Are You Paying Attention to Project 2025?
If not, you should be. Here's an introduction...
I spent the last couple of weeks brainstorming, writing, and then waiting to hear back from The New York Times about an Op-Ed related to Project 2025 and its promise to continue preying on the poorest kids in our country by increasing recruitment efforts at publicly funded schools. You can find that at the end of page 102 of their very detailed document titled Mandate for Leadership. But before I get into that, let me back up.
If you’ve never heard of Project 2025, I urge you to find time to look into it. Since we’re here, I’ll tell you what I’ve gathered so far. Project 2025 is “. . . part of a $22 million presidential transition operation at a scale never attempted before in conservative politics —[and] is being led by the Heritage Foundation, a group that has been staffing Republican administrations since the Reagan era.” Part of that project, the Mandate for Leadership, is the brainchild of 400 conservative scholars, including several high-profile officials from the Trump administration. It outlines exactly what over 100 Republican groups hope to do if they win the next election.
“‘Project 2025 is not a white paper. We are not tinkering at the edges. We are writing a battle plan, and we are marshaling our forces,’ said Paul Dans, director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, which compiled the plan as a road map for the first 180 days of the next GOP administration. ‘Never before has the whole conservative movement banded together to systematically prepare to take power day one and deconstruct the administrative state.’”
This “battle plan” is over 900 pages, so it is (I assume intentionally) difficult to navigate. But what it has to say is pretty terrifying and far-reaching and worth taking some time to understand better as we head into this next election. Especially if you are someone considering sitting out for this election. Because Project 2025 seems pretty damn serious. I won’t try to tell you how to vote (or not vote), but I do hope you’ll educate yourself about the possible repercussions (and who will be most affected by them) before making a decision.
To do that, you could just read the document yourself. There are folks who have done it. Gold medal to you. But, that isn’t going to be possible for the average person who has, ya know, a life….or doesn’t have a bunch of degrees to help them weed through it all.
So, here are a few resources I’ve gathered that I found helpful. This isn’t exhaustive. Of course, do your own research as well:
The NYT’s podcast The Daily began a special series called Trump 2.0. This is an excellent option for folks who don’t have time to read. You can catch up on what Project 2025 is all about on your morning or evening commute. I listened to it on Spotify.
“Heritage Foundation makes plans to staff next G.O.P. Administration”
“What I Learned When I Read 887 Pages Of Plans for Trump’s Second Term”
“A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy”
“Project 2025: Unveiling the far right’s plan to demolish immigration in a second Trump term”
“Project 2025 and the movement that could erode Black equality”
“Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision”
Here are (only) a few highlights in my own words. Just keep in mind that I’m not a journalist and have limited time, so, again, do your own research:
Expand Presidential Authority
They really want the president of the United States to have complete control over the Executive Branch of the US federal government. It plans to do that by eliminating the independence of agencies like The Federal Communications Commission, The Department of Justice, The Department of Veterans Affairs, The Department of Defense, The Department of Health and Human Services, The Department of Education, and so on. What that means is that if the president doesn’t like what one of these agencies is doing, he or she would be able to change whatever they want without any checks and balances. Take a minute to really think about that: Trump with full, unchecked decision-making power.
Check out the podcast I suggest above to learn more about all of that.
Dismiss current federal employees and replace them with Trump loyalists
Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership calls for the reinstatement of Schedule F, a Trump Executive Order that is no longer in effect. Its purpose was to strip the employment and union protections of as many as fifty thousand civil servants so that they would be easier to fire and be replaced with Trump loyalists. Project 2025 wants to bring this back as soon as Trump is elected into office.
Maintain Biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family
The Heritage Foundation (the leading group behind Project 2025) describes this ideal family as “a man and a woman who marry, conceive, and raise their children together.” They call it the “intact family” and emphasize other “family forms” are too dependent on social services and risk “family disintegration.” Basically, it’s saying same-sex marriage is mysterious and scary so we shouldn’t mess with it. And single-parent households mooch off the government, and that’s bad.
You should just read about it for yourself here.
Replace the Reproductive Healthcare Task Force with what Project 2025 is calling the “Department of Life.”
Eliminate regulations designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions, scrapping nearly all federal clean energy programs, and promoting greater fossil fuel production
“Drill baby, drill,” in the words of Trump. I mean, this isn’t anything new. New York Times reported in 2021 that, “nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump.” So, it’ll be a lot more of that but worse.
Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology throughout the federal government
It suggests that D.E.I. is racist and claims Republicans will go as far as firing any officials who have taken part in D.E.I. programs to cleanse the government of any hint of D.E.I.
Dismantle Immigration Policies
There is so much here that it’s overwhelming. So much of it is just cruel. You can read about all of it here.
Dismantle any programs Republicans just don’t like
Including The Gender Policy Council, The Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy, The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and others.
Okay. So, there’s a lot more, but I’ll just be honest: I can’t keep working on this Substack. I must eat. And be a mom. And work on things that pay me. So, back to that piece I submitted to the NYT…
It’s focused on Project 2025's plans to expand its recruiting efforts at publicly funded high schools, including requiring all students to take the military’s standardized aptitude test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). My main concern is that the military historically preys on economically disadvantaged schools, targeting low-income males, often from rural communities. The more I researched, the more I realized that poor people almost exclusively carry the burden of protecting, fighting, and dying for our country. To which I responded…What the fuck? And I started writing.
Ultimately, after about three weeks of waiting to get an official decision, NYT decided not to take it and now I’m struggling to place it at all. It happens. Especially at NYT. They get a ton of submissions and are busy, and I knew it was a long shot. That’s all fine. I’m glad I dove into this and might just post it here.
What I’m most concerned about is how few people are talking about it at all. Project 2025 seems mostly unimportant to news sources. Obviously, it has been covered some. The New York Times has put out a few articles since last fall, but I don’t think it’s being talked about nearly enough, considering the people funding it and how serious their claims are. So many people still haven’t heard of it or don’t know much about it. It’s worrying.
I assume people are so overwhelmed by all the horrible things already in the news that they don’t have the brain space for anything else. I get it. I do. The news is 100% taking a toll on my mental health. There is so much horrible shit going on in the world right now. I take three pills and four vitamins a day to function. But. If you really do care about things like LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, Black lives, the lives of immigrants and their families, the lives of human beings across the planet who are directly affected by the decisions our politicians make, the health of our planet, veterans and their families, your child’s education, etc, etc, etc., pay attention to this. Because things seem bad now, but if Project 2025 gets its way, they will get a whole lot worse.
On that depressing note, I will leave you with a few songs I’ve been listening to on repeat as I finish my book (which is almost done!!!!)
Thanks for reading, friends.