You may have been hearing about this. It seems to be the most discussed subject amongst members of the left-of-center universe. If you read what they write it is the biggest threat to democracy in our history and a blueprint for Trump to crush our government once in office. Let’s get a little perspective here.
Project 2025 (2025) was developed by the Heritage Foundation. In DC speak it is a conservative think tank. I get daily distributions from them, as I do from the NYT, WAPO, Axios, Politico, The Atlantic, etc. If they were pitching 2025, I certainly missed it. My knowledge of it came from the recent daily drumbeat from the left-of-center press. Not a single Republican has asked me “What are your thoughts on Project 2025?”
The first Republican I heard comment on it was former President Trump. He stated, “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” To those who doubt Trump, refer to the short and to the point platform adopted at the Republican National Convention which Trump does clearly support.
Let’s clarify 2025. It is a 922-page document developed by policy wonks regarding our federal government. Let me ask you, my readers: How many people do you think actually read a 922-page document developed by a bunch of policy wonks? How many people do you think sat down on their summer vacation beach chair and read this document? I will not insult you by going further regarding this matter because I know my readers are intelligent and they know the answer.
You might think this was a unique report that was issued just days ago. If you google the report, you see hundreds of commentaries on it in the last couple of weeks. The Heritage Foundation has issued this report every year since 1981. This one is bigger, but you must wonder how many of the policy ideas are in previous reports. In addition, this report was issued in April 2023. Which brings into question how much it was drawn up as a prescription for the ‘new’ Trump Administration since no one knew Trump would be where he is today as the nominee.
The people criticizing the report and telling us that Trump’s people are all over this with 140 or so participating have serious issues with accuracy. First there are 34 authors. Do some have prior ties to the Trump Administration? Certainly, but this is Washington, DC. People go in and out of government with changing administrations. The only names you might recognize of the 34 authors are Dr. Ben Carson, Ken Cuccinelli, Stephen Moore, and Hans von Spakovsky. Moore and von Spakovsky are experts in their field (as most of these people are) and already had a Heritage Foundation connection.
In addition, there is a long list of contributors of which I only know four. Many are affiliated with the Heritage Foundation. When you have 34 named authors and two editors you have to question how much say these contributors had in the report. CNN had to spend a lot of time tying these people to Trump to get to their figure of 140 people from the Trump Administration.
This report has only been written about since June 27th. Do you remember that date? That was when Biden tanked the debate. This seems like a distraction.
I did finally find one Republican who read it. He reacted as if I were nuts that he would actually read this entire document. He is a national expert on labor law and so he read the 38-page section on labor law. He said the proposals would all have to go through Congress, and many have been in place for decades and would be difficult to alter.
Then Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland, wrote a column for WAPO attacking the report. Mr. Hogan is running in a state that should be considered a suburb of DC where large numbers of DC types live. I doubt he read the entire report even though I am confident he has the brain power to do such. He focuses on the fact the report “targets federal workers, including about 150,000 Marylanders.” Might Hogan be campaigning? He writes “the goal is to remove nonpartisan civil servants.” I doubt he really believes these people are nonpartisan since 91% vote and contribute Democrat. He may need to consult former President Bush regarding his experience with the “nonpartisan” workforce.
There are so many articles on this it is difficult to know where to begin. A fun one is Newsweek consulting Michael Cohen (yes, that one) for his opinion on 2025. So much for them being a serious publication. Our federally funded NPR weighed in because I am sure the report calls for defunding them from federal dollars. The author, Franco Ordonez, writes, “It’s not Trump’s plan, but it is a plan made for Trump.” He obviously believes the authors were clairvoyant and knew Trump was going to be the nominee 15 months hence.
The Sierra Club joins the crowd, but Ben Jealous, executive director, does not write about the environment, something about which he has some expertise. He states, “Project 2025 is a blueprint for canceling American Democracy.” The report puts forth a series of policy points for debate and analysis. Isn’t that the essence of democracy, Mr. Jealous?
The authors lay out four broad principles in the forward. “As such, the authors express consensus recommendations already forged, especially along four broad fronts that will decide America’s future: 1. Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children. 2. Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people. 3. Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats. 4. Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls “the Blessings of Liberty.” Radical concept here.
Some of the shocking proposals cited are that they want to disband the Department of Education. Nothing new there that hasn’t been a Republican proposal since Prez Reagan. I have not read 2025, but I am sure they want to return college loans to private lenders so the next Democrat president cannot wholesale write off the loans like Biden has lawlessly done. They want to clean up Title IX so as to protect female athletes. Nothing new there. They want to wrestle control of the government from the administrative state. Nothing new there either.
There is page after page of articles on Google, all in the last couple of weeks. None of them are from Republican based operations. I have been convinced for a while that the Left has a secret message board where they send out alerts of the day/week and then you start hearing it over and over and over again. I could not find who started this particular tsunami, but it has been a flood of massive proportions. About a report issued 15 months ago.
The bottom line is 2025 is now an overblown topic to distract people from the election and radicalize the Trump team despite his wholesale rejection of it. As usual the Left-wing press believes if they repeat a lie over and over again you will fall for it. Please don’t and don’t allow others.
