Former President Donald Trump called six-week abortion bans in some Republican states "a terrible thing" and said he would negotiate with Democrats on a national abortion restriction compromise.

Trump made the comments during an interview with NBC News moderator Kristen Welker in an attempt to distinguish himself from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who just signed a six-week abortion ban in his state.

“I’m going to come together with all groups, and we’re going to have something that’s acceptable,” Trump said when questioned about whether he would support national restrictions on abortion.

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to come up with a number of weeks or months. You’re going to come up with a number that’s going to make people happy because 92 percent of the Democrats don’t want to see abortion after a certain period of time,” he said.

Peace on the Issue

Trump refused to answer the question of whether the unborn have constitutional rights and took a decidedly political perspective on an issue that most Republicans regard as life or death.

“I would sit down with both sides, and I’d negotiate something, and we’ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years. I’m not gonna say I would or I wouldn’t. I mean, DeSanctus was willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban," he said.

“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump continued. “But we’ll come up with a number. But at the same time, Democrats won’t be able to go out in six months, seven months, eight months and allow an abortion.”

From a political perspective, Trump is right. While overturning Roe V. Wade was a popular move with Republicans overall, it turns out most voters favor allowing abortion for at least the first trimester.

Politically calculated

Trump's position on the issue seems politically calculated, which is different than the way he approaches most issues. He does like to make "deals," however, and he sees abortion as an issue where a deal could be made.

The trouble is, nobody much sees abortion as something that's negotiable.

Conservatives see it as murder, and are not going to be willing to compromise on something they see as causing unborn babies to be murdered.

The left sees abortion restrictions as taking away bodily autonomy from women, which to them is worse than murder.

Harder than he thinks

It seems ridiculous for anyone other than Trump, whose ego is massive, to think they could broker some sort of deal on this divisive and momentously important issue.

If he does get elected, he's going to find it harder than he thinks.