Former President Donald Trump vowed to restore “normalcy” Wednesday as he faced questions from female voters on a variety of topics, including the economy, crime and abortion.
Trump’s discussion played out on an exclusive town hall meeting on “The Faulkner Focus,” according to Fox News.
A mother questioned the former president about public safety in light of the murder of nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year.
“My son is a Georgia Bulldog. He was on campus the day Laken Riley was murdered,” she said. “Terrifying for all those kids, right? I wanted to know… how quickly in a sanctuary city – like they’re calling Athens, Georgia – how quickly can you remove those threats to our societies that our children can go out on a run as they rightfully should be able to do in a park in the daytime by themselves?”
Trump, in response, said he will do away with sanctuary cities.
“We can do things in terms of moving people out. We can move them out of the sanctuary cities. We’re going to end all sanctuary cities in the United States, and we’re going to go back to normalcy,” he said. “And we’re going to have law and order.”
The topic of crime in America has been a top concern for Republican voters nationwide, but the economy is still No. 1.
The Gallup poll revealed that 54% of Americans believe Trump is more capable of handling the economy. This compares to 45% for Harris.
While the economy is the most important issue for Republicans, it did not crack the top five for Democrats.
Another woman asked Trump about the cost of living for families and what his views were for the child tax credit.
“I’m a single mom to two kids here, and just in three and a half years, my child tax credit has decreased by 80%,” an audience member said. “Last year, I had broken my neck, and I tried applying for any kind of assistance and was denied because I did not make less than $700 a month… what kind of realistic changes that do you think you can provide [to] single parents, married parents, any kind of parent to just simply afford children in today’s world, with the way things are here?”
Trump touted that while he was in office, Americans had the largest tax credit.
“I gave you the largest tax cuts in the history of our country,” Trump said. “Larger than the Reagan cuts. Larger. I understand exactly what you’re saying. We’re going to readjust things so that it’s fair to everybody, because it’s really not fair to everybody… We’re going up higher, but we’re also going to readjust because you have to make some readjustments.”
“It’s unfair to some people, and we’re not going to have that,” he said.
The topic turned to abortion when Trump was asked about a topic that some women view as most important issue in this year’s election.
“Women are entitled to do what they want to and need to do with their bodies, including their unborn. That’s on them regardless of the circumstance. Some are necessary to save their own lives,” she said. “Why is the government involved in women’s basic rights?”
Trump said women should “follow your heart” when it comes to abortion.
“For 52 years, this issue has torn our country apart,” Trump said. “Every legal scholar, the great ones, every lawyer – but the Democrats, the Republicans, the liberals, and conservatives, they wanted it brought out of the federal government and brought back to the states for a vote of the people. And like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother.”
“I strongly believe… you have to follow your heart. Some people don’t. It’s a very small percentage, but you have to follow your heart,” Trump continued. “But you have the exceptions. But what we were able to do was through the courage of six Supreme Court justices. We were able to do this after years and years of turmoil.”
Trump holds leads over Harris on immigration (54%-45%) and foreign affairs (52%-47%).
Harris holds leads on the top issues for Democrats, including health care (54%-44%), abortion (56%-40%) and climate change (61%-35%).
