DANGER OF TRUMP PRESIDENCY BEARS REPEATING

Directed by Paul Dans and sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, Trump supporters and other conservative thinkers and activists developed what is now widely recognized as Project 2025. Embodied in a more than 900-page document, Project 2025 is the virtual bible for Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) contingent.

Project 2025 spells out how the group would re-shape the federal executive if they win the presidential fall election. It spells out policy initiatives aimed at virtually every group and covering every issue and every area of societal activity.

The proposed changes would be so drastic that this would in essence no longer be a country based on the rule of law, separation of church and state, or even separation of powers in the government. It would be a white Christian country run by an authoritarian executive selected by and from that tribal group.

We can begin by realizing the disciples of the project say the chief executive, whether his person is still called president, king, or something else, would have the power and authority to fire all of the civil service workers in the government and replace them with the president’s political appointees. 

The Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, National Institutes of Health, and all other government agencies would work for and according to the will of the president. These agencies could investigate, prosecute, or otherwise punish whomever the president desired. (The Maga-leaning majority on the Supreme Court has already suggested the same, so long as the president was acting in his/her official capacity as president.) Placing the president above the law and providing him/her with such unlimited power is enough to realize that this would no longer be the democratic republic that it is today.

Beyond that, however, Project 2025 goes on to propose policy changes that are specific in nature as well. It supports a national ban on abortions, including in vitro fertilization and the mail order delivery of medical abortion items; doing away with marriage equality laws; abolishing affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, instead have the justice department focus on and punish people for what has been called reverse discrimination; and eliminating the Department of Education, along with the teaching of “woke” versions of Black history and gender identity. 

Project 2025 also advocates using troops to round up and deport illegal immigrants as well as political protesters. It recommends raising the minimum age for retirement and greatly reducing funds for Medicare and Medicaid, with the intention of eliminating them, along with Social Security. Project 2025 plans on the lowering and eventual elimination of income taxes, instead, relying on increased consumer taxes and tariffs, both of which would increase the tax burden on working class people. 

The project also goes into foreign affairs and military preparedness, which we will skip now in order to deal solely with the idea of American democracy. Suffice it to say that the foreign affairs and military preparedness proposals are more reminiscent of the period of imperialism and cut-throat capitalism that what is more appropriate today. 

The ideas in Project 2025 are quite extensive and what many would consider anti-democratic. Many of the ideas fly in the face of what the majority of Americans would support. For that reason, as many people began learning about the project, Donald Trump and his campaign often tried to disown it or deny they are supportive of it.

Individuals familiar with the Trump acolytes and/or who have followed his rhetoric, however, know the truth – Project 2025 is their blueprint for Trump’s anticipated presidency. In point after point, Project 2025 meshes with what Trump supported and/or said he would do if re-elected. (1) He appointed the Supreme Court justices overturning Roe vs. Wade, a signature feature in the project, and he has never changed his mind on the subject of abortion. (2) He proposed building a wall along the southern border and separated immigrant children from their parents, in addition to issuing an executive order to specifically ban Muslim immigrants. Those, too, are supported by the project. (3) He weaponized the Justice Department to assist his friends and punish his enemies throughout his administration and complained incessantly about the media which he could not control. Those positions are supported by the project. (4) He threatened to fire federal civil servants across the government, calling them “the deep state.” That posture is also a feature on the project. (5) He deeply cut income taxes for the wealthy and large corporations and has promised more, along with imposing tariffs of 10% on all foreign goods. The examples of the alignment of Trumpers and Project 2025 go on and on. 

Throughout Trump’s administration and since, he has conducted himself as if he is above the law. Project 2025 would place him there. 

Sadly, as Americans have watched, Trump-appointed jurists have helped him avoid punishment, even when he has been found guilty. This, too, is a part of Project 2025’s aim. As if they were a part of the MAGA crowd, the conservative Supreme Court majority signaled it is willing to place Trump even more clearly above the law. 

Project 2025 gives the appearance it was written especially for Trump. It suits his every intention as well as his personality. With or without it, he has repeatedly promised his new administration will be one of revenge and retribution. Project 2025 will enable, yes welcome the same. Together Trump and Project 2025 are setting out to not just destroy the rule of law, but make it mean whatever they want it to mean, leaving no room for an inconvenient concept such as democracy.