Project 2025: that vast right-wing conspiracy
Commenter “cb” linked to this AP article with a scary title that aims to frighten non-conservatives about the right’s plans if it somehow manages to win the 2024 election:
With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.
“Dismantle the federal government” – insurrectionists all, right? No doubt they’re planning to do away with the Constitution and establish a Handmaid’s Tale dictatorship. And it’s about the evil Trump and his “vision,” not anything traditionally conservative. No mention, either, of the fact that the left has already taken over the federal bureaucracy and this is an attempt to reverse that takeover.
More:
With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.
Sounds reasonable to me. And these particular federal workers are not the same as the federal government itself, although they are its workers.
Further:
The unprecedented effort is being orchestrated with dozens of right-flank organizations, many new to Washington, and represents a changed approach from conservatives, who traditionally have sought to limit the federal government by cutting federal taxes and slashing federal spending.
Instead, Trump-era conservatives want to gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing.
“Unprecedented” in the sense that conservatives previously hadn’t realized quite what they were dealing with; it’s not unprecedented in terms of the left, which has been flooding the bureaucracies for decades in an effort that picked up exponentially during the Obama administration. The right is merely trying to undo what the left has already done, and also to shrink those bureaucracies rather than grow them.
Good luck. The right has to win the election first.
By the way, the AP – which published this article – has been revealed recently as the recipient of a lot of money from left-wing foundations:
The Associated Press, the country’s top wire service, is now bankrolled in part by millions of dollars from left-wing foundations, including one founded by “1619 Project” author Nikole Hannah-Jones.
The news organization last year announced a series of “partnerships” to subsidize reporters covering climate change, race, and democracy. A review of the donor roster shows that the vast majority fund left-wing political causes, while none are supporters of conservative initiatives.
And my guess is that just about everything political – including the article I’m discussing in this post – comes under the heading of “democracy.”
The general sentiments of this “Project 2025” seem pretty reasonable to me. This is a war for the future of this nation. We Conservatives didn’t start this war. And until recently many of us didn’t even comprehend that we were in a war. If we win next year (and that’s an extremely big “IF” at this point, I don’t currently have very high hopes), I certainly hope at least some of the stuff promised in this “Project 2025” document comes to pass.
It is the Left’s democracy, not to be tarnished by the likes of you or many of the commenters here. I say that without sarcasm because I believe that is they way the Left feels about it. I do hope Trump gets elected. I also hope that he is better prepared than last time (my hunch is he did not expect to win in 2016 and was unprepared), and that he follows through this time. There is a lot the Executive should be able to do to pare back the administrative state. For one thing, he can effectively eliminate positions simply by not filling them. And it is the Executive Branch, so I don’t see why the executive cannot get rid of significant parts of it. Take it to the Supremes, if necessary.
I’ve been saying for some time now that when progressives refer to “our democracy” they mean “that system of government in which our side rules.” They aren’t necessarily being dishonest, at least those who aren’t professional politicians (including consultants etc.). They really have lost the distinction. The emotional syllogism (not logical, obviously) goes something like “Democracy is good. We are the good people who want good things. Therefore what we want is democracy.” And the corollary: “The people who oppose us are opposed to democracy. And since we and democracy are good, they are bad.”
Another fine example of the propaganda that surrounds liberals and leftists. More fearmongering and otherizing. Let’s invalidate people’s valid concerns about the problems facing the nation and just encourage people to be fine with the state abusing it’s power.
I think this line is absolutely a misrepresentation, “gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with…”
“Replace”? Who said anything about “replace?”
Fire 100 before you hire 1, and then only if you must hire at all. Then fire 1000 more… lather, rinse, and repeat until we have empty buildings and fewer 3-letter perpetual agencies.
And none of the unemployed can return to Federal employ except as DC janitorial services.
Certainly is an interesting way to approach big government. But what troubles me is that the majority of the names I looked at in the detailed proposal, are themselves products of elite education, and lots of government, and foundation etc backgrounds.
We don’t need a scalpel to deal with the disease, we need a baseball bat. Entire agencies need to be destroyed, and rebuilt from scratch.
But if getting rid of a few of the millions of federal workers is a start, ok.
honestly, a team of very determined people, with power, could spend years breaking down this huge structure both the left and right have created.
I just hope that the first moves are brutal, heartless, and treat the problem as a real threat to freedom. The only way it can work is to come in swinging, not preaching. Once underway, the push back will be epic, and I doubt people realize this.
It is way past the point of reform now.
I’ve always heard that the House controls the purse strings.
So, instead of firing anyone, can’t we simply stop paying them?
Trump was looking in the right direction, ran out of time, imo:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomspiggle/2020/10/28/trumps-executive-order-would-diminish-civil-service-employment-protections/?sh=3fd9ce67b3a5
As someone who spent most of my career working for the federal government, I would say that firing 50,000 federal workers is just a decent first step. Most of the people I worked with over the years were decent, conscientious workers but that doesn’t mean what they were working on needed to be done. From my experience, I would conservatively estimate that the government would do just fine with 50 percent fewer people on the payroll.
“It frightens me,” said Mary Guy, a professor of public administration at the University of Colorado Denver, who warns the idea would bring a return to a political spoils system.”
She’s right. We ought to just stick to “black and female,” “black and female,” “black and female.”
If you think Trump could pull off something like this, I have a bridge to sell you. Trump and his administration were wholly incompetent in dealing with the administrative state. I see no indication whatsoever that it would be any different in the highly unlikely event that there is a second Trump administration. It would most likely be worse because of all of the bridges Trump has burned with right-of-center people who actually know how the administrative state works.
DeSantis is the only candidate running who has demonstrated a level of skill (and will) to give a snowball’s chance in Hades of acheiving even half of this.
Time for “Biden” to go after the Michigan police….
Publicizing this sort of thing cannot and should not go unpunished.
THE NARRATIVE UBER ALLES!!!
Go Garland GO!
‘ Michigan police memos raised concern about possible nationwide voter registration fraud scheme;
‘Local Michigan police and the state’s attorney general discovered a high ratio of fraudulent voter registration applications, investigated “Election Fraud by Forgery,” and referred the matter to the FBI.’—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/michigan-city-police-report-flagged-possibility-nationwide-voter
“…and referred the matter to the FBI…”
Yep, that oughtta do it!
Trump’s “vision” is just a less pesky and intrusive bureaucracy.
Sounds good to me.