Trump Responds to Lindsey Graham’s Criticism of His Abortion Announcement

Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) and former First Lady Melania Trump (R) at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 19, 2024. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump on Monday responded to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and other critics of his recent abortion-related announcement, saying that Republicans will likely lose in 2024 if they pursue Mr. Graham’s proposals.

“Senator Lindsey Graham ... should study the 10th Amendment and States’ Rights,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to an earlier announcement he made stating that he believes states should make their own choices on abortion. “When they do, they should proudly get on with helping Republicans to WIN ELECTIONS, rather than making it impossible for them to do so!”

In a series of posts on Monday, the former president based his arguments on the unlikelihood of passing a federal ban on abortions, arguing that Democrats will not back Republican-based bans under any circumstances. He said Democrats also want to keep the issue at the forefront of the 2024 election rather than focusing on other issues so as to hand losses to Republicans during November’s elections.

He argued that the six-week abortion ban proposal in Congress gives ammunition to “radical left Democrats who are destroying our country” and “will never approve anything that he or the Republicans want.”

“They (Democrats) love this Issue, and they want to keep it going for as long as Republicans will allow them to do so. Terminating Roe v. Wade was, according to all Legal Scholars, a Great Event, but sometimes with Great Events come difficulties,“ the former president wrote on social media. ”Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency.”

Arguing that his states’ rights-based proposal on abortions has been the longstanding GOP policy, President Trump wrote that the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was about bringing the matter back to states under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

But Mr. Graham and Marjorie Dannenfelser, the former head of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, wanted the issue to be determined by the federal government, he claimed.

“When they got nowhere, they upped it to 6 week[s], and more recently they upped it to 15 weeks, and were obviously willing to take the number UPWARD, UPWARD, UPWARD because they were getting nowhere with the Democrats, and they never will, because the Democrats would never give up on this issue no matter how many weeks the Republicans went, even if they went, ‘Unlimited Abortion!’” President Trump said.

“We had a Great Victory, it’s back in the States where it belongs, and where everyone wanted it. The States will be making the decision. Republicans are now free to run for Office based on the Horrible Border, Inflation, Bad Economy, and the Death & Destruction of our Country!” he added.

President Trump also wrote that it is only because of his endorsement that Sen. Graham, who has had a rocky relationship with the former president over the past decade or so, won in South Carolina.

“I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him!” he wrote.

Meanwhile, conservatives including Mr. Graham and Ms. Dannenfelser “fought for years” on abortion “unsuccessfully” until he was elected, likely alluding to his appointment of three Supreme Court justices while he was in office.

“Then they were gone, never to be heard from again, until now. We cannot let our Country suffer any further damage by losing Elections on an issue that should always have been decided by the States, and now will be,” he added on Truth Social.

What Graham Said

Mr. Graham told news outlets that he doesn’t agree with President Trump’s announcement that abortion policy should be left up for states to determine.

“I believe that the American people, when you ask them about abortion early on, [are] fairly pro-choice,” he said Monday. “The more the child develops, the more understanding that the child is an individual.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) (C) speaks at a press conference on border security at the Capitol, on Dec. 7, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“There are three laws on the books at the federal level,” he told The Independent newspaper. “So the idea that Dobbs prevents the federal government from acting I think is an error.”

Ms. Dannenfelser said she was disappointed in President Trump’s announcement but said her group will still “work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme Congressional Democrats.”

Other Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, were more critical of President Trump’s announcement on Monday. “Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” he said in a statement.