Former President Donald Trump warned Republicans against falling into "traps" set by Democrats with entitlement programs and abortion.
Trump, speaking with Breitbart News earlier this month, cited how some GOP candidates were hurt in the midterms by talk that Republicans would cut Social Security.
President Joe Biden and other Democrats promoted such talk during the final weeks before the elections, which were disappointing for the GOP.
"They fell into the Democrat trap," Trump told Breitbart of candidates who mentioned possible entitlement reform. "I heard that. A couple guys were talking about it, and I said 'That's the end of his career.'
"But it isn't a question of the career. It's a contract with the people. They've paid. They've worked. They're entitled to it. There are so many things we can cut that is far more money than we're talking about. There are so many things. You don't have to cut Social Security. I would never do it."
Trump, who last month officially kicked off his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, promised that he never will cut Social Security if he returns to the White House.
Trump said abortion was another issue that Democrats were using to trap Republicans.
Despite having nominated three Supreme Court justices critical to overturning Roe v. Wade in June, Trump said that Republicans must support "the three exceptions" with abortion: for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
"I think a lot of Republicans didn't handle the abortion question properly," Trump told Breitbart News. "I think if you don't have the three exceptions, it's almost impossible in most parts of the country to win. If you don't have three exceptions — I said to a very nice man, [Doug Mastriano] running for governor of Pennsylvania, 'If you don't have the three exceptions, you can't win.'
"Same thing with [Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate] Tudor [Dixon]. She didn't have the three exceptions. I say this to the Republican Party: If you don't have the three exceptions, because you know the Democrats are radical, and they'll kill the baby at nine months, or they'll kill the baby after the baby is born. OK? That's more radical.
"But you have to have the three exceptions. If you don't have the three exceptions, you're destined to doom."
Trump admitted that people "have to follow their heart," but added that doing so can mean defeat in elections.
"Well, people need to be smart and you need people who believe in the right thing," Trump told Breitbart. "People do what they believe. If somebody really doesn't believe in the exceptions, which I wouldn't understand — rape, incest, the life of the mother, to me that's pretty easy to believe in — but if somebody doesn't believe in it then they have to follow their heart.
"But I don't think they're capable of being elected other than in certain areas."
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