Chris Hayes explained on Thursday’s episode of “All In” that Donald Trump has somewhat surprised him. Specifically, Hayes remarked that despite his own expectations, Trump is “not smart enough to lie about” his support for a nationwide abortion ban.
Hayes got to this comment after pointing out that Republicans “are going to ban it wherever they can, however they can. That means if Donald Trump wins, and Republicans also win the House and Senate, there will be a national abortion ban.”
“I promise,” the MSNBC host added.
Alluding to the widespread support for abortion rights across the United States that has consistently backfired on Republicans in the two years since the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court ended them, Hayes said that he “thought Donald Trump had enough political instinct to say that he was not pushing a national ban, and would leave it to the states. Then if he won, he would sign a national ban anyway.”
“It now looks like he’s not smart enough to lie about it,” Hayes continued. “Because he basically came out and endorsed a 15-week ban in two recent interviews, including on radio this week.”
Watch the full Chris Hayes clip here:
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Hayes then played footage of Trump endorsing such a ban — which experts have repeatedly explained would functionally be a full ban.
Following that clip, Hayes then explained how the Biden administration responded with a statement from Amanda Zurowski, a woman from Texas who miscarried at 18 weeks into her pregnancy. Texas has a 15-week ban like the one Trump supports. Zurowski was denied medical care after the fetus she was carrying died. She was forced to wait until she became septic, nearly dying herself, before doctors in Texas would intervene.
In her statement, Zurowski called out the way major media outlets have covered Trump’s clear and unambiguous support for a nationwide abortion ban as if it is unclear.
“Trump isn’t ‘signaling,’ he isn’t ‘suggesting,’ he isn’t ‘leaning toward’ anything, he is actively planning to ban abortion nationwide if he’s elected, inflicting the same cruelty and chaos I’ve experienced on the entire country,” Zurowski stated.