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 celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a “victory” after new reporting showed that Donald Trump’s abortion bans lead to preventable deaths; Vance correctly said Trump has been consistent about his extreme, anti-choice agenda; Trump’s MAGA minions in the Senate once again blocked legislation to protect IVF access nationwide – and Vance couldn’t even be bothered to show up for the vote; Trump continued to pressure Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson to shut down the government; Vance failed to disavow Mark Robinson after yesterday’s horrific reporting; Vance made clear that the Trump-Vance health care plan is to rip away protections from people with preexisting conditions; and Trump once again lied about his loss in the 2020 election.

Hours after new reporting showed that Donald Trump’s abortion bans across the country are leading to preventable deaths, JD Vance celebrated Trump’s overturning of Roe v. Wade as a “victory.”

Vance: “The Supreme Court’s decision [to overturn Roe v. Wade] was a victory… We’re united in our gratitude and our admiration for these devoted defenders of the unborn and for the judges, justices, and especially President Trump, whose commitment to defending the law and the constitution allowed this breakthrough after over 50 years.”

ProPublica: “Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable.”

“In her final hours, Amber Nicole Thurman suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat. […]

“But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison. […]

“It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate. By then, it was too late.”

ProPublica: “Afraid to Seek Care Amid Georgia’s Abortion Ban, She Stayed at Home and Died”

“Candi Miller’s health was so fragile, doctors warned having another baby could kill her. […]

“But when the mother of three realized she had unintentionally gotten pregnant in the fall of 2022, Georgia’s new abortion ban gave her no choice. Although it made exceptions for acute, life-threatening emergencies, it didn’t account for chronic conditions, even those known to present lethal risks later in pregnancy. […]

“Her case adds to mounting evidence that exceptions to abortion bans do not, as billed, protect the “life of the mother.”

Vance correctly said that Trump has been consistent on his extreme, anti-choice agenda to ban abortion nationwide. 

Vance: “You take [Trump] for his word or you don’t. … He’s been as consistent as he could about [abortion].”

Associated Press: “Trump says he will support national ban on abortions around 15 weeks of pregnancy”

Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”

Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”

Trump’s MAGA minions in the Senate blocked legislation to protect IVF access nationwide (again), and his running mate Vance couldn’t even be bothered to show up for the vote.

The Independent: “IVF is supposedly key to Trump’s campaign. JD Vance didn’t even show up to vote on it”

“…it was Trump who put IVF in jeopardy. His confirmation of ultra-conservative judges to the Supreme Court led to the overturn of Roe v Wade with the Dobbs decision, which then in turn led a court in Alabama to declare embryos humans. If embryos are humans, of course, then IVF is untenable. […]

“Unsurprisingly, most Republicans opposed the motion. But what is more surprising is who did not vote at all: Trump’s running mate and man on the Hill, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. […]

“This is not the first time that Vance has skipped a vote on legislation that ostensibly matters to him. He’s previously said he supports an expanded child tax credit — but then when given a chance to vote on a bipartisan proposal that passed the House and would have included a child tax credit, he skipped the vote.”

NPR: “Senate Republicans block IVF bill, as Democrats elevate issue ahead of November election”

Trump continues to pressure Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson to shut down the government, something even Mitch McConnell knows is “beyond politically stupid.”

The Hill: “House GOP torpedoes Speaker Johnson’s funding bill”

“A diverse group of House Republicans torpedoed Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) proposal to fund the government on Wednesday, dealing an embarrassing blow to the GOP leader and derailing his strategy to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month.

“The vote outcome, nonetheless, is putting the Speaker in a bind. It leaves the path to averting a shutdown unclear, puts him in danger of disappointing former President Trump and his conference’s right-flank, and threatens to thwart his efforts to remain GOP leader in the next Congress.”

CNN: “Johnson under pressure after House fails to pass GOP funding plan and Trump pushes shutdown”

NBC News: “House Republicans reject their own funding bill with a shutdown around the corner”

“House Republicans on Wednesday defeated their own plan to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, with the party divided over the length of a short-term funding bill and what, if anything, should be attached to it.

“It was an embarrassing blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had yanked the same funding package off the floor last week amid growing GOP defections, only to watch it collapse on Wednesday in a vote that seemed doomed from the start.”

The Daily Beast: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was blunt in his assessment of a potential shutdown on Tuesday, warning that it would be ‘beyond politically stupid’ for Republicans to allow the government to shutter just weeks before the election. ‘One thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame,’ McConnell told reporters.”

Vance failed to disavow Mark Robinson after yesterday’s horrific reporting. 

CNN: “‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum”

Reporter: “Senator Vance, do you have any reaction to the Mark Robinson news?”

Vance: *rushes into other room*

Vance: “My comment on Mark Robinson is that Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Explosion Act and  because of that a lot of Americans can’t afford groceries”

Vance made clear that the Trump-Vance “concept of a plan” for health care is to rip away protections for Americans with preexisting conditions.

Washington Post: “Vance floats new health plans for chronically ill, reopening ACA debate”

“Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) this week said the Trump campaign wants to roll back the Affordable Care Act’s approach to how chronically ill Americans shop for health insurance, with the Republican vice-presidential candidate reopening a health-care debate that Democrats are eager to have — and resurrecting a fight that has repeatedly burned the GOP.

“Speaking in North Carolina on Wednesday, Vance floated an idea to group chronically ill patients together in health-insurance pools based on their elevated risks. That would reverse a shift driven by the Affordable Care Act, which largely ended the practice of shunting chronically ill patients into what are known as high-risk pools and provided new protections for patients with preexisting conditions.”

Bloomberg: “JD Vance’s Pitch Puts Obamacare Repeal Efforts Back in the Spotlight”

“Democrats are seizing on JD Vance’s pitch to do away with a bedrock part of the Affordable Care Act, saying it would cause costs for chronically ill people to spike.

“At a rally on Wednesday, Vance said a second Trump administration would work to separate people into different risk pools, allowing them ‘to choose a health care plan that works for them.’

“Such a policy would effectively end the ACA’s guarantee that people pay the same prices and get the same benefits regardless of their health status, a popular part of the program.”

Semafor: “JD Vance reopens the pre-existing condition debates”

New York Magazine: “Vance: Trump’s Health-Care Plan Is to Let Insurers Charge More for Preexisting Conditions”

The New Republic: “J.D. Vance Reveals Atrocious Little Detail of Trump’s Health Care Plan”

Trump lied – for the umpteenth time – about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election.

Trump: “If that didn’t happen, I don’t think — and I guarantee you, if the election were a straight election, we won that election. We should’ve won that election, everybody knew we won the election.”