As go the counties surrounding Philadelphia, so goes the nation. The image above is being mailed to voters in those PA suburbs by a Trump PAC portentously calling itself the “Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania.” In bright, eye-catching yellow, the mailer declares that Trump “did not write” and “does not support” Project 2025, the 920-page manifesto written by the prospective inhabitants of a reanimated Trump administration.
The problem with those assertions is twofold. No, Trump did not “write” this meticulous playbook for his incoming administration. Trump’s actual written work is practically non-existent and it’s not even clear he can put two coherent sentences together.
So, that assertion in the mailer is accurate. But that’s actually the point. The self-styled “ Mandate for Leadership ” that is Project 2025 was written for him by his closest policy advisors, including numerous cabinet secretaries and appointees who worked in his prior administration.
These are, quite simply, the only people Trump knows who could possibly staff an incoming administration. There are no others within his orbit. Nor has the Trump campaign given the slightest indication that it would seek out anyone other than the authors of this travesty to control the federal government and its panoply of federal agencies.
So, Project 2025 is a fait accompli, authored by Trump administration officials who would, in fact, staff any future administration. It is not only their Plan, it is the Plan. And now it’s clearly come back to bite them — and Trump — squarely in the ass.
There have been numerous analyses detailing Project 2025 here on this site and elsewhere . It featured prominently in the speeches at the DNC, including those of Vice President Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz.
Gov. Walz, in fact, reminded Americans that Republicans now are trying to keep Project 2025 from derailing Trump’s campaign by disavowing its existence: “They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I’ve coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.
” It’s no surprise that Trump would try to deceive the public from understanding his connection to Project 2025. After all, the Plan’s goals include subverting all federal investigative and policing agencies such as the Department of Justice and FBI, placing them under the complete control of Trump and his carefully selected minions. As noted by the Harris/Walz campaign website, kamalaharris.
com , the Project is quite clear about that: “Conservatives have long believed in either ending law enforcement activities of independent agencies or ending their independent status. (p. 873) *** The next conservative Administration must make every effort to obtain the resources to support a vast expansion of the number of appointees in every office and component across the department—especially in the Civil Rights Division, the FBI, and the EOIR.
” (p. 569) “[This] would also place the FBI under a politically accountable leader.” (p.
549) Project 2025 would also renew enforcement of the “zombie” law from the 1800’s known as the Comstock Act , for the purpose of banning the sale and distribution of mifepristone (the “abortion pill”) — and possibly forms of contraception as well -- thus effectively banning women and others in so-called “red” states from ever terminating their own pregnancies within those states’ borders. As the Harris campaign’s website cites, again, the plan is quite clearly spelled out: “Announcing a Campaign to Enforce the Criminal Prohibitions in 18 U.S.
Code §§ 1461 and 1462.” (p. 562) Project 2025 would resurrect a law from the 1800s called the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide and jail health care providers.
(p. 459) In practice, the banning of mifepristone would essentially force anyone wishing to exercise their reproductive rights — even in those states that continue to permit abortions — to run a terrifying gauntlet of screaming, dangerous religious zealots hurling insults and brandishing signs at them as they approach the hospital or clinic where the procedure can legally be performed. And, as Vice President Harris’ campaign website notes, those religious zealots would have plenty of advance notice, courtesy of government officials trained specifically to monitor pregnancies.
Project 2025 envisions a type of “abortion police state” reminiscent of Gilead, the dystopian, misogynist version of the United States described in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale : Project 2025 would “use every available tool, including the cutting of funds” to force states to report miscarriages and “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders,” including the “reason” for every abortion. (p. 455) Project 2025 also figures in Trump’s plans to allow local police to in effect declare “open season” on policing racial minorities, enabling them to use discriminatory police tactics without fear of government prosecution.
As noted by David Nakamura and Robert Klemko, reporting for the Washington Post: On the campaign trail and in meetings with supporters, Trump has signaled his intent to curb federal monitoring of local police and to withhold funds from departments unwilling to employ more confrontational tactics, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The important point here is Trump’s “intent to curb federal monitoring,” by a Department of Justice wholly beholden to Trump himself. As reported by Graham Slattery, Sarah N.
Lynch and Andrew Goudsward for Reuters, Gene Hamilton,— described as one of the contributors to Project 2025 — is a former Trump Justice Department official, described as a “trusted lieutenant” of former Trump advisor Stephen Miller: Hamilton ...
called for radically curtailing court-monitored settlements known as "consent decrees" between the Justice Department and local police departments, which are used to help curb civil rights abuses against people of color, the disabled and the mentally ill. This is just a tiny sampling of what Project 2025 entails. As noted on Vice President Harris’ website, there are many, many more horrific policy proposals that would not be particularly appealing to the suburban Pennsylvania voters Trump needs to secure re-election.
It’s quite understandable why Trump would wish to distance himself from them. But the reality is these are his people, and their policies will become Trump’s policies on Day One. There is no other option for him, so that is what he will do.
Trump owns Project 2025, whether he admits to it or not. He should be forced to answer for it at every turn..
