“The chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota apologized Thursday for an image that was projected at the party’s state convention of George Soros manipulating the strings of puppets with the faces of two prominent Jewish Democrats,” Minnesota Public Radio reports.

A new UMass Amherst poll finds that 68% of Republican voters say the House of Representatives should impeach Joe Biden if Republicans win the majority in the midterm elections.

“Democrats are using a new attack against Republican policies, on everything from the economy to abortions rights, deeming the agenda ‘ultra MAGA’ and extreme. But the GOP is leaning into the label,” Politico reports.

Said Rep. Barry Moore (R-LA) on Twitter: “How can our own president think returning this country to greatness is ‘extreme?!’ Being ‘ultra-MAGA’ should be a requirement for every elected official.”

Puck: “These days, Ellison’s commitments to GOP causes are trending red hot. Last week, he was revealed as the single biggest outside backer of Elon Musk’s officially apolitical, but pointedly conservative-friendly, takeover of Twitter.”

“Ellison, once a registered Democrat, has also donated a staggering $25 million to Republican senator and potential presidential hopeful Tim Scott, placing him alongside Peter Thiel in the upper echelon of conservative Silicon Valley mega-donors.”

“I never expected the ultra-MAGA Republicans who seemed to control the Republican Party now… I never anticipated that happening.”

— President Biden, quoted by Politico, admitting to being surprised by the state of the Republican Party.

Washington Post: “On the campaign trail, they’re railing against critical race theory and gender identity discussions in schools. In state legislatures and via executive fiat, they are trying to limit medical procedures for transgender children and punishing large companies they view as overly politically correct. They’ve found success by weaponizing the left’s ‘defund the police’ movement, which advocates for reallocating resources to limit police power.”

“And they’re already accusing President Biden of catering to college-educated elites as he considers forgiving student loan debt.”

“In primary races ahead of November’s midterm elections, Republican candidates are embracing contentious battles over gender, sexual orientation and race rather than sticking to tried-and-true attacks on inflation or Biden’s low approval ratings.”

“It’s very clear that the Democratic Party hasn’t had a coherent story to tell about the Republican Party and what’s happened to it.”

— White House adviser Anita Dunn, quoted by CNN.

“Idaho’s dominant Republican Party is at war with itself up and down the ballot ahead of its May 17 primaries,” Politico reports.

“It’s not just Gov. Brad Little, whose reelection campaign became national news when Donald Trump endorsed a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. The state attorney general is staring down a challenge from a former rabble-rousing member of Congress. The senior of Idaho’s two GOP House members is facing a primary that has drawn millions in spending. And contentious open races for lieutenant governor and the secretary of state — Idaho’s chief election official — echo some of the national divisions within the party.”

Ron Brownstein: “Since the 1960s, Congress and federal courts have acted mostly to strengthen the floor of basic civil rights available to citizens in all 50 states, a pattern visible on issues from the dismantling of Jim Crow racial segregation to the right to abortion to the authorization of same-sex marriage.”

“But now, offensives by red-state governments and GOP-appointed federal judges are poised to retrench those common standards across an array of issues. The result through the 2020s could be a dramatic erosion of common national rights and a widening gulf—a ‘great divergence’—between the liberties of Americans in blue states and those in red states.”

“The only lever Democrats have to resist these efforts is their unified control of the White House and Congress. In theory, this allows them to pass federal legislation establishing a new floor of nationwide rights on voting, abortion, LGBTQ issues, and other areas. In practice, that’s proved to be an empty promise.”

Charlie Sykes: “J.D. Vance made a judgment about what Republican voters wanted in 2022, and (with apologies to Mencken) he gave it to them good and hard. That’s worth considering for a moment.”

“The former Marine, Ivy League law school grad and bestselling author had a strategy… Bankrolled by billionaire Peter Thiel, Vance was willing to drink deeply from the cup of self-humiliation and demagoguery, because that is what Trump demands.”

“But even more important: This is what the GOP voting base wants.”

“For Vance, that meant not only abandoning many of his former principles (including his oft-stated distaste for Trump, whom he once compared to Hitler), but any pretense to a principled or intellectually coherent platform.”

Sarah Longwell: “Mr. Vance’s win will likely come as a disappointment to some Republicans who have been quietly hoping that Mr. Trump’s grip on the party is slipping. They see the midterms as an existential moment for the party. They are acutely aware that if the candidates he endorsed do well, the feeling of inevitability that he will be the party’s nominee in 2024 increases, annihilating any hope of reconstituting a political coalition around anything other than fealty to Mr. Trump…”

“Yet conservatives must be honest. At this time, there is no moving past Mr. Trump. He has remade the Republican Party in his image, and many Republican voters now crave his particular brand of combative politics.”

“In races across the country, Republicans who have won Mr. Trump’s endorsement mention it constantly. Even those who didn’t win his endorsement still mention him constantly. Mr. Trump might not have endorsed them, but they all endorse him.”

“The race to lead the Republican Study Committee next year is already underway, with Reps. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and Kat Cammack (R-FL) now making their intentions to seek the chairmanship role known,” Politico reports.

“Next year, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) will be termed out as leader of the RSC — the largest GOP caucus on Capitol Hill — leaving open a high-profile role.”

“For Republican supporters of Donald Trump in Michigan, it seemed like a crowning moment: The state party chose two candidates endorsed by the former president, both outspoken preachers of 2020 election falsehoods, as its contenders for the state’s top law enforcement officer and its chief of election administration,” the New York Times reports.

“But instead, that move at a convention last weekend — where Republicans officially endorsed Matthew DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state — have ruptured the Michigan Republican Party. After months of strain, it appears to finally be snapping as what remains of the old guard protests the party’s direction.”

Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock (R), an ally of former President Donald Trump and the husband of Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock, was removed from the House Republican caucus, the Detroit Free Press reports.

A spokesman did not provide an explanation, writing that “the caucus doesn’t discuss internal issues.”