The day after Labor Day traditionally marks the start of the general election season. Republicans have spent nearly a decade running One America News—ceding control of the party to extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene And Anna Paulina Luna; eliminate anyone who does not follow Trump’s line, such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, And Jeff Flake; and elected “MAGA” as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, The person most qualified for the job is leading a legal brief aimed at overturning the 2020 election. Now, the GOP is making a last-minute pivot, trying to appeal to voters who don’t have “MAGA123” license plates.
Typical example: Last week, Donald Trump, who has openly bragged about undercutting reproductive rights, has outlined plans to protect IVF if elected. Remember, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would codify access to IVF when Democrats Tammy Duckworth brought it to the floor in June. Those Republicans included very normal people, not at all strange JD Vance, along with every other member of his group, except for two (relatively) sober ones: Susan Collins And Lisa Murkowski. State Republicans have followed suit; for example, Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are actually children (yes, eight-cell children), forcing IVF clinics to stop their services. While this stance may sound crazy, it’s entirely consistent with the stance of the Heritage Foundation, the think tank that published Project 2025, which has long advocated the concept of “fetal personhood” and argued that IVF should be regulated.
Overall, the GOP has brought nothing but danger to IVF. But Trump is trying to weigh in on the issue, saying in an interview with NBC News last week that his administration would “pay for that treatment. We’re going to require insurance companies to pay for it.” It’s no surprise that he would say this, given how popular IVF is: About 42% of Americans have used fertility treatments or know someone who has, according to a September 2023 Pew Research Center report, while a CBS News–YouGov poll released earlier this year found that 86% of Americans think IVF should be legalized. That’s much of voters. But here’s the thing: During the first Trump administration, the former president tried to repeal Obamacare, the federally funded health care program that Republican Sen. John McCain saved in 2017 when he broke with his party. So does that mean Trump now favors some form of public health care?
Trump isn’t the only one trying to rebrand himself in a less radical way. Consider JD Vance’s stance on the federal child tax credit, which was temporarily increased to $3,600 under Joe Bidenpandemic relief plan for 2021. “I would love to see a child tax credit of $5,000 per child,” Vance said. Facing the nation in August. Child poverty hit a record low the year the higher tax credit took effect, so kudos to Vance for backing it now! But the inconvenient truth is, just days before it appeared on Face the nation, Vance voted for a bill that would have expanded the child tax credit; it failed in the Senate by a vote of 48-44. So when Vance said he “would like” to see a larger child tax credit, he had a lot to explain.
It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly why people like Trump and Vance have shifted to more centrist policies, but if I had to hazard a guess, it’s for the same reason Trump rejected Project 2025: The GOP’s actual policies are deeply unpopular. No one wants tax cuts for the rich and corporations, pardons for Trump and the January 6 rioters, or what many economists predict will be inflationary tariffs. Now the former president is suddenly trying to neutralize his terrible base with vague centrist policies. But make no mistake: If he takes office, Trump will almost certainly abandon his attempts at moderation and put his dystopian vision into practice, from setting up mass deportation camps for migrants to creating a federal bureaucracy full of loyalists.
The popular will and the GOP are as in sync as Trump and his teleprompter, largely because the former president’s antics have touched every corner of the GOP. In the House, which Republicans are desperately trying to hold on to, you have centrists like Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Anthony D’Esposito, And Brandon Williams—all supported Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House and voted to impeach both Biden and the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas. How can these congressmen advertise themselves as “wise” moderates when they vote with Marjorie Taylor Green, sans coat? Jim Jordan, And are the rest of the QAnon crazies actually right 99% of the time? Hard to say. But one thing is certain: By embracing the craziest part of their base, they will eventually have to answer for it—if journalists bother to ask.
