts – sharp pivots from his positions in 2020. The book details how Trump sorted through what the authors describe as “conflicting advice” on handling the issue of abortion. He was struggling to determine his campaign stance on an issue that was at the forefront of politics – thanks in part to decisions he made in his first term – for which “his own position had long been a moving target.” Trump was acutely aware of the political implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the authors report, telling his co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita: “Oh sh*t. This is going to be a problem,” when the June 2022 news alert came. And when Democrats made gains in the 2022 midterm elections, Trump reportedly told an anti-abortion activist, “I have to find a way out of this issue. It’s killing us.” Trump fielded perspectives from a wide range of advisers – GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, evangelical leader Ralph Reed, and his 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, among others – as he weighed a position on a national ban on abortion after a certain number of weeks.
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