It’s no surprise Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, and Glenn Youngkin are flocking to rub shoulders with extremists at the Heritage Foundation’s Leadership Summit this week, given their MAGA agendas mirror the group’s priorities: banning abortion nationwide, gutting Social Security and Medicare, and gifting big corporations and the ultra-rich with tax handouts. 

DeSantis, Scott, and Youngkin have each pushed extreme abortion bans in their own right, all of which reflect Heritage’s endorsement of a national abortion ban before many women know they’re pregnant.

Heritage Foundation: “We will advance the Heartbeat Protection Act to prohibit abortion nationwide after the moment a heartbeat can be detected. At the state level, we will work with governors, legislators, and other state-based allies to pass heartbeat laws (or better) on abortion.”

Tampa Bay Times: “Late Thursday night, in a private ceremony in his office, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. … His office announced the signing in a highly unusual news release sent out after 11 p.m., then updated his schedule to say the ceremony happened at 10:45 p.m.”

Tim Scott: “The people have decided that their elected leaders have the opportunity to do so, so I say absolutely … If I were president of the United States, I would literally sign the most conservative pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.”

DC News Now: “Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he was ‘frustrated’ with state Democrats after a swift rejection Thursday of his proposed 15-week ban on abortion.”

Like Scott and DeSantis, the Heritage Foundation has called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. 

Heritage Foundation: “Congress should reduce the size and scope of federal entitlement programs, with an emphasis on protecting the most vulnerable, and give individuals greater control and ownership of their health care and financial well-being.”

CNN: “A CNN KFile review of comments from DeSantis‘ 2012 congressional campaign found he repeatedly said he supported plans to replace Medicare with a system in which the government paid for partial costs of private plans or a traditional Medicare plan. In one interview with a local newspaper, DeSantis said he supported ‘the same thing’ for Social Security, citing the need for ‘market forces’ to restructure the program.”

Washington Post: “Other potential entrants in the Republican primary, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, also voted for Ryan’s [proposal to cut and privatize Medicare] when they were in Congress.

“‘There’s no doubt that we have to wrestle this beast to the ground and do the right thing,’ Scott said on Fox News in 2012. ‘The fact is that if we don’t start having a real conversation about people in their 40s and younger about the transformation of the system, it won’t be available for folks now in their 20s and 30s.’”

The Heritage Foundation and these 2024 hopefuls have similarly made tax breaks for big corporations and the super-wealthy one of their top priorities.

Heritage Foundation: “Phase two of tax reform should build on the success of the TCJA by making much of it permanent, allowing a few provisions to expire, and addressing many remaining issues not included in the 2017 law.”

New York Times: “A new tax break that President Trump frequently touts as a boon to Black Americans and hard-hit communities is spurring relatively little job creation while disproportionately helping high-profit real estate projects and not small businesses, an extensive new study by the Urban Institute has found.”

Scott: “In 2017, I was one of the architects of reforming the personal side of the tax code.”

Seeking Rents: “Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled state Legislature teamed up to pass a pair of bills that made it easier for billionaires to hide their fortunes from the outside world — and from federal taxes.”

Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Youngkin seeks additional $1 billion in individual, corporate tax cuts”

“The governor’s new tax plan would lower the top individual income tax rate from 5.75% to 5.5%, despite a recent state study that recommended moving in the opposite direction to make the state’s income tax system fairer to Virginians who pay a higher share of their income in taxes than the wealthiest taxpayers.”

“The governor wants to provide tax relief to businesses by cutting the corporate income tax rate from 6% to 5%.”