Originally by at Skepchick
A common refrain from angry people online is that the media is refusing to cover a topic they care about. That may mean they think the topic is not being covered at all, that it IS covered but not often enough, or that it’s not being framed in the way they think it deserves. These complaints are literally always going to be there, because there are only so many topics mainstream media outlets CAN cover, and the tenor of that coverage is never going to satisfy everyone.
In that vein, one topic I’ve seen popping up a lot lately is Project 2025, the vast plan mapped out by the far-right conservative hate group Heritage Foundation to destroy the United States government and convert our country into an authoritarian theocracy.
A few of you have asked why I haven’t made a video about it, insinuating and sometimes outright accusing me of focusing too much criticism on Joe Biden and doing propaganda for Donald Trump.
There are a few reasons I haven’t talked about it. First of all, it’s an absolutely massive turducken of fuckery and I do not do those four-hour long video essays. I simply do not have the energy. And it’s hard to pick out just one aspect to talk about because they are ALL absolutely batshit and absolutely dangerous.
Second of all, if you’re subscribed to this channel, you already are not voting for Trump. You just aren’t. You are smarter than that. I don’t really need to tell you not to vote for Trump. It’s more important, in my opinion, to discuss issues that are more subtle and more likely to have some impact on you, my progressive audience.
Third of all, it’s fucking depressing. It’s YET ANOTHER existential threat for me to think about, to research, and to discuss. I’d much rather make a video about the science of puppies or something.
But today I saw this New York Times headline: “Following Trump’s Lead, Republicans Adopt Platform That Softens Stance on Abortion.” Unfortunately, many people still trust the New York Times to not simply print obvious lies in 22-point font, which is what they’ve done here. Well, I’m not totally sure about the exact font size but I am sure that this is an obvious lie told by the Republican Party leadership and printed unquestioningly so fine, I give up. Let’s talk about Project 2025.
For every presidential election starting with Reagan in 1981, the Heritage Foundation has released its “policy Bible” as a recommended course for Conservative politicians to follow in order to drive the United States closer to a Christian theocracy. Reagan fucking LOVED that Bible, implementing 60% of the policies in it and then hiring the authors to important positions in his government. Back then, it was things like “fight the commies” and “build up a nuclear arsenal.”
By the time Bush Senior was elected, the policies were things like “invade Kuwait,” which he did.
Over the following few decades, they continued to act as spoilers for any progressive policies Democrats tried to push through, while continuing to encourage Republicans to start a culture war against things like universal healthcare and same sex marriage. In general, though, Democrats were able to make incremental progress.
Trump changed everything when he was elected in 2016, because after initially opposing him, they finally realized they had an absolutely bonkers idiot who didn’t have a pesky moral compass or even opinions about anything other than how he might get richer. They cozied up to him just like they did with Reagan, and one year into Trump’s term, Heritage bragged that “64 percent of the policy prescriptions were included in Trump’s budget, implemented through regulatory guidance, or under consideration for action in accordance with The Heritage Foundation’s original proposals.”
The Supreme Court nominations, of course, led to policies beyond what they previously would have even dreamed of stating publicly, such as Roe v. Wade falling and more recently giving the President the power of a God Emperor. All of that set the stage for Project 2025, where they could finally say the quiet part loud and publicly reveal their end game, which includes but is not limited to outlawing abortion nationwide through the Comstock Act, ending same sex marriage, removing all protections for LGBTQ+ people, criminalizing pornography, neutering Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, eliminating public education and replacing it with private Christian schooling, consolidating control of the government under the President, and replacing tens of thousands of civil service employees with political appointees who will do whatever the President wants, drawn from a vast database that the Heritage Foundation has been building for the past decade or so.
And on the plus side, they recommend paying workers more…for working on Sundays. Because God. Sure. Go ahead and do that one, I don’t even care any more.
As more people have become aware of Project 2025, Republicans and even Trump himself have started trying to distance themselves from it. For instance, there’s that blatant lie that made it into the New York Times, and there’s Trump posting that “I know nothing about Project 2025. 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.”
That’s a hilariously obvious lie. Here’s a list compiled by Judd Legum of Popular Information, showing 31 authors and editors of Project 2025 (out of a total of 38) with “formal connections” to the Trump campaign, like Russ Vought, a member of Trump’s cabinet and top candidate to be his Chief of Staff. And yes that’s “Vought,” like the bad guys in The Boys. Or the good guys, if you’re an idiot.
So he obviously knows what Project 2025 is, he knows the people behind it, and he knows that he’s going to institute their policies just like he did in 2017. But why lie?
It’s confusing, considering that they have celebrated the previous wins that the Heritage Foundation secured, and that they have told us over the years that the goals outlined in Project 2025 are their ultimate win scenario, AND that they have never before in history had such an advantage, with Trump polling well and Biden, uh, not. Why not just stand up and say “Yep, that’s the plan for next year! Vote Trump”?
Because all of the issues I just mentioned? Are wildly unpopular with voters. Except for getting paid more on Sundays. All the bad things. 61% of voters disapprove of the Supreme Court killing Roe v. Wade. 69% of Americans support same sex marriage. 57% of Americans believe in Medicare…FOR ALL. Not just the Medicare we have now, for older people, that Trump will defund, but universal healthcare for everyone.
It’s been true for decades, and it’s especially true now: Republican policies are unpopular, and so to win, they must protect efforts that stop people’s votes from mattering (like the electoral college and gerrymandering) and hide their policy agenda in the hope that people will either be convinced that Republicans have their best interests in mind OR that there’s no difference between the parties so it’s not worth voting.
We are obviously not living in a democracy right now, because currently we have no choice but to vote for Joe Biden this November. Because if we do not vote for Joe Biden, or whatever Democrat steps up when he crumbles to dust, we will lose our last chance ever recovering any semblance of a democracy, and a whole lot of people are going to suffer and die. One way to combat that is to TELL PEOPLE what’s in Project 2025. Tell your friends, tell the youth voting for the first time this year, and tell your aging relatives who are reliant upon Medicare. Here’s hoping that in November we can downgrade this threat to democracy from “existential” to “extremely annoying.”
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