GOP lawmakers not swayed by Trump's IVF plans

Trump keeps doubling down over Arlington cemetery visit

Also in today’s edition of “Regular Order” for September 2, 2024:

• The fall campaign kicks off today.

• Poll numbers still good for Harris & Walz.

• Jan. 6 ‘Awards Gala’ at Trump property gets canceled.

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THIS WEEK. It’s the last week of summer break for Congress. A very busy Labor Day on the campaign trail.

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GOP CONGRESS. Donald Trump has been all over the map of late when it comes to abortion rights, abortion laws, and IVF. But his various pledges and promises don't seem to have changed anything about how Republicans in Congress view those issues. In other words, GOP lawmakers aren't on board with Trump's various policy zigzags.

• IVF. One prime example is Trump's promise last week to either have Uncle Sam pick up the bill for IVF costs - a very expensive procedure - or force health insurance companies to swallow that bill. That was quickly frowned on Sunday by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is often seen as a 'Trump Whisperer' on the Sunday shows.

• ABC. "You wouldn't support this idea of mandating insurance companies to cover (IVF), would you?" Jon Karl asked Graham on ABC's 'This Week.' "No, because there's no end to that," said Graham, who instead floated a means-tested tax break on IVF costs.

• NBC. Asked why he voted to filibuster a bill on IVF in June on the Senate floor, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) called it, "Chuck Schumer's ridiculous messaging bill," during an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

SCOREBOARD. Democrats in Congress say all of Trump's talk about IVF and abortion is just talk. "If Trump believed in IVF, he would tell Republicans to pass it now instead of making promises he won’t keep," said Rep. Frederick Wilson (D-FL), as Democrats accused Trump of saying just about anything in order to try to win votes for November.

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ARLINGTON. A week after Donald Trump's botched campaign visit to Arlington National Cemetery - where he produced this campaign video that was against Army rules - Trump is still trying to make it a story. True to his roots, Trump is not retreating, but going on the attack, and his GOP allies in Congress are following.

• BOLD MOVE. Leading that charge was Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who not only defended Trump's visit to Arlington, but attacked the Pentagon, accusing the 'incompetent Secretary of the Army' of disrespecting Gold Star families. "Neither the families nor President Trump violated cemetery regulations," Cotton declared - coming to a totally different conclusion than the Army.

• FAMILIES. Over the weekend, Trump released a series of supportive videos from Gold Star families. It seemed sort of odd, given that Trump on Friday was saying those families might be to blame for releasing the TikTok campaign video about Trump’s visit to Arlington (which of course wasn’t true).

• ISSUE. As I've noted before, there's nothing wrong with Trump going after Biden and Harris on the Abbey Gate bombing, where 13 U.S. service members were killed. But Trump's record isn't clean from Afghanistan. During his time in office, 45 soldiers died in combat deaths in Afghanistan.

HARRIS. Harris surprised me this weekend, because she put out an extended statement which went after Trump in very specific terms about this Arlington cemetery issue. It was a different approach for the Vice President, who has been content over the past 6 weeks to let Trump run his mouth - and stay out of the way of his verbal carnage.

• CEMETERY. "It is not a place for politics," Harris said of Arlington National Cemetery, as she labeled the Trump visit there a 'political stunt.' "This is nothing new from Donald Trump. This is a man who has called our fallen service members “suckers” and “losers” and disparaged Medal of Honor recipients," Harris added.

• VETERAN. Democrats backed up Harris on the Trump incident at Arlington National Cemetery. "It is sacred ground for those who gave their lives to defend and protect this nation, not the backdrop for a photo op," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost both legs while serving in Iraq.

• VIDEO. We should note for the record that the Trump campaign promised a week ago to release the video of what happened when a cemetery employee tried to stop the Trump campaign from taking video and pictures in one section of Arlington. No video has been released yet.

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CAMPAIGN. With the arrival of Labor Day, meteorological summer is over. But more importantly for Election 2024, the fall campaign officially begins. Democrats will kick it off with a busy day. Vice President Kamala Harris starts off in Detroit. She will be joined by President Biden in Pittsburgh. Her running mate Gov. Tim Walz will be in Wisconsin.

• TRUMP. Where will Donald Trump be on Labor Day? Unlike Democrats, the GOP nominee won't be on the road. I've noticed that Trump isn't having as many rallies of late, relying more on smaller events where he is 'interviewed' by someone like Tulsi Gabbard.

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POLLING. I've pulled out the favorability ratings about candidates of late, because it's been a good indicator of how the new Democratic Party ticket has been doing. Back on July 21, when President Biden dropped out of the race, Kamala Harris was a minus-19 percent. Now she is in positive territory six weeks later, despite a lot of GOP attacks.

• FAVORABLE/UNFAVORABLE. Here's the numbers from the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

  • Kamala Harris 46/43 +3 percent

  • Tim Walz 42/31 +11 percent

  • Donald Trump 33/58 -25 percent

  • JD Vance 32/44 -12 percent

CONCLUSION. The initial GOP efforts to go after Harris haven't worked so far, as her favorable numbers have gone up since she took charge. The attacks on Walz also have not been successful, as he remains the most popular of the four. “Not the favorability ratings of a pure toss-up,” said elections expert Stu Rothenberg.

• YEAH BUT. Or you can look at it this way: These numbers indicate a lot of people who evidently view Trump in an unfavorable light - and yet they are still ready to vote for him in November.

• GEORGIA. I'll give you one example. I heard from someone after Trump attacked Georgia's GOP Governor. This guy told me how Trump lost the vote of his parents. Four weeks later, I asked for an update - convinced his parents would probably be back in Trump's camp. Yep, I was right.

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MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. For evidence of how the GOP is struggling to deal with Walz, just look at what was said about him over the weekend. Some Republicans are basically claiming that Walz is a Chinese agent. "You don't go to China 30 times to be a tourist," said Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) on Fox News. "You go there because you have an affiliation with their government."

• BROTHER. Then there's the bubbling story about a brother of Walz, who evidently is conservative and a likely Trump supporter. The New York Post delved into that this weekend and Trump was more than happy to send it out on his Truth Social website.

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FLIP FLOP. One of the prime GOP attack lines against Vice President Kamala Harris is to label her a flip-flopper, as Republicans try to make the case that she's a dangerous San Francisco liberal. The problem is that Trump's own 24-hour abortion flip-flop-flip episode of last week completely undermines that GOP push.

• PRO CHOICE. "Don’t believe his pandering nonsense," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). "Trust Trump on nothing," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as Democrats plan to highlight Trump's opposition to a ballot question in Florida which would overturn a ban on abortions after 6-weeks of pregnancy.

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GAINESVILLE GREEN. Donald Trump has again put himself at odds with many Republicans in his home state of Florida, as this weekend he endorsed the state's ballot question 'Amendment 3,' which allows personal possession of marijuana. "Someone should not be a criminal in Florida, when this is legal in so many other States," Trump wrote.

• REEFER MADNESS. But that's not where most Florida Republicans are on this issue. "This is bad policy and even worse constitutional law," Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted just last week. "Elected lawmakers should make marijuana policy in state statute, not the Constitution," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said in August, echoing the Governor's arguments.

• ISSUES. Think about the crazy last few days for Trump. He went pro-choice for 24 hours and then went back to pro-life. Now he's for legalizing pot. And he also wants to force insurance companies to pay for IVF services. Frankly, that doesn't sound like someone who feels confident about his campaign. But we'll see.

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JANUARY 6. An 'Awards Gala' for those arrested on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol - scheduled to be hosted at Donald Trump's New Jersey golf club - has been postponed. That announcement was made this weekend on the website of the group 'Stand in the Gap,' which promotes help for Jan. 6 defendants.

• EVENT. Trump had been invited to speak along with Rudy Giuliani at the event on September 5. "The funds raised will provide much-needed assistance to the January 6th defendants who continue to face significant challenges," the group said.

• MONEY. A single VIP ticket was $2,500. A table of 12 people was $30,000. The guest speakers were to have included teen influencer Bo Loudon and MMA fighter Colby Covington.

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RAP SHEET. A Texas man has been arrested for his actions on Jan. 6. Security video shows Steven Hassel fighting with police outside the Capitol. He first helped rioters to breach barricades on the East Plaza, and then rushed to the doors leading into the Rotunda. Hassel joined the crowd in overwhelming officers and forcing their way inside the building.

• NOTE. There was one interesting item from this arrest - Hassel traveled with David Arredondo, who was recently sentenced to over 3 years in jail for his actions. Arredondo happens to be Hassel's uncle. I guess the family that riots together might get to go to jail together as well.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  September 2, 1951.  On this date, President Truman extended Labor Day greetings to U.S. workers with a statement of support.  "I prayerfully hope that all our people may recapture the spirit of social justice and human brotherhood which was originally associated with Labor Day," Truman wrote.  "We have made great progress since 1894 in establishing the rights of labor and in promoting the general welfare of the American economy. But we still have a long way to go."

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House is back for votes on September 9.

The Senate returns on September 9.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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