Trump’s political U-turns: What he said vs what he did

Donald Trump has executed three perfect U-turns within the last two weeks, three times acting in complete contradiction to his earlier public statements on three separate issues, his conscience cheerily untroubled.

Having said he “absolutely” wanted to testify at his New York hush money trial, he ultimately opted out.

Having once denounced TikTok as a tool of the villainous Chinese government, he joined it anyway and swiftly picked up more than 5 million followers.

And having repeatedly called for Hillary Clinton to be jailed during the 2016 election, he denied ever having said it, ignoring the mountain of video evidence to the contrary.

In so doing, the 45th president, current Republican presidential contender and now convicted felon inadvertently revealed a pattern of behavior that should give American voters pause for thought, exposing him, yet again, as anything but a man of his word.

Here’s a closer look at those three walk-backs, only the latest examples of Trump failing to live up to his bluster.

The defendant baulked at the chance to testify at his Manhattan criminal trial last month despite complaining endlessly that he had no right of reply to the allegations made against him because of the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan.

He had also insisted on the Friday before proceedings began: “Yeah, I would testify, absolutely. That’s not a trial. That’s a scam.”

Doing so would always have been a major risk for him, and he soon began to rein in the macho posturing and prepare the ground for anti-climax.

Two weeks in, he was suddenly telling Newsmax he would only testify “if it’s necessary”.

After the defense had closed its case without calling him, Trump explained to conservative radio that he feared his