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: JD Vance called school shootings just a "fact of life" after yet another incident of horrific gun violence; Donald Trump said his deeply unpopular Project 2025 agenda has things "that everybody would like"; a fundraiser for January 6 rioters at Trump's Bedminster golf club was indefinitely postponed; new reporting showed Vance endorsed and promoted a blueprint from a Project 2025 architect that attacked IVF and called for banning abortion nationwide; a key Project 2025 contributor campaigned for Trump in Wisconsin; new analyses show how a second Trump term would be an economic disaster; Trump, Vance and their anti-worker agenda were completely absent from the campaign trail on Labor Day; Vance cozied up to ultra-MAGA extremists (again); and RNC Chair Michael Whatley admitted Vice President Harris' plan for supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is a "good idea."

JD Vance called school shootings just a "fact of life" yesterday after yet another incident of horrific gun violence.

Associated Press: "Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a 'fact of life' and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia."

While trying (and failing) to distance himself from Project 2025, Donald Trump said the deeply unpopular MAGA blueprint has things "that everybody would like."

Trump: "There are some things in there that everybody would like."

Navigator Research: "Project 2025 Has Become Significantly More Unfavorable Since Trump Attempted to Distance Himself From the Plan"

Miami Herald: "As Americans learn more about Project 2025, they become more opposed, poll finds"

Navigator Research: "Americans oppose all the key elements in Project 2025, with the greatest concerns around health care, worker's rights, and dismantling federal programs."

As Trump continues to celebrate insurrectionists and promise them pardons, a fundraiser for January 6 rioters at his Bedminster golf club was indefinitely postponed.

New York Times: "Fund-Raiser for Jan. 6 Rioters at Trump's Golf Club Is Postponed"

"The event's location, Mr. Trump's golf club in Bedminster, N.J., highlighted the former president's attempts to normalize the events of Jan. 6, including by often praising those who took part in the Capitol attack. … Even though the future of the event is now in doubt, it was in keeping with Mr. Trump's persistent efforts to rewrite the history of Jan. 6."

New reporting revealed that Vance championed a report from Project 2025 architects that attacked IVF and called for banning abortion nationwide.

New York Times: "Vance Championed 2017 Report on Families From Architects of Project 2025"

"Years before he became the Republican vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance endorsed a little-noticed 2017 report by the Heritage Foundation that proposed a sweeping conservative agenda to restrict sexual and reproductive freedoms and remake American families.

"In a series of 29 separate essays, conservative commentators, policy experts, community leaders and Christian clergy members opposed the spread of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments, describing those treatments as harmful to women. They praised the rapidly expanding number of state laws restricting abortion rights and access, saying that the procedure should become 'unthinkable' in America…

"Mr. Vance, then known as the author of a best-selling memoir, became a champion of the project. He wrote the introduction and praised the volume as 'admirable,' and was the keynote speaker at the public release of the report at Heritage's offices in Washington…

"Taken together, the pieces in the report amount to an effort to instruct Americans on what their families should be, when to grow them and the best way to raise their children. Authors argued in the 2017 report that women should become pregnant at younger ages and that a two-parent, heterosexual household was the 'ideal' environment for children…

"One of the essays takes a deeply skeptical view of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments, arguing that they cause women to be 'lured into the belief that they can have children whenever they are finally ready.'"

A key Project 2025 contributor campaigned for Trump in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Project 2025 contributor coming to Milwaukee to tout Trump's 'Agenda 47'"

"Conservative commentator Monica Crowley is coming to Milwaukee today to tout former President Donald Trump's economic policies.

"Crowley, who will be in town for the 'Team Trump Agenda 47 Policy Tour,' was also listed as a contributor to Project 2025.

"The Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project was created by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation in conjunction with more than 100 conservative organizations, according to its website. Heritage was a sponsor of the July Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

"And while Trump has tried to distance himself from it, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that he knows 'nothing about Project 2025,' a July USA TODAY analysis found that at least 31 of the project's 38 creators had connections with Trump's administration.

"And, his platform overlaps with Project 2025's proposals on such topics as illegal immigration and shutting down the Department of Education, USA TODAY previously reported in a fact check."

New analysis shows that a second Trump term would be an economic disaster and cost the U.S. as much as $10.5 TRILLION over a decade.

The Hill: "Analysts at Goldman Sachs are warning of diminished economic performance if former President Trump is elected and able to implement his agenda."

Bloomberg: "Republican nominee Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance are campaigning on a grab bag of tax cut proposals that could collectively cost as much as $10.5 trillion over a decade, a massive sum that would exceed the combined budgets of every domestic federal agency.

"The combined cost of the Trump plans is so big that if Congress were to try to pass the tax cut proposals and keep spending flat, it means they could continue to fund the military, federal benefit programs, like Social Security, pay interest on the debt - and nothing else. That means eliminating major federal agencies that handle duties such as law enforcement, border security, air traffic control, tax collection and international relations.

"Trump has made extending his signature tax law the centerpiece of his agenda. The Congressional Budget Office says that would cost $4.6 trillion over ten years. He's also floated lowering the corporate rate to 15% from 21%, adding another $874 billion to the total, according to a budget model by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget."

Trump and Vance were completely absent from the campaign trail on Labor Day, not bothering to defend their unpopular, anti-worker agenda.

Newsweek: "Trump and his running mate JD Vance did not host any events, a marked contrast from previous election cycles and from their opponents Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

"'Donald Trump and JD Vance have been absent from the campaign trail this Labor Day weekend because they know their anti-worker agenda is extreme, unpopular, and would devastate America's working class,' the Democratic campaign said in a statement. 'The Trump-Vance Project 2025 playbook would make it harder for workers to form unions and gut overtime pay-all while raising taxes on the middle class and rigging the economy for billionaires and big corporations.'"

Vance campaigned in Arizona with an "anti-gay" pastor with a history of hateful remarks and anti-choice extremist Charlie Kirk.

NBC News: "Vance to speak at event hosted in part by pastor with history of homophobic remarks"

"In one post on his X account from July of this year, [lead pastor Ryan] Visconti wrote that in order for 'America to be 'great again,' we need to go back to opposing the abomination of gay mirage [sic] & abortion as we did before.' A separate post from the fall of 2023 features Visconti saying that in 'God's eyes, there's no such thing as 'gay marriage,' and argued in a lengthy thread posted earlier that year that 'God wants homosexuals to repent and change.'"

Charlie Kirk: "You don't have abortion rights… Young ladies, you have no idea what you are doing."

Even RNC Chair Michael Whatley thinks Vice President Harris' plan for supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is a "good idea."

New Republic: "Head of Trump's RNC Forced to Admit Harris's Idea Is Really Good"

Stuart Varney, Fox Business: "I just want to press the point, when a political candidate comes up with what I think is a good idea, I have to call it a good idea. And a $50,000 tax cut, not tax cut but a tax credit for start ups or small businesses coupled with less red tape, I got to say that is a good idea…"

RNC Chair Michael Whatley: "Well, that may be a good idea…"

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