Former President Donald Trump's latest comments about abortion are a "gift" to Democrats ahead of the presidential election in November, according to MSNBC political analyst and columnist Michael A. Cohen.
Trump, the current frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, during a Fox News town hall on Wednesday said he was "proud" to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the landmark case that guaranteed abortion rights across the country for decades, in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. That ruling was celebrated by conservatives, but also created a political challenge for Republicans as they dealt with a revolt from swing voters over the issue during the midterm election.
"For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it. And I'm proud to have done it," Trump said during the town hall. "They wanted to get it back. You wouldn't have that—there would be no question. Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it. We did something that is a miracle."
The former president's comments could benefit Democrats in the elections later this year, Cohen, his former attorney who has since flipped on him, Cohen wrote in an opinion piece Friday morning.
Cohen wrote that Trump "did not just lean into the issue," but "gave it a bear hug."
"There is perhaps no greater gift that Trump can give to his political opponents than trumpeting his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. One can fully expect to see this quote appear in millions of dollars' worth of campaign ads this fall," Cohen wrote.
Abortion has become a challenging issue for Republicans once the Court overturned Roe. After, several Republican-led states passed laws either banning or greatly restricting the medical procedure.
Polls, however, show most Americans generally support abortion rights, with some limits. Several states, including some that lean conservative, have voted to protect abortion rights in the wake of the Court's ruling. Meanwhile, abortion helped Democrats score wins in the 2022 midterm, which saw Republicans underperform in key races across the country despite hopes that President Joe Biden's unpopularity would propel them to a "red wave."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment via email.
Grant Davis Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University, told Newsweek on Friday that he has a different perspective on the issue, noting that Trump's remarks are neither "surprising or substantially different" than Republicans' general stance on the issue of abortion.
"I don't see this as a new smoking gun when it comes to this issue. If Trump were to follow this up with a statement about wanting no abortion access whatsoever, across the nation, etc., then I think you'd have something that could be used," Reeher said.
The Biden campaign has sought to highlight Trump's position on abortion, posting a video of his remarks to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday with the caption, "Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade: I did it. I'm proud to have done it. It was a miracle."
Trump has previously acknowledged that Republicans have struggled with their messaging on abortion after Roe was overturned, at times leaving him at odds with some of the Republican Party's anti-abortion activists.
Correction 1/13/2024 9:18 a.m. ET: This article was corrected to reflect that Michael Cohen, the MSNBC columnist and not Trump's former attorney, published the opinion article. The headline was also changed to reflect this.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
