MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week
April 26, 2024
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: Trump bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade again; election-denying trio Lauren Boebert, Donald Trump Jr., and Alex Bruesewitz campaigned together in Colorado; Trump faced an embarrassing primary result in Pennsylvania; a Project 2025 architect said they will be coordinating with Trump’s campaign; MAGA minion Kristi Noem doubled down on her cruel belief in forced birth for rape and incest survivors; Kari Lake said she was upset that Arizona was not enforcing its 1864 near-total abortion ban; and Mitch McConnell blamed Trump for tanking the bipartisan border deal. Oh, and Lara Trump said there are 81 states.
Donald Trump yet again took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade and the cruel abortion bans that MAGA Republicans have put in place.
Trump: “We terminated Roe v. Wade. … It’s really working out well for people. And they’re very, very happy.”
Pathetic election-denying trio Lauren Boebert, Donald Trump Jr., and Alex Bruesewitz teamed up for a MAGA mixer.
Washington Examiner: “Democrats ding Boebert for Trump Jr., Bruesewitz ‘MAGA minions’ mixer”
“In particular, the Democratic National Committee is criticizing Boebert for holding a fundraiser Thursday in Windsor, Colorado, with Donald Trump Jr. and Alex Bruesewitz, a Trumpworld political consultant and conservative activist who helped organize the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, but did not take part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“‘The last time Lauren Boebert, Alex Bruesewitz, and Donald Trump Jr. teamed up, it was to try to overturn the 2020 election results,’ DNC spokeswoman Aida Ross told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
“‘These three MAGA minions are now pushing an extreme platform to threaten our democracy while Trump continues to center his presidential campaign on his dangerous election denialism and promises to pardon violent insurrectionists,’ Ross said. ‘It’s a losing formula for the Republican Party, and voters will stop these anti-democracy extremists at the polls this November.’”
Trump and his weak campaign faced another embarrassing primary result — this time in Pennsylvania, where over 150,000 people voted for Nikki Haley, who hasn’t been in the race for over 50 days.
The Hill: “Haley attracts more than 150K votes in Pennsylvania GOP primary, weeks after dropping bid”
“Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley received more than 150,000 votes in the Pennsylvania GOP primary Tuesday despite having dropped out of the race almost two months ago.
“The most recent election returns, from just after 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, show Haley with nearly 157,000 votes, enough for 16.6 percent of the total, with 90 percent of votes cast counted.”
NOTUS: “In a state where President Joe Biden won by 80,000 votes, if even a portion of those Haley voters are Republicans who voted for Trump in 2020 or 2016 but refused to do so again, it could be enough to make a significant impact this year.
“Trump has regularly mocked Haley since she dropped out of the primary without endorsing him in March.
“‘Donald Trump and the RNC have made it very clear that if you aren’t an election-denying MAGA extremist, they don’t want your vote,’ DNC spokesperson Aida Ross said in a statement to NOTUS.”
Daily Beast: “Trump Bruised by Another Brutal Haley Protest Vote in Pennsylvania Primary”
“‘Nikki Haley dropped out of the race over a month ago, yet she is polling nicely in PA,’ Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as Trump’s White House communications director, wrote in a post on X. ‘Trump has no shot to win the presidency. Write it down and study it. And if you are with him: CRY.’”
A senior advisor for Project 2025 — an “undeniably a Trump-driven operation” — said the Trump campaign will integrate many of their initiatives later this year.
Media Matters: “Project 2025 adviser says the initiative will ‘integrate a lot of our work’ with the Trump campaign later this year”
“‘Obviously, there will need to be coordination and the president and his team will announce an official transition this summer, and we’re gonna integrate a lot of our work with them. But I think keeping the two separate is actually the most beneficial way to go about it,’ [said Project 2025 senior adviser John McEntee.]
“Project 2025 is a comprehensive transition plan organized by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to guide the next GOP presidential administration. Backed by an advisory board of over 100 conservative groups, the initiative aims to implement an extremist agenda that represents a threat to democracy, civil rights, the climate, and more.”
Kristi Noem made clear she believes rape and incest survivors should be forced to give birth while defending South Dakota’s extreme abortion ban.
Dana Bash: “Do you think there should be exceptions for rape and incest, for example?”
Noem: “… I just don’t believe a tragedy should perpetuate another tragedy.”
The Hill: “Trump VP hopeful Noem opposes exceptions for rape, incest in abortion ban”
“Pressed by Bash on her own beliefs, Noem said she is ‘pro-life’ and does not support exceptions for rape or incest.”
“South Dakota’s abortion ban is one of the strictest in the country. The law was a trigger ban that went into effect in 2022 shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected abortion rights nationwide.”
Trump’s MAGA ally Kari Lake said it was unfortunate that Arizona is not enforcing a cruel and archaic near-total abortion ban from 1864.
CNN: “Kari Lake bemoans fact that Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban is not being enforced, in another apparent shift”
“‘The Arizona Supreme Court said this is the law of Arizona, but unfortunately, the people running our state have said we’re not going to enforce it. So it’s really political theater,’ Lake said in an interview with Idaho Dispatch on Saturday during a visit to the state.”
The Hill: “Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake in an interview with an Idaho media outlet expressed disappointment that her state’s 1864 law banning nearly all abortions is not being enforced, backtracking on comments she made earlier this month when she said the resurrected measure went too far.”
Mitch McConnell said the quiet part out loud – there’s only one person responsible for tanking the toughest, fairest border security bill in decades: Donald Trump.
NBC News: “McConnell told reporters on Tuesday, hours before the impending passage of the bill, that Trump had a role in delaying the passage of Ukraine aid because of his resistance to a bipartisan border deal.
“‘[O]ur nominee for president didn’t seem to want us to do anything at all.’”
“Trump pressured Republicans to kill the bill anyway, saying on social media that ‘we need a Strong, Powerful, and essentially ‘PERFECT’ Border and, unless we get that, we are better off not making a Deal.’”
The New Yorker: “Last month, at a closed-door meeting of the Senate G.O.P. caucus, [McConnell] told his colleagues that Donald Trump’s hostility to a political deal on the southern border had left the Party ‘in a quandary’ and would likely doom any effort to pass bipartisan legislation this year.”
Lara Trump and her top-notch legal team at the RNC have been hard at work with active lawsuits in… 81 states?
HuffPost: “Lara Trump Claims RNC Has Lawsuits In A Literally Unbelievable Number Of States”
“Since most maps and atlases list only 50 states in the United States of America, it’s possible ― very possible ― that she was incorrect.
“HuffPost reached out to the RNC for clarity, but no one immediately responded.”
The Wrap: “Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Lara Trump for Saying Trump Team Has ‘Lawsuits in 81 States’”
“Some of Donald Trump’s allies are still clinging to the disproven claim that the 2020 election saw mass voter fraud that prevented him from winning, with new RNC co-chair Lara Trump recently claiming that they have ‘lawsuits in 81 states right now.’ Naturally, Jimmy Kimmel took aim at that statement during his monologue on Wednesday night.
“‘Not just Tennessee, eleven-essee, twelve-essee,’ Kimmel joked. ‘West Dakota, South Virginia. Indiana, Out-diana, you name it, they’re suing.’”