He Didn't So Much "Misspeak" as "Miscalculate How Wildly Unprepared He Is for the Presidency"

[Content Note: War on agency. Vine may autoplay at link.]

This is some of the most incredible spin I have ever heard:

Trump misspoke Wednesday when he suggested women be punished for having abortions if the procedure were outlawed, a point his spokeswoman repeatedly emphasized during a heated exchange with CNN's Alisyn Camerota.

..."This was a complete misspeak during a conversation over a hypothetical concept and there was a clarification issued," spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN's New Day. "Mr. Trump is pro-life with exceptions and does not support punishing women for having abortions, even if they're illegal."

...Pierson clashed with Camerota over Trump's call for banning abortions and punishing women. In the town hall interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Trump explicitly said, "But you have to ban it," referring to abortions.

"He asked him, 'Would you support it.' He said yes. He did not call for a ban," Pierson argued, recalling the conversation Matthews had with Trump. "He would support it. You can support a lot of things but don't call for it. This is absurd. This was a misspeak, Alisyn."

"Katrina, you are mincing words here," Camerota shot back.

...Camerota remarked that Trump's initial comments were a window into how he felt and asked whether the real estate mogul had met with policy advisers or studied the issue before his interview.

"Well, of course he has, Alisyn, but again, when a presidential candidate says something and makes a clarification, we don't see a 24-hour fallout of headlines after the clarification has been made," Pierson said.

"When it's something this inflammatory, we do, Katrina. If he had talked about it and had solidified his position, why did he say that women who seek it, he thought, should be criminalized and punished?" Camerota asked.

"Because like I said this was during a discussion with Chris Matthews and it was off the cuff, not scripted, and when he said should there be punishment, he said 'yes,'" Pierson responded. "Chris Matthews says for women? He says yes — again, not distinguishing the fact that it's the actual procedure that would be illegal. That's exactly why he issued the statement clarifying."

Asked then why Trump would say women should be punished initially, Pierson reiterated that it was a "misspeak."

She called Trump's statement that women should be punished for getting abortions a "misspeak" a total of six times during the interview. And called his complete reversal a "clarification." And suggested that it was a "misspeak" that needed "clarification" because Trump was talking "off the cuff." Which is clearly code for: We didn't prepare him for what he should say his opinions are.

The president has to speak "off the cuff" all the time. And yet, incredulously, another Trump advisor did another interview in which he argued that Trump's lack of preparation is an excuse for his "misspeak," rather than a goddamned disqualifying failure.

During an interview with MSNBC's Thomas Roberts later Thursday afternoon in which he discussed the abortion comments and others, senior adviser Barry Bennett mused that unlike the others running in the race, Trump is not a politician and has only been running for office for several months.

"So you can't expect him to just know all of these nuanced answers," Bennett said.

Um, yes I can. He is running for president. And, by the way, there is no "nuance" in the yes-or-no answer about whether people who get abortions should be punished. The answer is fucking no.

And I have been running for president exactly 0 seconds.