Donald Trump's supporters often say they admire him because he always says what he thinks.
“It's brutally honest,” Larry Faria, a Trump fan in the San Joaquin Valley, told my colleague Jeffrey Fleishman in March. “His aggressiveness got him chosen.”
But on some issues, Trump can be as slippery as an eel.
The presumptive Republican nominee has refused to focus on abortion, Obamacare and the federal budget.
Let's start with abortion. In 1999, Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” Once he decided to run for president as a Republican, he declared himself anti-abortion and took credit for appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned abortion rights in 2022.
But when it comes to federal measures to ban or limit abortion, Trump has hesitated, apparently because he knows that any firm position would be unpopular with a large portion of the electorate. He has warned other members of the Republican Party that strict abortion policies would lose elections.
In March, Trump found what he hoped would be a safe harbor. He declared that since the Supreme Court had put abortion in the hands of the states, a presidential candidate did not need to take any position.
“It depends on the states,” he shrugged.
Problem solved? Not quite. The federal government still regulates the two drugs used for medication abortions, which account for more than half of abortions. Anti-abortion groups want the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw approval of one of the drugs, mifepristone; Some also want the Justice Department to ban both drugs from being sent through the mail.
Last month, a Time magazine reporter asked Trump where he stood on those questions.
“I will make a statement on this within the next 14 days,” Trump responded. “I feel very strongly about that. In fact, I think it is a very important issue.”
That was April 12, more than six weeks ago.
Last week, I asked the Trump campaign if it would soon announce its position on mifepristone. The assistants did not respond.
Meanwhile, a television reporter in Pittsburgh asked Trump if he supports any restrictions on contraception.
“We are analyzing that and very soon I will have a policy on this,” the candidate responded.
That was a mistake, and Trump quickly released a statement saying he “will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control.”
His advisers said the candidate thought he was being asked about mifepristone, on which he does not yet have a position. A senior moment, perhaps?
Now, Obamacare, the federally funded health insurance program formally known as the Affordable Care Act. Trump attempted to repeal the ACA when he was president in 2017, but failed. He still strongly denounces the program.
“Obamacare sucks!” he stated in a social media post last year.
But when Democrats said they hoped to campaign against him on the now-popular law, the former president backtracked.
“I am not running to repeal the ACA,” he posted. “We're going to do much better.”
But he has not offered proposals to improve the ACA.
Last week, I asked the Trump campaign if it will release any proposals to improve Obamacare. There was no answer.
Finally, taxes and the federal budget. Two weeks ago, at a rally in New Jersey, Trump made a radical promise: big tax cuts for everyone.
“I'm going to give you a big Trump tax cut for the middle class, the upper class, the lower class and the business class,” he said. “They're going to have the biggest tax cut.”
Tax cuts are popular, so you might think a candidate would offer some sweet details.
But Trump doesn't appear to have a real tax plan, just a broad promise.
The problem is that tax cuts are expensive, at least by traditional budget rules. Orthodox economics and historical experience teach that lower taxes reduce government revenue and increase deficits. For example, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump's 2017 tax cuts increased federal deficits by at least $1.8 trillion.
Not only that, a big tax cut would pump money into the consumer economy, which would normally raise inflation.
Until Trump made his tax cut promise, the debate over tax policy focused on current rates, which are scheduled to rise at the end of next year, when Trump's 2017 cuts expire.
President Biden has said he wants to raise taxes on corporations and households earning more than $400,000 a year, but leave intact everyone earning less than $400,000.
Republicans in Congress say their main goal is to ensure that taxes don't increase for anyone, including high-income taxpayers or corporations. In particular, they did not support Trump's sweeping promise of new cuts.
GOP fiscal hawks would normally insist on a plan to ensure that new tax cuts do not increase the annual budget deficit and the long-term national debt. Trump has offered no such outline. Without any details, his promise looks like what Silicon Valley calls “vaporware”: an advertisement without a product.
Last week, I asked the Trump campaign if it would offer more details about its tax cut or other budget plans. Once again, there is no answer.
There is a simple reason why Trump has not clearly made his views on these three issues clear: He does not believe they will help him win.
“He is campaigning on issues that favor him: the economy and immigration,” explained Republican strategist Alex Conant. “Abortion is not an issue that Republicans believe they can win on. “Obamacare is not going to decide the election…and voters are not expecting a detailed tax or budget plan.”
And it's probably good policy.
“He's actually running the most disciplined campaign he's ever had,” Conant said. “For the most part there have been no blunders, with only a few small exceptions.”
But if Trump wants to be president, he owes voters clearer explanations about his policies on mifepristone, Obamacare and the federal budget. Until he does, it's time to stop giving him credit for speaking his mind.
He is sincere only when it serves his interests.
Read more of Doyle McManus' columns about Trump:
Trump has big plans for California if he wins a second term. Fasten seat belts
Trump wants to arrest more than a million undocumented immigrants from California. This is how he could do it
Trump loves fossil fuels; California wants clean energy. signal collision
