For some folks, the first time they heard about Project 2025 was last week, when Donald Trump announced that he had no idea what it was or who wrote it, except to think it had some ridiculous ideas and he wanted nothing to do with it, though he wished the writers well (!).
In translation, this means that people came to Trump and said word was getting around that Project 2025 was a real loser in the minds of even Republican voters, and he needed to take some distance from it.
So, in true Trump fashion, he created the lie that he had no idea what it was or who was behind it, even though many of its numerous authors had been a part of his first administration.
What was almost certainly true was that he had not read it, since at 903 pages it would tax even a person who enjoyed reading, much less one who reportedly has no interest in reading at all. I haven’t read it either, but I have read the straightforward and unbiased Wikipedia article titled “Project 2025” and I highly recommend you take a look at it as well.
In a nutshell, Project 2025 seeks to shift the balance of power between the three branches of government so that the President has the ability to make changes to federal agencies and the civil service.
Instead of non-partisan and independent functioning, under Project 2025 agencies like the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Federal Trade Commission will be converted to political entities that exist to follow the directions of the Chief Executive.
Tens of thousands of civil servants who work in these agencies would be replaced by partisan employees who are going to be hired based on their loyalty to the President, rather than their expertise and experience.
Ironically, this would create the very “Deep State” that so concerns the right-wing politicians. I guess it’s not the Deep State that is the problem, it’s whether it’s been set up to be reliably Republican.
So, you might ask, if I’m a Republican, what’s the problem? I want my guys to be in charge.
Well, the problem is that you’re being told that our nation will return to the good old days (Make America Great Again) when in fact America was never meant to function, and never has functioned, in this manner before.
Our government has always been based on the idea that we, the people, are in charge, not one political party or another. We get to kick people out of office if we don’t like their decisions. But Project 2025 sets things up so that we really don’t have any say about major decisions our government makes.
The Department of Homeland Security will be abolished, as will the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce. We don’t need specialized and experienced experts in those roles! We’ll just let the President and his loyalists decide what’s best for us.
Protesters will encounter the National Guard. Undocumented immigrants will be rounded up and put in detention camps to await deportation. Christianity will receive federally sanctioned benefits that other religions would not.
Legal protection against LGBTQ discrimination will be discontinued, along with IVF. And Affordable Health Care, Medicare and Medicaid will all be on the chopping block.
Project 2025 presents an alternative to our Constitution. Are you ready for that? This goes way beyond Donald Trump, and he lacks the ability to avoid the influence of these power-hungry, diabolical people. They want to take Trump and our entire country for a ride from which we’ll never return.
My purpose here is to speak to the numerous moderate Republicans who are in hiding, both in Bandera and around the state of Texas. They loathe and are mortified by Trump, but they can’t speak up because the MAGA machine will mow them down. They see that the GOP, both in Texas and nationally, has almost totally abandoned the conservative values and agenda that thoughtful Republicans have had for decades.
They see that the evangelicals have sacrificed the teachings of Jesus for the power to remake the nation in their own image: white, small-C christian, holier-than-thou control freaks who have forgotten that their ancestors were all immigrants and that Jesus believed in love.
They see that the concept of limited government interference in people’s lives has morphed into a bizarre mash-up of legislative controls for others who are different, and virtually no legislative controls for corporations that exploit the environment and the consumer in the name of profit.
They see that reasonable social programs, benefitting a wide range of citizens, and including a safety net for our most vulnerable, are not just possible but imperative in any nation that wants to thrive.
They see that bipartisanship in Congress, which was robust until the advent of the polarizing Trump administration, is the healthiest and most effective means of taking care of the needs of our nation and all its citizens, not just the few who have designated themselves “chosen”.
You, moderate and thoughtful Republicans, are the people who need to let your understanding of Project 2025, and what it portends, help you get to the place where you know what to do in the voting booth this November.
Even if all you can do is refuse to vote for Trump, because voting for Biden feels utterly impossible, at least you will have made a statement about what you will no longer abide.
Susan Hull is a retired clinical psychologist and an Independent voter who knows quite a few moderate Republicans but refuses to reveal their identities until it is safe.
