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Seth Meyers blows up claims that Trump is ‘pro-choice’

‘We all know what Trump’s personal opinion is on abortion: Whatever will help him today’

Amelia Neath
Thursday 11 April 2024 15:18 BST
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Seth Meyers mocks Donald Trump over abortion flip-flop

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Seth Meyers questions Donald Trump’s apparent flip-flopping over abortion laws and reacts to claims by a radio host that Mr Trump is the “pro-choice candidate” for leaving it up to the states.

The Late Night host ridiculed Mr Trump for trying to convince voters he is “moderate” on the subject of abortion, despite infamously taking credit for overturning Roe v Wade, a ruling that has now led to Arizona outlawing almost all abortions in the state.

Meyers ran clips of Mr Trump back in October 2016 going on record that he was pro-life and would be appointing pro-life judges, alongside a snippet of him in 2023 appearing to be proud of Roe v Wade by giving back “rights” to pro-lifers.

Roe v Wade; I did something that nobody thought was possible,” the former president said in 2023. “It was terminated and put back to the states, now people, pro-lifers, have the right to negotiate for the first time they had no rights at all.”

Meyers reacts to Trump saying that Arizona abortion law will be “straightened out”
Meyers reacts to Trump saying that Arizona abortion law will be “straightened out” (Late Night with Seth Meyers)

Mr Trump has stated that the power of abortion rights should be determined by each state, yet Meyers pointed out what Mr Trump now had to say after Arizona’s supreme court upheld a near-total abortion ban this week in the state that rests on a law from 158 years ago.

In a more recent clip of Mr Trump getting off his Trump-emblazoned plane on Wednesday, a reporter asked him if Arizona went too far with their abortion ban that is upheld on a Civil War-era law.

“Yeah, they did,” Mr Trump replied. “That’ll be straightened out, as you know, it’s all about states’ rights, it’ll be straightened out.”

“You did get to clog the toilet at a party and then say, ‘I think we can all agree someone else will fix it’,” Meyers exclaimed, adding in the show that he thinks Mr Trump is trying to “trick everyone” into thinking he’s moderate on abortion.

However, Meyers is not so convinced.

“Trump told everyone he would overturn Roe. He nominated three justices who overturned Roe, and then he bragged about overturning Roe,” the host said.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks Arizona has gone too far
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks Arizona has gone too far (EPA)

“Normally, it can be very hard to pin something on Trump, because he’s so good at wriggling his way out of everything. But this is as straightforward as it gets. It’s like one of those conspiracy theory boards with one string going from Trump to Roe.

Meyer’s lambasting of Mr Trump’s confusing opinions on abortion did not stop there: “I mean, he seems pro-life, but he definitely seems like a guy who paid for an abortion or at the very least once told a woman he would go halfsies. But the reality is, no one is confused. We all know what Trump’s personal opinion is on abortion: Whatever will help him today.”

If that did not ruffle feathers enough, a radio host named Mark Simone declared on Fox Business that Mr Trump is “the pro-choice candidate” implying that is as in he’s “leaving it up to the states” while discussing the Republican candidate’s stance on abortion.

This prompted Meyers to initiate a new segment he called “Seth Tries Really Hard Not to Lose His S***.”

Unfortunately, the host failed. After trying to explain that Mr Simone’s statement was misleading and misrepresentative, he went on a long, bleeped-out rampage, ending with “piece of s***.”

“Also, let me just say, so cool to watch a couple dudes discuss an issue that literally hurts women over whether or not it will hurt another dude, Donald Trump, at the ballot box,” Meyers added.

In the end, Meyers states it does not matter what Mr Trump thinks, it is what he has done.

If Mr Trump does speak on the matter, however, Meyers believes that he’ll only say “whatever he thinks will help him win the election and stay out of jail”.

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