{"id":1028256,"date":"2023-11-17T22:37:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T22:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1028256"},"modified":"2024-05-23T19:58:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T19:58:22","slug":"meet-bob-vander-plaats-the-far-right-extremist-2024-maga-republicans-are-spending-their-day-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/meet-bob-vander-plaats-the-far-right-extremist-2024-maga-republicans-are-spending-their-day-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Bob Vander Plaats, the Far-Right Extremist 2024 MAGA Republicans Are Spending Their Day With"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In response to 2024 Republicans convening in Iowa today for a cattle call with far-right extremist Bob Vander Plaats, <\/em>DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are spending their day desperately trying to win the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, a far-right extremist whose pro-Putin, sexist, racist views should be condemned by any serious candidate for president. Vander Plaats\u2019 FAMiLY Leader \u2018Thanksgiving Family Forum\u2019 wouldn’t be welcoming to many American families, including those with women serving in the armed forces and Americans who categorically reject the notion that slavery was beneficial to Black families. If voters had any doubt, today Republican candidates are showing they\u2019ll stoop to any low to win over the extreme MAGA base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats wanted presidential candidates to sign a pledge that suggested being <\/strong>born into slavery <\/em><\/strong>was more pro-family for Black children than in modern day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HuffPost<\/a>: \u201cThe pledge is titled \u2018The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY\u2019 (emphasis in the original), and what follows is pretty standard-issue Christian conservative rhetoric on the definition of marriage and the sanctity of same, but it comes with a fiscal twist that basically makes it clear that Vander Plaats does not cotton to the notion that social issues can be divorced from economic concerns. \u2026 For what it’s worth, here’s my favorite part: \u2018Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cThe pledge caused some consternation earlier this year, due to some language about slavery being more of a pro-family climate for African-Americans<\/strong> in the preamble of the document.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats also embraced racist ideology when he shamefully promoted the birtherism conspiracy perpetuated by Donald Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ThinkProgress<\/a>: \u201cFAMiLY LEADER President Bob Vander Plaats repeatedly suggested that President Obama was born in Kenya during a May 2010 event in Glenwood, Iowa. In video obtained by ThinkProgess, Vander Plaats is seen praising Donald Trump for launching an investigation into the origins of his birth certificate. \u2018What kind of leader wouldn\u2019t just show the birth certificate?\u2019 Vander Plaats asked just days before Obama released the long-form of the document. \u2018[Trump] is more and more convinced that this guy is born in Kenya,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVANDER PLAATS: If I\u2019m Obama, which I\u2019m not. I\u2019ve got a birth certificate\u200a\u2014\u200awhich means I\u2019m more prepared to be President than he is, for a lot of reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats is an anti-abortion extremist who is pushing for a national abortion ban in addition to outlawing abortion pills and taking away women\u2019s freedoms through a constitutional amendment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201c[Vander Plaats] said, \u2018There\u2019s a lot of ways to determine a person\u2019s bona fides when it comes to the sanctity of human life, but I guarantee you the Texas ruling will be discussed.\u2019 The issue of abortion, he said, \u2018will be a cornerstone issue in the Iowa caucuses. It will be a cornerstone issue in the Republican primary.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats<\/a> after Roe v. Wade<\/em> was overturned: \u201cIowa\u2019s legislature needs to pass legislation to protect life at conception<\/strong>, as well as the Protect Life Amendment to our state constitution to ensure state courts do not repeat the deadly mistake made in Roe v. Wade<\/em>, for we recognize that even though we are celebrating today, today is only the beginning. The right to life is not a matter that should be left to individual states but an inalienable right that should be ingrained in our nation\u2019s constitution, character, and culture.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats<\/a> after Ron DeSantis and Kim Reynolds signed extreme abortion bans: \u201cJoining @RonDeSantisFL is #Iowa @IAGovernor Kim Reynolds in leading on life. The #IowaCaucus door just flung wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Des Moines Register<\/a>: \u201cPanelists also suggested that Republican leaders discuss restrictions on abortion pills. Dannenfelser called the existence of mifepristone and other medications used to induce abortions \u2018the biggest threat to our success,\u2019 and Vander Plaats \u2014 invoking the Iowa caucuses as the place \u2018where crazy ideas get birthed\u2019 \u2014 proposed regulating the drugs.<\/strong> \u2018We\u2019re smart enough to regulate the abortion pill, understand who\u2019s getting it and how they\u2019re getting it,\u2019 Vander Plaats said. \u2018Require them to (package) the abortion reversal pill with (the abortion pill).\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats once asked presidential candidates to sign a pledge that called for the removal of women soldiers from combat roles and recognized that \u201crobust childbearing and reproduction\u201d maintains America\u2019s health and security.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cIn a year when pledges have become all the rage for Republican presidential primary candidates, The Family Leader\u2019s Marriage Vow seems to be falling flat. The pledge is causing more problems for the two candidates who have signed than for those who have refused, giving an opening to complaints that the conservative Christian group may have tried to go too far. The 14-point vow asks each candidate to pledge \u2018personal fidelity\u2019 to his or her spouse, to remove female soldiers from combat roles and to recognize that \u2018robust childbearing and reproduction\u2019 maintains America\u2019s health and security. It also calls for acknowledgment that \u2018children raised by a mother and a father experience better learning, less addiction, less legal trouble and less extramarital pregnancy.\u2019 And it requires those who sign it to fight prostitution, pornography and Sharia law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Vander Plaats is an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist who has not only railed against same-sex marriage as an \u201cinfiltrat[ion],\u201d but also praised dictator Vladimir Putin for his persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in Russia. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats<\/a>: \u201cThe Iowa State Bar Association, they\u2019ll tell me, they\u2019ll say \u2018Bob, this is only one opinion. It\u2019s only one opinion. You can\u2019t be that upset at a court because of one opinion.\u2019 One opinion: Dred Scott<\/em>. Blacks are property. One opinion: Roe v. Wade<\/em>. We\u2019ve killed 60 million babies off of a court\u2019s opinion. One opinion: the Varnum<\/em> opinion, and you are now seeing same-sex marriage infiltrate this state.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vander Plaats<\/a>: \u201c[Putin] has taken what used to be our strengths<\/strong> \u2014 military might, decisive action, core values, morality, beliefs \u2014 and he\u2019s saying, those are being turned into your guys\u2019 weakness and guess what I\u2019m doing? I\u2019m taking those. I\u2019m taking decisive leadership, you\u2019re following my lead. As a matter of fact, Obama\u2019s now agreeing with Putin, \u2018oh you know maybe we\u2019ve got some other options here now.\u2019 So he\u2019s taking Putin\u2019s lead. Putin\u2019s saying, \u2018you know what don\u2019t bring this homosexual propaganda into my country for the Olympics; we believe in one man, one woman marriage; there is no homosexual marriage in Russia.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to 2024 Republicans convening in Iowa today for a cattle call with far-right extremist Bob Vander Plaats, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:  \u201cNikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are spending their day desperately trying to win the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, a far-right extremist whose pro-Putin, sexist, racist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet Bob Vander Plaats, the Far-Right Extremist 2024 MAGA Republicans Are Spending Their Day With - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/meet-bob-vander-plaats-the-far-right-extremist-2024-maga-republicans-are-spending-their-day-with\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-17T22:37:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T19:58:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/New-War-Room-Release-Logo-5.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/meet-bob-vander-plaats-the-far-right-extremist-2024-maga-republicans-are-spending-their-day-with\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/meet-bob-vander-plaats-the-far-right-extremist-2024-maga-republicans-are-spending-their-day-with\/\",\"name\":\"Meet Bob Vander Plaats, the Far-Right Extremist 2024 MAGA Republicans Are Spending Their Day With - 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