Donald Trump has made it a habit of sparking outrage among people with his remarks during the presidential campaign.
But not many people would have expected Trump to outdo himself after all the outrageous remarks he has made over the course of the last few months. Given what the Republican front-runner has already said about immigrants, Muslims, Mexicans, and women, one would have been hard-pressed to imagine another Trump remark that would make people take to the streets, make his presidential rivals guffaw in astonishment, and worse still, make social media explode with Trump jokes and memes like never before.
And yet, here we are staring at the beginning of April, and Donald Trump has made another statement to frighten the living daylights out of thinking Americans. During a pre-taped interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Trump went so far as to suggest that women should be punished for deciding to go for an abortion.
“There has to be some form of punishment,” said Trump in response to Matthews’ question on whether women should be punished if abortion is made illegal in the country.
JUST IN: Donald Trump tells @MSNBC : “There has to be some form of punishment” for abortion https://t.co/jgbstbqceO
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 30, 2016
While Donald Trump does not usually like backtracking on his statements, such was the absurdity of the abortion remark that he was forced to accept his mistake soon after having made it. Trump’s campaign released a statement completely flip-flopping on what he had said about the issue, saying that the women who obtain abortions are, in fact, victims and that Congress, when considering laws prohibiting elective (or necessary) abortion, should focus on punishing doctors who facilitate the procedure.
But Trump’s clarification came too little too late. While his campaign was still deciding on how to address and reformulate his vicious remark, his political rivals were already rubbing their hands in excitement. As if his position in Wisconsin was not already appearing in the doldrums, Donald Trump has made sure that the state is handed over to rival Ted Cruz, who now holds a double-digit lead over Trump in the midwestern state. Saying that he strongly disagrees with Trump’s statement, Cruz said he believed in reaffirming women’s dignity, not punishing them.
Another Republican rival, John Kasich, declared Trump’s statements “irresponsible” on Good Morning America Thursday morning, saying the real estate mogul had no ideological spine to fall back on and that he depended on “stream of consciousness” while answering questions during interviews.
While Trump’s Republican rivals and party leaders unanimously deplored his statement, Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both took to Twitter to express their shock at the business tycoon’s latest remark.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. Horrific and telling. -H https://t.co/Qi8TutsOw9
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 30, 2016
Your Republican frontrunner, ladies and gentlemen. Shameful. https://t.co/y49Z8YfRgV
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 30, 2016
Meanwhile, it was not only political leaders who chastised Trump for his abortion gaffe. Twitterverse exploded Wednesday after Donald Trump’s video, in which he made the abortion statement, started doing rounds on the internet , reported People .
Some of the choicest tweets criticizing Trump for his anti-women and anti-abortion remark are embedded below.
Trump on abortion is like Trump on basically everything else: the man has quite evidently put zero thought into the issue. None.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 30, 2016
There has to be some form of punishment for people who say there has to be some form of punishment for women who have abortions.
— Ben Acker (@bnacker) March 31, 2016
when Trump says women who get abortions need punishment, did he mean the punishment of having to ever hear anything he says?
— maura quint (possibly parody sometimes depending) (@behindyourback) March 30, 2016
Imagine, for a moment, that Trump was trying to lose. How much differently would he act? https://t.co/JC3cfJXu78
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 30, 2016
trump’s punishment for women having abortions will be turning your womb into a TRUMP WOMB. big gold letters and it goes bankrupt in a year
— john freiler (@johnfreiler) March 30, 2016
Are we sure Trump doesn’t get a cut from the Dem ad makers that he will make filthy rich with statements like these? https://t.co/hGZ6EupeSu
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 30, 2016
Even pro-life people were shocked at Trump’s remark, with some of them saying that his statements did not represent the movement.
How can we have any idea what Trump will believe tomorrow when Trump has no idea what Trump will believe tomorrow.
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) March 30, 2016
By the early hours of Thursday morning, pro-choice #WontBePunished began trending on Twitter.
I #WontBePunished for having an abortion. But unfortunately due to anti-choice politicians, too many people already are.
— Renee Bracey Sherman (@RBraceySherman) March 30, 2016
. @realDonaldTrump will build a wall around all women who have had abortions and make us pay for it. #WontBePunished
— Ilyse Hogue is @ilyseh everywhere (@ilyseh) March 30, 2016
#1in3 woke need an abortion in their lives. Someday, it may be me – and I #WontBePunished if I do. pic.twitter.com/tCcFng0BSS
— Becka Wall (@beckawall) March 30, 2016
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
