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Trump has been even more successful in racking up headlines of his alleged backtracking. A video the former president posted last week was interpreted by many as dismissing the idea of a national ban, even though he never actually said those words. “If you actually listen to Trump’s statement on abortion, he doesn’t say ‘should’ be left to the states,” wrote Semafor’s Washington editor Jordan Weissmann. “He says ‘will’ be left to the state[s]. It’s just a statement of what the law is.” A few days after his non-announcement, when asked outright if he supported a national ban, and Trump answered with one word—“No”—CNN made it a push alert.

But say we ignore recent history, and assume Republicans like Trump and Lake hold coherent positions. The critical plank of the “moderation” myth is that Republicans believe that abortion laws should be up to the states. This is how they were able to claim that they wanted Roe overturned but did not support a national ban. But as I argued one year ago, at a time when states are enacting total and near-total bans, claiming to be anti-national-ban but pro-state-restriction is a distinction without a difference. Even in states where abortion remains legal, some states are rushing to invent more abortion restrictions: In Kansas, where voters rejected a statewide ban through a ballot initiative, this session Republicans succeeded in passing a bill which would require abortion providers to record why each patient is having an abortion and report that to the state. (The governor vetoed this.) Republicans in the Tennessee state senate joined the emerging trend of inventing and outlawing so-called “abortion trafficking,” passing a bill with which anyone who helps a minor have an abortion can potentially be criminally charged. Abortion is already nearly completely banned in the state.

Whatever “moderating” claims Republicans make about leaving abortion to the states, leading conservative groups, such as those who are part of the Heritage Foundation-helmed Project 2025, are openly advocating Republicans to institute a national abortion ban by reviving enforcement of the Comstock Act—a national abortion ban that these groups argue is already on the books. If that happened, it would be like the Arizona ban had gone federal, but worse. Trump isn’t openly acknowledging this zombie national abortion ban his supporters arguing that he should enforce. When NPR tried to get him to elaborate his position on using the Comstock Act, Trump’s campaign simply refused. They tried to fall back on the nonsense talking points everyone else had dutifully repeated: “President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights.” (An email TNR sent to the Trump campaign asking the same question about the Comstock Act was still unanswered by publication.)