Taking @StitchyMc’s words to heart that #Trump’s sensationalist #racist pet-eating #lies are designed to distract us in our outrage from what matters, so I’m turning back to his (make no mistake — it is his) #authoritarian handbook:
I read the full 900-pg #Project2025 manifesto – here’s why it matters
#HeritageFoundation blueprint describes an #America poisoned by ‘#wokeness’ & overtaken by lawlessness that only *#conservatives* can save
by Rachel Leingang
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/14/project-2025-election
I printed out all 900-plus pgs of #Project2025 in Feb on my home printer, stacking the unwieldy chapters on my desk. Bit by bit, each evening, I read my way through the plans that seek to dramatically alter each #FederalAgency.
Most Americans who know about Project 2025 consume it in bite-size pieces, like Instagram infographics, or see the name on billboards. They hear politicians, like MVP #KamalaHarris, mention it on stage – or #Trump *disavow* it in TV interviews.
These attempt to neatly distill all the ways the doc could upend the #USgovernment. For #Democrats, #Project2025 has become a buzzword for #election2024, a shorthand way to warn voters what could be ahead if #Trump wins again in Nov.
My own consumption of the project was not as piecemeal – I read the full *#conservative* manifesto by the #HeritageFoundation & its many #rightwing allies. Here’s what I learned from the document & all the controversy surrounding it.
#Project2025’s #policy guide, Mandate for Leadership, describes an #America poisoned by “#wokeness” & overtaken by lawlessness & #chaos, where *#conservatives* need to SEIZE #power immediately–& FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE–to right a sinking ship.
The guide is just one part of the broader plan Project 2025 & #Heritage had in mind to dismantle the #government, recruit thousands of politically aligned people to staff an incoming #Trump admin, & quickly guide the next pres….
#Trump has *claimed* he does not know what it is or who is involved, though he does indeed know many of the people involved. Perhaps more importantly, his #policy plans [more] often [than not] align w/what’s in the project.
By seeking to #influence Trump, #Project2025 – which counts >100 *#conservative* groups as supporters & contributors – probably poisoned #Heritage & its allies’ chances of forming part of Trump’s inner circle & potential next admin
by claiming it could #influence a man who hates to see himself as influenced by others [but don’t count on that, it takes a few ass-kisses & flattering statements & #Trump will be totes cool to let you lick his boots]. Other thinktanks that kept their hands clean of the #power struggle could instead become more influential, though it would be difficult, or impossible, to staff thousands of political jobs w/people who have NO ties to #Heritage or #Project2025.
In an ironic turn, given the #toxicity of #Project2025to voters, it could cost #Trump the #election in Nov.[🤞]
Could it actually happen?
Outside grps always hope to #influence presidents. #Heritage has put together & released a version of the Mandate for Leadership every 4 yrs since #Reagan’s 1st term. Why did this one catch fire? For 1, they wrote it all down & released it publicly, w/splashy online presence & #media appearances.…They publicly called it a plan for “institutionalizing #Trumpism”
#Democrats seized on it, tying #Trump directly to the plan by plastering #Project2025 on billboards & mentioning it in speeches as much as possible. They have been successful–tho the plan was released in 2023, the public’s knowledge of it has increased dramatically in the last 2 mos bc of this negative attn.
Could the ideas in Project 2025 actually happen? Not all of them, & not overnight. But a movement amasses #power that then can lead to massive social change….
Some of the plans, like dismantling the Dept of #Education, have been on #conservative wishlists since the dept began. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t happen – it just means there is an eventual tipping point where they could. Take the fall of #RoeVWade, for instance.
One way the plan seeks to create more tipping points is by adding in more #PoliticalAppointees, a change #Trump has tried in the past in what’s known as #ScheduleF.
#authoritarianism #autocracy #democracy #law #HarrisWalz2024
It would classify thousands more positions in the #FederalGovernment as #political instead of #neutral #career #CivilServants. And the recent #SCOTUS ruling that made #accountability difficult if a president’s *official acts* break the #law certainly helps w/amassing #power in the #ExecutiveBranch, too.
#immunity #authoritarianism #autocracy #democracy #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024
@Nonilex no you have that backwards, the Supreme Court ruling does not amass power in the executive branch as it tells the executive branch that it cannot prosecute in some cases.
The Supreme Court ruling was all about limiting the powers of the executive branch, not amassing more.
As for the positions in the branch, they are necessarily political. By definition. The Supreme Court didn’t invent that, that is a direct result of the structure of the federal government.
And the president has to be held politically accountable for what his employees do. This is core to checks and balances the US system.
