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 opened the door to restricting access to contraception and Plan B, and then Marco Rubio tried to cover for his attacks on reproductive freedoms; MAGA extremists in Louisiana voted to criminalize possession of medication abortion; Trump’s MAGA minions fell in line to tank the bipartisan border deal at his command; Trump admitted he put Michael Whatley in charge of the RNC because he’s an election denier; Trump said he wants an extreme election denier as a running mate and Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes contenders tripped over themselves to push his election denialism; Trump begged for money from Big Oil and Gas CEOs as he promised to roll back environmental regulations; Trump and the RNC brought back ultra-MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski to run the Republican National Convention.

Trump left the door open to restricting access to contraception and Plan B. Then, Marco Rubio tried to cover for Trump and MAGA Republicans’  all-out assault on women’s reproductive freedoms.

Interviewer: “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?

Trump: “We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting.”

Interviewer: “That suggests that you may want to support some restrictions? Like the morning after pill?

Trump: “You know, things really do have a lot to do with the states. And some states are going to have different policies than others.”

Rolling Stone: “Trump on Restricting Access to Contraception: ‘We’re Looking at That’”

Washington Post: “‘He’s using the Senate floor to give all his vulnerable Democrats something to vote on,’ Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said. ‘There is no threat to contraception nationally. … It’s all made up stuff.’”

Mother Jones: “Marco Rubio’s Plan Could Cut Off Birth Control Coverage for Millions”

“A new bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a rising conservative star and leading contender for the Republican vice-presidential nomination in 2012, could cut off birth control coverage for millions of women who receive it through their health plans.”

CBS News: “Earlier this year, Rubio co-sponsored the Blunt Amendment, a measure that would allow any employer to stop providing insurance coverage for items such as birth control if the employer finds those items morally objectionable.”

Rolling Stone: “Inside the MAGA Plan to Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban the Abortion Pill”

“The attacks on mifepristone and resurrection of Comstock stand out as particularly harmful proposals, but they are only two of the dozens of ways the Republicans behind Project 2025 envision restricting access to abortion and contraception if they win the White House next year. Elsewhere in the document, there are proposals to eliminate the morning-after pill from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate under the rationale that it is a ‘potential abortifacient.’”

MAGA Republicans in Louisiana voted to restrict access to medication abortion. As a reminder, Trump and his VP contenders want to ban medication abortion across the country. 

Associated Press: “Louisiana Legislature approves bill classifying abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances”

Washington Post: “Louisiana would become the first state in the country to include mifepristone and misoprostol in the same category as opioids, depressants and other drugs that can be highly addictive.

“The bill includes the threat of incarceration and fines for an individual possessing the pills without a valid prescription or outside of professional practice.”

Tennessee Lookout: “A total of 145 members of Congress from 36 states, who opposed access to mifepristone remaining as it is today, submitted their own 39-page brief in the case, calling on the Supreme Court to limit access.”

Signers include: Katie Britt, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Michael Waltz.

Cindy Hyde-Smith: “U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Congressman Bob Latta (R-Ohio) today reintroduced their Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act to strengthen federal controls over the regulation and distribution of chemical abortion drugs.

“The 31 original cosponsors of the Senate measure include: … Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), … Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Mike Lee (R-Utah), … Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) … Tim Scott (R-S.C.) … Michael Waltz (R-Fla.).”

Trump’s MAGA minions — including his VP contenders — once again fell in line to tank the bipartisan border security deal for Trump’s own political gain.

New York Times: “Republicans Against Border Enforcement”

Vox: “Trump made this clear when he reportedly urged Republicans in Congress to turn against the bipartisan Senate border security bill scheduled for a vote Wednesday so that he could keep the issue alive through the presidential election. His supporters have largely fallen in line.”

Annie Karni, New York Times: “Endless loop: Tim Scott says he is opposed to the stand-alone foreign aid bill because ‘we should first secure our southern border.’ He opposed the deal that included efforts to do that, parroting Trump talking points that it didn’t do enough.”

JD Vance: “[The bipartisan border security bill] does nothing to secure the border.” 

CNN: “Rubio: Border Patrol union is wrong on immigration deal”

Melanie Zanona, CNN: “Stefanik, a Trump ally & member of the House GOP leadership team, says the Senate’s bipartisan border deal is an ‘absolute non-starter’”

Newsweek: “Fox News Host Confronts [Byron Donalds] on ‘Killing’ Border Deal for Trump”

The Hill: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said her Republican colleagues in the upper chamber who are backing bipartisan immigration and funding legislation that is the subject of ongoing negotiations are ‘willing to be traitors to our country.’”

Mediaite: “Fox News’ Martha MacCallum pushed back when Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) claimed she was against the newly released bipartisan Senate border bill.”

Vivek Ramaswamy: “The border bill in Congress is a joke.”

Fox News: “Republicans are adamantly opposed [to the bipartisan border security bill], like Sens. Tom Cotton, Mike Lee… and others.”

WKRN: “Blackburn to vote ‘no’ on bipartisan Senate border bill”

Washington Post: “Though [Katie Britt] helped negotiate a bipartisan border security deal, she ultimately voted against it after Trump signaled to congressional Republicans that no immigration policy should pass during the election year.”

Trump proclaimed himself the “greatest denier in history” and admitted he handpicked Michael Whatley to lead the RNC because of his extreme election-denying record. 

Washington Post: “Trump repeated his false claims of the 2020 election being stolen and said that Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley was the most important person in the room because he is ‘going to stop the cheating.’

“‘We call it save the vote, guard the vote, stop the steal,’ he said, referring to what the RNC needed to be doing. 

[…]

“He said he picked Whatley for the job because he did not lose North Carolina ‘in the middle of the night’ like he did some other states, when he alleged more ballots came in to cost him the election. Before his current position, Whatley was chair of North Carolina’s Republican Party.

“‘If you talk about it, you’re a denier,’ he said of his false claims of the 2020 election, according to the notes. ‘I’m the greatest denier in history.’”

Trump also made it clear he wants an election denier to be his running mate. His VP contenders are tripping over themselves to defend his MAGA agenda and refuse to commit to certifying the outcome of the election. 

Interviewer: “Do you have any regrets about picking Mike Pence as your vice president? And what will you do differently this time around when you’re vetting your VP?”

Trump: “Mike did a good job until the end when he didn’t have the courage to do what you have to do. … I believe if he did that, because by that time, a lot was learned about the corruption, if he did that, I believe you would have had different election results.”

NBC News: “None of these potential vice presidential picks have committed to accepting the 2024 election results, whether Trump wins or loses.”

Abby Phillip, CNN: “If Donald Trump loses the election in 2024, will you accept the results of that election?”

Donalds: “My answer has been very clear on this.”

Phillip: “It’s a yes or no question.”

Donalds: *refuses to commit to accepting the results*

Phillip: “So your answer is conditional on– based on?”

Donalds: “My answer is always conditional.”

Laura Coates, CNN: “Will you accept the results of the 2024 election regardless of who wins, yes or no?”

Carson: “I will accept the results if it’s done in a fair and transparent way.”

Coates: “Do you have reason to doubt that it would be done in a fair and transparent way?”

Carson: “Well let me put it this way: In the 2020 election, there were a lot of irregularities.” 

Axios: “Republicans are increasingly joining former President Trump on hedging or dodging when asked whether they’ll accept the results of the 2024 elections.”

The Independent: “All the Republicans who have signaled they won’t accept 2024 election results”

Trump once again begged to be bought and paid for by Big Oil and Gas special interest backers, promising to roll back environmental regulations if re-elected. 

USA Today: “Donald Trump raises money from the oil and gas industry”

Houston Chronicle: “Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear for a luncheon and reception in Houston Wednesday, as part of a fundraising swing through Texas aimed at deep-pocketed oil donors. … The luncheon comes as Trump has ramped up his efforts to woo the oil and gas sector, with the former president reportedly telling executives at a private dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida they should donate $1 billion to his campaign because he would reduce taxes and regulatory oversight over the oil industry.”

New York Times: “The luncheon [is] organized by three oil executives. … The private luncheon to benefit MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, comes about a month after Mr. Trump hosted energy executives over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida. He asked them to donate $1 billion to his campaign so that he could retake the White House and dismantle Mr. Biden’s climate regulations.”

The Guardian: “Trump promised to scrap climate laws if US oil bosses donated $1bn – report”

Financial Times: “Donald Trump taps Texas oil tycoons in bid to close cash gap with Joe Biden”

Trump and the RNC brought back ultra-MAGA creep Corey Lewandowski to run the Republican National Convention.

National Review: “Trump Campaign Bringing on Corey Lewandowski for Convention”

Politico: “Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is back”

“In a filing Monday with the Federal Election Commission, the RNC reported paying the money to Lewandowski’s firm on April 24 for ‘management consulting.’

 […]

“No stranger to controversy, Lewandowski was Trump’s first campaign manager in his 2016 presidential bid. He has served in and been forced out of other roles in Trump’s sprawling political operation, including being removed from a top post with a pro-Trump super PAC in 2021.

“Lewandowski at the time was accused by a top Trump donor’s wife, Trashelle Odom, of making unwanted sexual advances towards her while at a Las Vegas charity dinner. He was later charged with a misdemeanor, but entered an agreement with prosecutors to have the charge dismissed in exchange for completing impulse control counseling, community service and paying a fine.”

Politico: “Lewandowski was also charged with battery in 2016 after yanking the arm of a reporter, Michelle Fields, at a Trump campaign event. The charges were later dropped, but Lewandowski, who at the time was serving as Trump’s campaign manager, claimed the incident never happened before video emerged confirming that it did.”