Why nobody believes Trump’s flip-flop on abortion and IVF

On Thursday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz sat down with CNN for their first TV interview since they became the top of the Democratic ticket. Naturally, Harris faced questions about her shifting stance on fracking, a key industry in the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania.

The vice president weathered the grilling well, firmly defending her change of heart.

“I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking, as vice president I did not ban fracking, as president I will not ban fracking,” Harris told CNN anchor Dana Bash. “I’m very clear about where I stand.”

Overall, it was an uncontroversial, do-no-harm interview that made little news — which is exactly what Harris needed.

The same cannot be said of Donald Trump. On Thursday, at a rally in Potterville, Michigan, the former president — who’s been under fire for his party’s attacks on abortions rights — made a surprising pledge toforce insurance companies to pay for in vitro fertilization. Democrats have repeatedly hammered Republicans on IVF since Alabama’s supreme court briefly put the treatment on hold in the state.

Earlier in the day, a reporter for NBC News asked Trump — who has also been all over the place on abortion issues — how he would vote on Florida’s upcoming amendment that would enshrine abortion rights. He responded by saying the state’s six-week ban is “too short” and that “there has to be more time.”

“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he said. Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, quickly went into clean-up mode.

“President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short,” she