Voters forgive reversals — to a point
WASHINGTON — What’s wrong with being flexible? All presidents change their minds. They’re only human.
President Donald Trump’s voters can be a forgiving lot — up to a point.
“He thinks too fast and then makes decisions too fast,” said Miriam Naranjo in Miami Lakes, Fla.
“He’s changing his mind on almost everything he said,” said Bob Brown, of South Windsor, Conn.
The president’s recent shifts in position on big foreign policy issues have got his supporters pondering: Are the reversals worth a mere shrug of the shoulders, or are they a cause for greater concern.
Where critics see a flip-flopper, many Trump voters see the kind of recalibrating that’s to be expected from any new president, even more so for the first in history to land in the Oval Office without any government or military experience.
“It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on and making sure he doesn’t stray too far from where he campaigned,” said Christian Ziegler, a marketing professional from Sarasota, Fla., who served as one of Trump’s electors in the state. “I’m not concerned yet.”
In recent weeks, the president has gone from labeling NATO “obsolete” to “no longer obsolete.” He’s ordered a cruise missile bombardment in Syria after saying during the campaign the U.S. should steer clear of the place. He’s decided the Export-Import Bank, which he once opposed, is a good thing after all. And he’s done a U-turn on his pledge to label China a currency manipulator. Many of those issues were prominent applause lines at candidate Trump’s campaign rallies.
Now, as he shifts positions, Trump said he’s being flexible — and proud of it.
For plenty of Trump voters, that’s fine, particularly when a situation suddenly arises like the chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed more than 80 people and prompted Trump to order airstrikes. “Once someone releases nerve gas on children, you have to do something,” said Susan Holly, of Cheyenne, Wyo.
“Nobody can stand around and be black and white,” she said. “Everybody makes changes.”
Some prominent conservatives haven’t hesitated to criticize Trump’s recent actions. Columnist Ann Coulter, writing for Breitbart News, the website once run by White House adviser Steve Bannon, called the president’s Syrian airstrikes an immoral “misadventure” that “violates every promise he ran on and could sink his presidency.”
However, nearly three months into Trump’s presidency, many supporters say they never really expected him to hew to all his campaign positions anyway. Trump, a former Democrat, was never one to attract the labels of policy wonk or ideologue.