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: Donald Trump echoed Project 2025 by saying he would "absolutely" direct the FDA to end medication abortion access if elected; Trump bragged about the crowd size on January 6; new reporting revealed that Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts personally briefed Trump on Project 2025; Roberts delayed the release of his new book that JD Vance wrote the foreword for until after the election; Project 2025 architect Russell Vought is drafting a secret playbook for a second Trump term; Trump's low-energy campaign schedule included just one stop this week; things are only getting worse for Vance as the most unpopular VP pick in decades; and Vance praised Trump's failed tax scam.

Donald Trump said he would "absolutely" direct the FDA to end medication abortion access if elected.

Interviewer: "Would you direct your FDA, for example, to revoke access to mifepristone?" […]

Donald Trump: "You could do things that would be - will supplement,absolutely. Those things are pretty open."

Washington Post: "Trump suggests he's open to revoking access to abortion pill"

Newsweek: "Donald Trump Suggests He's Open To Banning Abortion Pill Mifepristone"

Trump bragged about the crowd size on January 6 and said the violent insurrectionists "were treated very unfairly."

Trump: "Those people were treated very harshly … nobody was killed on January 6. But I think that the people on January 6 were treated very unfairly … they were there to complain about an election, and you know it's very interesting, the biggest crowd I've ever spoken to."

Newsweek: "Trump Says Jan. 6 Crowd Was Bigger Than MLK's 'I Have a Dream' Speech"

New York Times: "Trump Claims Jan. 6 Crowd Rivaled the 1963 March on Washington. Estimates Say Otherwise."

Josh Dawsey, Washington Post: "'The people of Jan. 6 were treated very unfairly,' Trump says. He is now bragging about the crowd size on Jan. 6 - 'the biggest crowd I've ever spoken to.'"

The Guardian: "Trump lashes out at Harris and falsely claims no one was killed on January 6"

New reporting revealed that Trump - who keeps trying to hide his ties to Project 2025 - took a private flight with Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts.

Washington Post: "Trump took a private flight with Project 2025 leader in 2022"

"In April 2022, Trump shared a 45-minute private flight with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts… They flew together to a Heritage conference where Trump delivered a keynote address that gestured to Heritage's forthcoming policy proposals.

"'They're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,' Trump said in the speech.

"Separately, Roberts told The Washington Post in an interview in April of this year that he had previously discussed Project 2025 with Trump as part of offering briefings to all presidential candidates. 'I personally have talked to President Trump about Project 2025,' he said in the interview, 'because my role in the project has been to make sure that all of the candidates who have responded to our offer for a briefing on Project 2025 get one from me.'"

Roberts delayed the release of his new book - which JD Vance wrote a "violent" foreword for - until after the election.

RealClearPolitics: "Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, will delay publication of his forthcoming book in the wake of a media firestorm sparked by Democratic criticism of the Heritage-led initiative Project 2025, RealClearPolitics is first to report.

"Notably, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a friend of Roberts and the Republican nominee for vice president, wrote the foreword of that book entitled 'Dawn's Early Light.'"

Project 2025 architect Russ Vought is drafting ANOTHER MAGA playbook for Trump and is a top candidate to be Trump's chief of staff if he regains power.

Associated Press: "Russell Vought, a Project 2025 architect, is ready to shock Washington if Trump wins second term"

"A chief architect of Project 2025 - the controversial conservative blueprint to remake the federal government - Vought is likely to be appointed to a high-ranking post in a second Trump administration. And he's been drafting a so-far secret '"180-Day Transition Playbook'" to speed the plan's implementation to avoid a repeat of the chaotic start that dogged Trump's first term.

"Vought has advised influential conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill, held a top post in the Trump White House and later established his own pro-Trump think tank. Now, he's being mentioned as a candidate to be Trump's White House chief of staff, one of the most powerful positions in government.

"Trump's attempts to reject the [Project 2025] blueprint are complicated by the connections he has with many of its contributors. More than two dozen authors served in his administration, including Vought, who was director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget.

"Vought's [think tank, the Center for Renewing America] was part of a coalition of conservative organizations, organized by the Heritage Foundation, that launched Project 2025 and crafted a detailed plan for governing in the next Republican administration."

Trump's low-energy campaign schedule included just one stop this week, while Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are barnstorming the battlegrounds.

Jake Traylor, NBC News: "Pretty contrasting campaign schedules this week for Harris and Trump:

"@KamalaHQ is hitting seven swing states over five days while @realDonaldTrump has just a single campaign event on the calendar for the week in Montana."

The Hill: "Harris camp mocks Trump over 'low energy' campaign schedule"

"Vice President Harris's campaign mocked former President Trump over his 'low energy' schedule as the vice president prepares for a multistate tour this week.

"The Harris campaign account posted a side-by-side comparison of the vice president's schedule for the upcoming week and Trump's campaign schedule.

"It shows Harris with campaign stops across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada and shows Trump with one stop in Montana.

"'Low energy, @realdonaldtrump?' the campaign wrote.

"The only campaign stop listed on Trump's campaign website as of Monday afternoon is his rally in Bozeman, Mont., on Friday."

Things for Vance - the historically unpopular running mate with already-underwhelming approval ratings - have only gotten worse.

Washington Post Analysis: "A half-dozen polls have now tested views of Vance more than once in the last few weeks. In each of them, his already-underwhelming image ratings have deteriorated - sometimes significantly.

"And crucially, his struggles appear particularly pronounced among educated voters and women. That would suggest that his derisive past comments about childless women are indeed proving to be liabilities.

"Vance's net favorable rating (favorable vs. unfavorable) is now nine points underwater in the FiveThirtyEight average. That's a marked contrast to other recent running mates, who have generally polled in popular territory.

"And notably, three of the repeated polls show about as many people view Vance very unfavorably as have any kind of positive view of him.

"His net favorable ratings have dropped:

• Three points in Reuters-Ipsos polls between July 16 and July 28 (the end dates for the polls).
• Five points in Economist-YouGov polls between July 23 and July 30.
• Eight points in AP-NORC polls between July 15 and July 29.
• Nine points in other YouGov polls (that weren't sponsored by a media outlet) between July 15 and July 25.
• Nine points in ABC News-Ipsos polls between July 20 and July 27.
• And six points in a new NPR/PBS/Marist College poll, versus its July 22 poll.

"Vance's net favorable rating has declined among women by around 10 points in each of the Marist, Economist-YouGov and other YouGov polls.

"He's declined among independents by double digits in both the Marist and YouGov polls.

"He's declined at least 19 points among Black voters in the Marist, YouGov and Economist-YouGov polls. And he's also down double digits among voters under 30 in two of those three polls.

"In the Marist poll - the most recent and detailed high-quality survey we have - Vance's net image has declined by 28 points among college-educated voters and 14 points among women who are political independents."

Vance praised Trump's failed tax scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Vance: "The left attacked Donald Trump for those tax cuts said they would make the deficit worse when in reality we took in more revenue because the government got out of the way on the regulatory side and the tax cuts spurred a lot of growth which means more people working, which meant more economic production which meant the entire economy was healthier… I think we have a pretty common sense regulatory and tax agenda."

New York Times: "The 2017 corporate tax cuts signed into law by Mr. Trump have not increased government revenue… In fact, they have had the opposite effect."

Washington Post: "Trump doesn't understand it. He once again betrays a fundamental misconception of the federal budget. Before the pandemic, government revenue under Trump was always supposed to go up year after year, despite the tax cut. That's because the tax cut merely slowed the growth of revenue; it did not reduce it. The Trump tax bill was estimated in 2017 to reduce taxes by $280 billion in 2019 and $259 billion in 2020. Those sound like big numbers, but even so, the tax revenue collected was also anticipated to keep going up, year after year, because the tax cut was too small to offset anticipated gains in revenue from inflation and anticipated economic growth."

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