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 is begging ultra-wealthy donors for money in exchange for handouts; Trump and Project 2025 are plotting to gut contraception access; MAGA extremists continue to push cruel a cruel anti-abortion agenda across the country; Tim Scott, Tom Cotton, and Michael Whatley still won’t commit to accepting this November’s election results; Trump got loud, resounding boos from Libertarians at their party convention; and the RNC closed yet another Hispanic community center in a battleground state. 

Donald Trump continues to beg his ultra-wealthy donors for campaign cash, promising handouts and political favors if they bankroll his flailing campaign.

Washington Post: “Trump makes sweeping promises to donors on audacious fundraising tour”

“As he closed his pitch at the Pierre Hotel, Trump explained to the group why it was in their interest to cut large checks. If he was not put back in office, taxes would go up for them under President Biden, who vows to let Trump-era tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations expire at the end of 2025.

“Seconds after promising the tax cuts, Trump made his pitch explicit. ‘So whatever you guys can do, I appreciate it,’ he said.

“In one recent meeting staged by his super PAC, Trump asked oil industry executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign and said raising such a sum would be a ‘deal’ given how much money they would save if he were reelected as president.”

Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump suggested to oil executive donors this month that he could ease the Federal Trade Commission’s scrutiny of their industry’s mergers and acquisitions if he returns to the White House, according to five people familiar with the matter.”

Washington Examiner: “Trump woos donors with promises supporting him will be a good business move”

MSNBC: “Trump, desperate for donations, is telling his wealthy supporters that if they put money in his campaign coffers, he’ll put money in their pockets.”

Trump and his extreme Project 2025 allies are plotting to gut contraception access. 

Politico: “As president, Trump enacted several policies that made it more difficult for people, particularly the working class and the poor, to obtain contraception — from allowing more employers to opt out of birth control coverage in their workers’ health insurance to imposing restrictions on the Title X family planning program that triggered a mass exodus of clinics.

“Conservative allies want to reimpose those policies and go further if he wins in November. Their ‘Project 2025’ blueprint includes proposals to require coverage of natural family planning methods and remove requirements that insurance cover certain emergency contraception.

“Taken together, the policies highlight the many ways a second Trump administration could hamper access to contraception, short of a blanket ban. The impact would also be much greater now that roughly one-third of states prohibit nearly all abortions.”

Thanks to Trump overturning Roe v. Wade, MAGA extremists are continuing to push a cruel anti-abortion agenda and attacks on reproductive freedoms across the country.

Louisiana Illuminator: “Louisiana lawmaker shelves IVF protection bill, leaving questions about legal challenges”

HuffPost: “Texas GOP Appears To Put Death Penalty For Abortion Patients On 2024 Wish List”

“The Republican Party of Texas is considering a platform that appears to endorse the death penalty for abortion providers and patients.”

Common Dreams: “Southeast Abortion Clinic Wait Times Soared After Florida Ban”

In Trump’s MAGA veepstakes, election denialism is a litmus test. Tim Scott and Tom Cotton refused to commit to accepting November’s election results while furthering Trump’s dangerous election denialism.

Dana Bash, CNN: “A lot of Republicans have been refusing to commit to accepting the election results in 2024. You haven’t done so yet. … Will you vote to certify the election, no matter who wins?”

Scott: “Well, certainly we expect a fair and honest election. And as a result of that expectation, we will certify the election and certify President Donald Trump as our 47th president.”

Mediaite: “Tim Scott Yet Again Gives Dodgy Answer When Asked if He’ll Certify the 2024 Election”

“Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who has repeatedly dodged making a commitment to certifying the 2024 election, gave another nebulous answer. … Bash’s interview follows a recent, viral exchange between Scott and Kristen Welker on Meet The Press — in which Scott refused six times to commit to accepting the election results.”

Daily Beast: “Trump VP Hopeful Tim Scott Repeatedly Refuses to Say He’d Accept a 2024 Loss” 

NBC News: “Sen. Tim Scott dodges on whether he would accept 2024 election results”

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “Are you going to promise to not attempt to overturn the results of the ‘24 election when it comes?”

Cotton: “Well, obviously, we should accept the results of the election as long as all of the elections are free and fair, and that’s based on at least 50 different states if not more. What I won’t do… is renounce in advance the ability to challenge any kind of fraud or unfairness in the elections.”

Trump’s “Stop the Steal Guy” and handpicked RNC chair Michael Whatley also failed to say he would unequivocally accept the results of November’s election.

Michael Whatley: “They want to try and put Republicans in a box and say that they won’t accept the election results. The fact of the matter is when we have fair elections, when we get the results that are going to be fair, accurate, secure, and transparent, then we’re going to accept those. Look, I look forward to having President Trump back in the White House.”

Trump got mercilessly heckled and booed throughout his bizarre speech at the Libertarian National Convention.

The Guardian: “‘No wannabe dictators!’: Donald Trump booed at Libertarian convention”

Associated Press: “Trump, accustomed to friendly crowds, confronts repeated booing during Libertarian convention speech”

“Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing the Libertarian Party National Convention on Saturday night, with many in the crowd shouting insults and decrying him for things like his COVID-19 policies, running up towering federal deficits and lying about his political record.

“One of the candidates vying for the Libertarian presidential nomination, Michael Rectenwald, declared from the stage before the former president arrived that ‘none of us are great fans of Donald Trump.’ After his speech, Rectenwald and other Libertarian White House hopefuls took the stage to scoff at Trump and his speech.”

Reuters: “Trump booed and heckled by raucous crowd at Libertarian convention”

“When Trump took to the stage in Washington, there were loud boos and jeers.

“Trump said he was a ‘libertarian without even trying to be one,’ and that the Libertarian Party should endorse him, another line greeted by boos and jeers.

“He pledged to put a libertarian in his cabinet if he wins the election, which was met by cries of ‘bullsh*t!’”

The RNC’s lack of ground game was exposed yet again as a Hispanic outreach center in Arizona closed its doors.

Arizona Public Radio: “RNC Hispanic Community Center in Tucson no longer operational” 

“The Republican National Committee’s Hispanic Community Center in Tucson is closed and appears to be undergoing a remodeling after opening in August 2022.

“The center was a part of the RNC’s move to increase voter outreach to marginalized communities ahead of the 2022 General Election.

“Tucson’s center was opened in August of 2022, nearly seven months after the official Congressional district map was approved and certified. There has not been another redistricting since. The redistricting process takes place every ten years after the census.

“According to reporting from the Copper Courier, Phoenix’s RNC Hispanic Community Center is now a Cricket Wireless store.”