Welcome to Stop the Presses, a weekly newsletter about how right-wing extremism has exploited the weaknesses in American journalism and what we can do about it. What’s scarier than the GOP’s beliefs? The GOP’s lack of beliefs. And the media make it worse by pretending Republicans are sincere Mark Jacob Aug 19 Many Americans are alarmed by the stated beliefs of right-wing extremists. The idea that girls should be forced to carry pregnancies that result from rape and incest. The mindset that books should be banned, that immigrants should be feared, that climate change is nothing to worry about.  But I submit that Republican politicians’ lack of beliefs is even more dangerous. They seem willing to say and do anything that will help them politically. They have abandoned long-held Republican values such as the rule of law and the promotion of global democracy. It’s possible to run a government with people whose views are different from ours. But we can’t run a government with people whose only view is that they should have all of the power and we should have none. I don’t think most right-wing demagogues are acting out of mass delusion. Maybe the most ignorant ones like Marsha Blackburn and Tommy Tuberville believe what they say. But the vast majority, including Ivy League grads like JD Vance, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, are simply scamming the public. The only thing they really believe in is their own money and power.  Their lack of beliefs means they would be willing to do anything – anything – if it suited their ambitions. This is why today’s Republican Party poses a lethal threat to our democracy.  Donald Trump, for example, frequently puts himself up for sale to the highest bidder. Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but made a 180-degree turn last March after meeting with a major TikTok investor. In April, Trump urged oil industry executives to make a “deal” in which he would scrap government policies promoting electric vehicles if they would steer $1 billion to his campaign. But two weeks ago he said he’d give electric cars a “small slice” of the U.S. auto market. "I’m for electric cars,” Trump said. “I have to be because, you know, Elon [Musk] endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.” Trump has been especially transactional on the abortion issue. In 1999, when he was 53 years old, Trump said: “I am very pro-choice.” But sometime between age 53 and age 64, Trump changed his mind, saying in 2011: “I am pro-life.” In his run for president, Trump used the abortion issue to keep the religious right in his camp when they might otherwise have been put off by his serial infidelity and other behavior they claim to abhor. Trump’s Supreme Court picks ensured that women would lose the right to control their own bodies, and Trump bragged about that. But as the power of the abortion issue has become clear, Trump has tried to redefine himself as an opponent of a federal ban even though he supported such a ban in 2018. Unskeptical news outlets have played along with Trump’s transformation. Politico, for example, wrote about Trump’s “moderate turn on abortion.” Other outlets such as NBC and the New York Times said the GOP had “softened” its abortion position. People need to understand that there are ways for the federal government to drastically curtail abortions without a single vote of Congress. A right-wing executive branch could revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an abortion medication, mifepristone, or could strictly enforce the antiquated 1873 Comstock Act to ban the mailing of materials related to abortion. Obviously, Trump cannot be trusted. Nor can the MAGA politicians who have tossed their values into a woodchipper in service to him.  Such as Elise Stefanik. In 2013, early in the New Yorker’s bid to become the youngest woman elected to Congress, she billed herself as a moderate “not afraid to buck her party on issues,” according to the Watertown Daily Times. In 2016, the Buffalo News called her “a moderate who has voiced cautious support for Trump.” Though she called Trump a “whack job” in a private message, her public stand was that endorsing him was a matter of Republican loyalty. “I’m supporting my party’s nominee,” she said, “but I’ll continue being an independent voice for the district.”  That, obviously, was a lie.  During congressional hearings on Trump’s first impeachment, Stefanik dramatically shifted to Trump’s defense. She was like the racehorse who runs with the pack until she sees an opening and makes her move to the front. Now she’s one of the most rabid Trump supporters in Congress, denying the results of the 2020 election and demonizing immigrants.  Stefanik is one of those Ivy Leaguers I was talking about who can’t plead ignorance. She knows exactly what she’s doing.  The news media, which should be accustomed to being lied to, has been flummoxed by the shamelessness of Republican politicians’ dishonesty and abandonment of principles. And the media have reacted in the worst possible way – by pretending Republicans mean what they say, even when they said the opposite a few years earlier. The media keep telling us things Trump believes: “Trump believes coronavirus will vanish with April temps.” “Trump believes he has the authority to replace Powell at Fed.” “Trump believes North Korea’s newfound willingness to talk is sincere.” “Donald Trump believes abortion rights should be for states to decide.” But just because Trump says it doesn’t mean he believes it. If the media haven’t learned that about him, they’ve learned nothing at all.