It's the Brian Laris show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone.

If you took time from obsessing on the eclipse yesterday to take in any political news,

you probably know that Donald Trump staked out a new,

or is it new, position on abortion rights. Now that there is such a backlash, right, ever since

he fulfilled his 2016 campaign promise to get Roe versus Wade overturned by appointing

anti-Roe justices to the Supreme Court. He appointed three. They did what Trump

promised, as you all know, and in elections and referenda ever since, voters, even in red states,

have made it clear that by and large, they want women to have the right to choose. So a little

Trump history here. In 1999, when he was first being looked at as a potential presidential

candidate, he said this on NBC's Meet the Press with host Tim Russert when asked if he supports

even late-term abortion rights. I'm very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it. I hate everything it stands for.

I cringe when I listen to people debating the subject. But you still, I just believe in choice.

Trump in 1999. But when he was running in 2016, he had the memorable exchange with Chris Matthews on MSNBC,

which ended like this.

Do you believe in punishment for abortion?

Yes or no?

The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

For the woman?

Yeah, it has to be some form.

So in 99 he was pro-choice. By 2016, he wanted women behind bars. Yesterday, he released a video on Trump's on Truth Social, which answered one question, but begged several others.

My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote

...