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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump doesn’t rule out political violence if he loses, and other | |
takeaways from his Time interview | |
By Steve Contorno and Kate Sullivan, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:43 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Former President wouldn’t dismiss the potential for political | |
violence from his supporters if he isn’t elected in November, | |
suggesting it would depend on the outcome of the presidential race. | |
“I don’t think we’re going to have that,” the presumptive GOP | |
nominee told . “I think we’re going to win. And if we don’t win, | |
you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an | |
election.” | |
The remarks came in a wide-ranging interview with the magazine that | |
published Tuesday. The conversation, which took place over two sessions | |
earlier this month, also touched on abortion and Israel Prime Minister | |
’s contentious leadership, among other topics. | |
Here are four takeaways from the interview: | |
Trump’s baseless election conspiracies fuel his refusal to dismiss | |
future violence and promise of January 6 pardons | |
Speaking to Time at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump at first | |
downplayed the likelihood of political violence similar to the January | |
6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. | |
“I think we’re gonna have a big victory. And I think there will be | |
no violence,” said Trump, who, after his 2020 defeat, in Washington | |
ahead of the attack, and then at first refused to call for them to | |
leave the US Capitol grounds. | |
But pressed by the magazine in a later phone interview, Trump was less | |
definitive about the future. Instead, he continued to push false 2020 | |
election conspiracies, which he suggested provoked the violent mob. | |
“I don’t believe they’ll be able to do the things that they did | |
the last time,” Trump said. | |
Throughout his political career, Trump has regularly refused to accept | |
the results of an election or commit to a conceding defeat. After | |
finishing second in the Iowa caucuses in 2016, Trump accused Texas Sen. | |
Ted Cruz of fraud and called for a new contest. Later, while facing | |
Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump baselessly claimed the election he | |
eventually won was “rigged” and repeatedly refused to say whether | |
he would abide by the outcome. He again avoided a commitment heading | |
into the 2024 election. | |
These repeated denials provoked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the | |
Republican primary to predict that Trump wouldn’t accept the results | |
of the 2024 Iowa caucuses if he lost. (Trump ultimately won Iowa by a | |
resounding margin.) | |
In his interview, Trump also doubled down on his promise to pardon the | |
hundreds of people sentenced for crimes committed stemming from January | |
6. Trump has called these individuals “hostages,” though many have | |
pleaded guilty to violent crimes or have been convicted by juries. | |
During an exchange on the issue, Time asked: “Will you consider | |
pardoning every one of them?” | |
Trump replied, “I would consider that, yes.” | |
Time: “You would?” | |
Trump: “Yes, absolutely.” | |
The pitfalls of Trump’s latest abortion position are laid bare | |
Trump’s remarks in the interview on abortion were illustrative of the | |
limitations – and potential political pitfalls – of his stated to | |
state legislatures and voters. | |
He refused to say whether he would veto a federal abortion ban, | |
insisting such a measure was unlikely to happen, despite previously | |
saying he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban if he were reelected | |
and one came to his desk. And asked by Time whether he was | |
“comfortable” if states punish women who undergo abortions where | |
it’s banned, Trump didn’t object. | |
“I don’t have to be comfortable or uncomfortable,” Trump said. | |
“The states are going to make that decision. The states are going to | |
have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.” | |
Earlier this month, Trump similarly said he would let states decide if | |
doctors who perform illegal abortions should be punished. | |
As a candidate in 2016, Trump said there “has to be some form of | |
punishment” for women getting an illegal abortion – a position his | |
campaign walked back almost immediately. | |
President Joe Biden’s campaign immediately seized on Trump’s latest | |
remarks. | |
“Donald Trump’s latest comments leave little doubt: if elected | |
he’ll sign a national abortion ban, allow women who have an abortion | |
to be prosecuted and punished, allow the government to invade women’s | |
privacy to monitor their pregnancies, and put IVF and contraception in | |
jeopardy nationwide,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez | |
said Tuesday. “The horrific and devastating stories in states like | |
Florida, Texas and Arizona with extreme abortion bans unleashed by | |
Trump overturning Roe are just the beginning if he wins.” | |
Trump also ducked behind states when asked whether governments should | |
monitor pregnancies to track whether a woman has an abortion. | |
“I think they might do that,” Trump said. “Again, you’ll have | |
to speak to the individual states.” | |
Yet, Trump’s preference for the states to decide didn’t stop him | |
from criticizing Florida’s new six-week ban as “too severe.” The | |
law will , though voters in the Sunshine State – including Trump – | |
in November to decide whether to approve new protections that would | |
guarantee abortion access until viability. | |
Trump, though, declined to share how he would vote. | |
“I don’t tell you what I’m gonna vote for,” he said. | |
Trump rekindles criticism of Netanyahu | |
In the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Trump and | |
blamed the embattled Israeli prime minister for perceived security | |
lapses that failed to stop the deadly incursion. The remarks drew | |
widespread rebukes from Trump’s Republican primary rivals and even | |
some supporters on Capitol Hill and advisers who bristled at the timing | |
of the recriminations of an ally. | |
Though he remained noticeably uncommitted to supporting Israel’s | |
military response, Trump withheld more public attacks of Netanyahu. But | |
six months into the war between Israel and Hamas – and amid | |
intensifying outrage at home and abroad over Israel’s treatment of | |
Palestinians – Trump stepped up his criticism of the prime minister� | |
once again. | |
Trump told Time that Netanyahu “rightfully has been criticized for | |
what took place on October 7” and declined to stand by him when asked | |
whether he should be replaced as prime minister. | |
Instead, Trump – still aggrieved that Netanyahu allegedly “dropped | |
out” of the US-backed military operation that led to the killing of | |
Iranian general Qasem Soleimani – noted the Hamas attack “happened | |
on his watch.” | |
Trump also said a future two-state solution between Israel and the | |
Palestinians is “going to be very, very tough,” though he didn’t | |
articulate his idea for a path forward. | |
“You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago,” Trump | |
said. “Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea.” | |
Tepid calls for Wall Street Journal reporter’s release | |
It took some prodding, but Trump for the first time said that Wall | |
Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after a in Russia. | |
Asked why he hadn’t previously called for Gershkovich’s release, | |
Trump said: “I guess because I have so many other things I’m | |
working on.” | |
The tepid support for Gershkovich, an American journalist detained on | |
an espionage charge that The Journal and US authorities have said is | |
baseless, is reminiscent of Trump’s past refusal to forcefully | |
condemn a foreign leader for their treatment of a perceived political | |
enemy. | |
Earlier this year, Trump remained silent for days after Russian | |
opposition leader Alexey Navalny died in Russian prison even as other | |
world leaders swiftly and forcefully condemned the Kremlin. When Trump | |
finally did publicly weigh in, Russia or President Vladimir Putin, | |
instead baselessly suggesting that he was being politically persecuted | |
in the same way Navalny was. Trump later called Navalny “very | |
brave” and said it was a “very sad situation.” | |
When journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in 2018, Trump declined to | |
condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite the CIA | |
concluding the ruler authorized the brutal murder. Trump said he was | |
“extremely angry and very unhappy” about Khashoggi’s murder, but | |
said “nobody has directly pointed a finger” at the crown prince. In | |
addition to the CIA’s conclusion, a United Nations report later also | |
implicated bin Salman. | |
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