Most voters forgive Trump’s position shifts – to a point

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

What’s wrong with being flexible? All presidents change their minds. He’s 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,” says Miriam Naranjo in Miami Lakes, Fla.

“He’s changing his mind on almost everything he said,” says Bob Brown, of South Windsor, Conn.

Naranjo is willing to give Trump more time. Brown is not.

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,” says 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 that 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 says he’s being flexible – and proud of it.

For plenty of Trump voters, that’s fine, particularly when a situation suddenly arises such as 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,” says Susan Holly, of Cheyenne, Wyo.

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.

“I don’t think any president really knows what they’re doing the first few months in office,” says Jeff Baumgardner, 59, an airline captain from Shindle, Pa.

Sure, Trump needs to deliver on some of his promises, says Baumgardner, “but some of them are just election banter.”

For Ziegler, 33, a Republican state committeeman in Florida, Trump’s shifts are a sign he’s getting “different information” now that he’s president. As long as Trump holds firm on Ziegler’s top priorities – opposing abortion and refusing to grant amnesty to immigrants living in the country illegally – Ziegler says he’s OK with other policy changes.

“Let’s remember Donald Trump’s a dealmaker, and when you’re negotiating in business, you don’t always get 100 percent of what you want,” says Ziegler.