MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week Arrow

MAGA Republicans stooped to new lows this week with their extremism, hypocrisy, chaos, and - as President Biden would call it - malarkey. In case you missed it: Russell Vought got caught describing his "second phase" of Project 2025; Trump is bringing back MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski into his campaign's 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 "cheap labor"; an unearthed podcast showed Vance agreed that having grandmothers to help raise children is "the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female"; Vance reposted a disgraced, white nationalist-linked former Trump staffer; new polling showed that the more voters learn about Vance's views on women, the more they dislike him; and Vance tried to stop his plummeting unpopularity by saying that he doesn't matter.

Project 2025 chief architect Russell Vought was caught describing his extreme MAGA blueprint and the "second phase" of Project 2025 - saying Donald Trump has "blessed" his work and that he expects to be in Trump's inner circle if he wins.

CNN: "Hidden-camera video shows Project 2025 co-author discussing his secret work preparing for a second Trump term"

"Vought 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's plans if he wins, describing his work as creating 'shadow' agencies. He claimed that Trump has 'blessed' his organization and 'he's very supportive of what we do.' …

"Vought also served as the policy director of the Republican National Convention committee that rewrote the GOP's official platform this year - a sign of how central he is to Republicans' policy goals…

"'I see what [Trump is] doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand,' Vought said. 'It's interesting, he's in fact not even opposing himself to a particular policy.'…

"[Micah Meadowcroft, the research director for the Center for Renewing America] described Vought's work preparing executive orders and policy playbooks as 'the second phase' of Project 2025…

"Asked if he had been offered a job in a second Trump administration, Vought said no, but added, 'I think there's an expectation that I would go in.'"

Trump is bringing back ultra-MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski into his campaign's inner circle - despite Lewandowski facing battery charges and allegations of physically assaulting a journalist.

Politico: "Trump campaign brings Corey Lewandowski back on board"

"Donald Trump's campaign is expanding its ranks as he seeks to regain his footing in the presidential campaign, bringing on a handful of top allies - including former Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

"Lewandowski, who has remained an informal Trump adviser since his first campaign, is being brought on to advise the campaign's senior leadership team…

"Lewandowski 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's 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."

In his bizarre conversation with Elon Musk, Trump lied again and again and again.

CNN: "Former President Donald Trump delivered his usual bombardment of false claims - at least 20 in all - during a Monday conversation with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, which aired on Musk's social media platform, X.

"Most 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's record in office to Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent."

Trump is having a full-scale meltdown as his campaign spirals out of control.

Salon: "Tormented by the images of boisterous crowds at Vice President Kamala Harris' 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.

"That rally on the tarmac in Michigan? Fake as the news industry. 'There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d it,' 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) 'showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers,' Trump wrote, 'BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!'

"Trump's 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."

New reporting revealed that JD Vance said companies supporting abortion rights really just want a pool of "cheap labor."

Christian Science Monitor: "In the same 2021 speech, Mr. Vance argued that companies supporting abortion rights really just want a pool of 'cheap labor,' with workers unburdened by the cost and time commitment of caring for children… he said: … 'When the big corporations come against you for passing abortion restrictions, when corporations are so desperate for cheap labor that they don't want people to parent children, she's right to say that abortion restrictions are bad for business.'"

An unearthed podcast showed that Vance agreed with a host who said having grandmothers to help raise children is "the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female."

Vance: "It 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."

Interviewer: "That's the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female, in theory."

Vance: "Yes."

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.

Vance: "Most politicians, they have a staff member who sort of runs their Twitter. I don't do that … I just put whatever I want to on X."

Polling showed that the more voters learn about Vance's dangerous and weird views on women, the more they dislike him.

Semafor: "New polling shared exclusively with Semafor shows Democrats' attacks on JD Vance's views on abortion, divorce and 'childless cat ladies' are sticking with voters.

"A 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's running mate, and then again two weeks later on August 4, showed Vance's net favorability falling from -7 to -11with fewer voters unsure either way. That's similar to other public polling, which has also shown Vance making a poor first impression since joining the Republican ticket.

"The main shift in how respondents viewed Vance: He's 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 'conservative,' 'anti-woman,' and 'weird,' while more positive options like 'young,' 'smart,' and 'businessman' declined from July. The percentage calling him 'extreme' shot up 13 points…

"Of the statements offered, participants were most aware of the 'childless cat lady' 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's lack of exceptions for rape and incest by suggesting pregnancies from such circumstances are 'inconvenient.' Sixty-two percent of voters said they were 'bothered' Vance used the word 'inconvenient' to describe pregnancies that stem from rape and incest with 50% reporting 'it bothers me a lot.'"

In an effort to escape his growing unpopularity, Vance said that he doesn't matter.

Margaret Brennan: "President Trump has said… the vice presidential pick rarely matters. How are you going to prove him wrong?"

Vance: "Well I think President Trump is right about that actually."

ABC News: "Sen. JD Vance affirmed former President Donald Trump's assertion that the vice presidential pick doesn't matter to the vast majority of voters."

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