'Damage Control'? Trump's Mixed Messaging on Abortion

With the election now just weeks away, Donald Trump is offering some mixed messages on his abortion stance, especially over the last "whirlwind" day or two, per NBC News. When asked on Thursday during an interview with the network what he thought about Florida's six-week abortion ban, and on an amendment on his home state's ballot to expand abortion access, the former president replied that six weeks was "too short" of a time period, and that he'd "be voting that we need more than six weeks." By Friday, however, that stance, or at least the messaging on it, had shifted. More:

• Campaign's take: By Thursday evening, Trump's camp clarified that he was just expressing a personal opinion on the six-week timeline but hadn't yet decided on how he'd vote on the state's Amendment 4, which would protect abortion access through the 24th week of pregnancy or when necessary to protect the patient's health, per the AP.

• Friday: By the next day, Trump had flipped on how he'd appeared to be leaning. "So I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks," he told Fox News. "I've disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it." However, he claimed the Democrats' approach to abortion access is too "radical." "All of that stuff is unacceptable, so I will be voting no for that reason" on the amendment, he told Fox, per Politico.
• 'Damage control': That's what Trump appears to be doing on the abortion front, after apparently infuriating his right-wing supporters with Thursday's remarks, reports Politico. The New York Times notes that the former president "is willing to make as many rhetorical and policy shifts as he deems necessary to win in November" and lays out his history on the topic—including his 2016 remarks that he would support punishment for women who got abortions (comments he soon walked back after that backlash).
• Further flip-flopping: The AP notes Trump's other "multiple conflicting positions" on abortion over the years, from suggesting in March he'd support a 15-week national ban, to insisting less than a month later he thinks the decision on abortion should be left to the states. He has also boasted about being instrumental in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it a "beautiful thing to watch" as states throw down new restrictions.
• Conservative confusion: "I don't think he's losing support, but no question, his acquiescence is confusing to people," Chad Connelly, ex-chair of South Carolina's GOP, tells the Times.
• Harris' take: Trump's Democratic rival for the Oval Office spoke out after his Fox appearance, per CNN: "Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant. ... So, of course he thinks it's a 'beautiful thing' that women in Florida and across the country are being turned away from emergency rooms, face life-threatening situations, and are forced to travel hundreds of miles for the care they need." (Last Sunday, VP presidential candidate JD Vance insisted his running mate wouldn't support a national abortion ban.)