{"id":1039219,"date":"2024-08-16T19:08:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T23:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1039219"},"modified":"2024-08-16T19:09:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T23:09:01","slug":"maga-malarkey-the-extremism-you-missed-from-republicans-this-week-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-malarkey-the-extremism-you-missed-from-republicans-this-week-56\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGA Republicans stooped to new lows this week with their extremism, hypocrisy, chaos, and \u2014 as President Biden would call it \u2014 malarkey. In case you missed it: Russell Vought got caught describing his \u201csecond phase\u201d of Project 2025; Trump is bringing back MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski into his campaign\u2019s inner circle; Trump lied at least twenty times in his conversation with Elon Musk; Trump is having a full-scale meltdown; new reporting revealed that JD Vance said companies supporting abortion rights just want a pool of \u201ccheap labor\u201d; an unearthed podcast showed Vance agreed that having grandmothers to help raise children is \u201cthe whole purpose of the postmenopausal female\u201d; Vance reposted a disgraced, white nationalist-linked former Trump staffer; new polling showed that the more voters learn about Vance\u2019s views on women, the more they dislike him; and Vance tried to stop his plummeting unpopularity by saying that he doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project 2025 chief architect Russell Vought was caught describing his extreme MAGA blueprint and the \u201csecond phase\u201d of Project 2025 \u2013 saying Donald Trump has \u201cblessed\u201d his work and that he expects to be in Trump\u2019s inner circle if he wins.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cHidden-camera video shows Project 2025 co-author discussing his secret work preparing for a second Trump term\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVought said his group, the Center for Renewing America, was secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations, and memos that would lay the groundwork for rapid action on Trump\u2019s plans if he wins, describing his work as creating \u2018shadow\u2019 agencies. He claimed that Trump has \u2018blessed\u2019 his organization and \u2018he\u2019s very supportive of what we do.\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVought also served as the policy director of the Republican National Convention committee that rewrote the GOP\u2019s official platform this year \u2013 a sign of how central he is to Republicans\u2019 policy goals\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018I see what [Trump is] doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand,\u2019 Vought said. \u2018It\u2019s interesting, he\u2019s in fact not even opposing himself to a particular policy.\u2019 <\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Micah Meadowcroft, the research director for the Center for Renewing America] described Vought\u2019s work preparing executive orders and policy playbooks as \u2018the second phase\u2019 of Project 2025\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsked if he had been offered a job in a second Trump administration, Vought said no, but added, \u2018I think there\u2019s an expectation that I would go in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is bringing back ultra-MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski into his campaign\u2019s inner circle \u2014 despite Lewandowski facing battery charges and allegations of physically assaulting a journalist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cTrump campaign brings Corey Lewandowski back on board\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s campaign is expanding its ranks as he seeks to regain his footing in the presidential campaign, bringing on a handful of top allies \u2014 including former Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLewandowski, who has remained an informal Trump adviser since his first campaign, is being brought on to advise the campaign\u2019s senior leadership team\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLewandowski has a controversial history in GOP politics. He was removed from a top post with a pro-Trump super PAC in 2021. Lewandowski at the time was accused by a top Trump donor\u2019s wife, Trashelle Odom, of making unwanted sexual advances towards her while at a Las Vegas charity dinner. He was later charged with a misdemeanor, but entered an agreement with prosecutors to have the charge dismissed in exchange for completing impulse control counseling, community service and paying a fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his bizarre conversation with Elon Musk, Trump lied again and again and again.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cFormer President Donald Trump delivered his usual bombardment of false claims \u2013 at least 20 in all \u2013 during a Monday conversation with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, which aired on Musk\u2019s social media platform, X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the falsehoods uttered by the Republican presidential nominee were claims that have been repeatedly debunked before, some of them for years. They spanned a broad range of subjects, from immigration to the economy to foreign policy to Trump\u2019s record in office to Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is having a full-scale meltdown as his campaign spirals out of control.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salon<\/a>: \u201cTormented by the images of boisterous crowds at Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 full-capacity events from Pennsylvania to Nevada, including thousands greeting her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the Detroit airport on Aug. 7, Trump opted for a decisive break from the world that the rest of us are living in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat rally on the tarmac in Michigan? Fake as the news industry. \u2018There was nobody at the plane, and she \u2018A.I.\u2019d it,\u2019 the 78-year-old posted Sunday from his home-resort in south Florida, where he has largely been stewing while his rivals jet around the country. Photos (and videos, by the way) \u2018showed a massive \u2018crowd\u2019 of so-called followers,\u2019 Trump wrote, \u2018BUT THEY DIDN\u2019T EXIST!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s denial of this reality, if sincere, could well cost him. Even if were capable of a late-stage pivot, he seems incapable of even acknowledging the need for one. At a hastily-called press conference last week, the Republican candidate rambled off a series of quarter-formed thoughts on his personal grievances while fabricating a tale about a near-death helicopter experience, failing to coherently deliver his talking points about the economy and immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New reporting revealed that JD Vance said companies supporting abortion rights really just want a pool of \u201ccheap labor.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian Science Monitor<\/a>: \u201cIn the same 2021 speech, Mr. Vance argued that companies supporting abortion rights really just want a pool of \u2018cheap labor,\u2019 with workers unburdened by the cost and time commitment of caring for children\u2026 he said: \u2026 \u2018When the big corporations come against you for passing abortion restrictions, when corporations are so desperate for cheap labor that they don\u2019t want people to parent children, she\u2019s right to say that abortion restrictions are bad for business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unearthed podcast showed that Vance agreed with a host who said having grandmothers to help raise children is \u201cthe whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance<\/a>: \u201cIt makes [his son] a much better human being, to have exposure to his grandparents. And the evidence on this, by the way, is super clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviewer: \u201cThat\u2019s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female, in theory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After bragging less than two weeks ago about posting whatever he wants on social media, Vance reposted a disgraced white nationalist-linked former Trump staffer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Vance<\/a>: \u201cMost politicians, they have a staff member who sort of runs their Twitter. I don’t do that \u2026 I just put whatever I want to on X.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polling showed that the more voters learn about Vance\u2019s dangerous and weird views on women, the more they dislike him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Semafor<\/a>: \u201cNew polling shared exclusively with Semafor shows Democrats\u2019 attacks on JD Vance\u2019s views on abortion, divorce and \u2018childless cat ladies\u2019 are sticking with voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA pair of surveys by Blueprint, the centrist Democratic pollster backed by Reid Hoffman, one taken July 21 – July 22, two days after Vance was announced as Donald Trump\u2019s running mate, and then again two weeks later on August 4, showed Vance\u2019s net favorability falling from -7 to -11 <\/strong>with fewer voters unsure either way. That\u2019s similar to other public polling, which has also shown Vance making a poor first impression since joining the Republican ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main shift in how respondents viewed Vance: He\u2019s become more and more identified with his particular brand of conservatism and less with his famed biography as an author, veteran, and politician. Presented with a list of options to describe Vance in August, the most common answers were \u2018conservative,\u2019 \u2018anti-woman,\u2019 and \u2018weird,\u2019 while more positive options like \u2018young,\u2019 \u2018smart,\u2019 and \u2018businessman\u2019 declined from July. The percentage calling him \u2018extreme\u2019 shot up 13 points\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf the statements offered, participants were most aware of the \u2018childless cat lady\u2019 comments with 50% of those surveyed saying they had heard of the remarks and 55% saying they were bothered by them. Scoring worse, but less well-known: A 2021 interview with Spectrum News in which he defended a Texas abortion law\u2019s lack of exceptions for rape and incest by suggesting pregnancies from such circumstances are \u2018inconvenient.\u2019 Sixty-two percent of voters said they were \u2018bothered\u2019 Vance used the word \u2018inconvenient\u2019 to describe pregnancies that stem from rape and incest with 50% reporting \u2018it bothers me a lot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an effort to escape his growing unpopularity, Vance said that he doesn\u2019t matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret Brennan<\/a>: \u201cPresident Trump has said\u2026 the vice presidential pick rarely matters. How are you going to prove him wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance: \u201cWell I think President Trump is right about that actually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/a>: \u201cSen. JD Vance affirmed former President Donald Trump\u2019s assertion that the vice presidential pick doesn\u2019t matter to the vast majority of voters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAGA Republicans stooped to new lows this week with their extremism, hypocrisy, chaos, and \u2014 as President Biden would call it \u2014 malarkey. In case you missed it: Russell Vought got caught describing his \u201csecond phase\u201d of Project 2025; Trump is bringing back MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski into his campaign\u2019s inner circle; Trump lied at […]<\/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-1039219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week - 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\/maga-malarkey-the-extremism-you-missed-from-republicans-this-week-56\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-08-16T23:08:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-16T23:09:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/MAGA-Malarkey.png?w=745\" \/>\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=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-malarkey-the-extremism-you-missed-from-republicans-this-week-56\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-malarkey-the-extremism-you-missed-from-republicans-this-week-56\/\",\"name\":\"MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week - 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