Fascism within Project 2025 - wrap up
Nov. 5th will lead us to autocracy or democracy. It's up to us...We, The People
The question before us is stark: will we stand idly by as our democracy is dismantled, or will we fight back? The time for complacency has long passed. Our democracy needs us—now more than ever. Our powerful pillars of democracy are at stake:
1) Rule of Law, ensuring equality and justice;
2) Free and Fair Elections, allowing citizens to choose their leaders;
3) Protection of Human Rights, safeguarding individual liberties; and
4) Separation of Powers, distributing authority among branches of government to prevent abuses.
These are not merely theoretical pillars but the very bedrock that keeps our nation grounded in justice, liberty, and balance.
The following is an overview of what will happen to our democracy if Trump is allowed to return to the White House:
First come the firings. Thousands of federal, non-partisan civil servants –environmental and food safety regulators; authorities in disaster relief coordination; attorneys overseeing anti-discrimination policies in housing, education and employment; medical and scientific researchers – receive immediate layoff notices. Many will not be replaced, as entire federal programs and agencies are shuttered. The new personnel that do arrive come from conservative thinktanks, or are right-wing activists who applied through the Project 2025 application database. Political cronyism is now the official hiring policy of the US federal government.
Next come the roundups. As drafted by the MAGA nativist-in-chief Stephen Miller, a broad range of law enforcement, from the National Guard to state and local police are deputized for a new deportation army. Sweeps of neighborhoods and businesses take aim at blue states and cities, but general terror is their intended goal. Detention centers are established on military bases and federal facilities with quick access to airfields to execute mass removals. Nearly a million lawfully present immigrants are stripped of their legal protections, subjecting them to immediate deportation. An end to DACAand a return of the Muslim ban follow.
In the following months, other parts of the agenda will unfold. Cuts in corporate taxes so generous they would make the robber barons blush. An end to federal funding for public television and radio that forces many local stations to shutter. The termination of Head Start programs leaves hundreds of thousands of parents and guardians without preschool or childcare. The elimination of the Department of Education and programs like Title I halt funding and many protections for students with disabilities, English learners and students from low-income households.
Abortion rights, emergency contraception and many reproductive health programs will be criminalized. (Have you heard of the proposition in Amarillo - it will be a criminal offense to transport yourself across the border for a legal abortion.) Goodbye also to most public sector unions, labor organizing rights and anti-poverty programs. And, forget about protesting. Forget about gun control or LGBTQIA+ rights. Climate change will be completely ignored and nuclear proliferation will commence.
It can be difficult at times to distinguish the hyperbole of Trump and the MAGA movement from actual governing plans. “Build the wall” was always more of a campaign performance and fundraising stunt than a policy blueprint. But after reviewing several right-wing conferences and rallies, I have little reason to doubt their intentions this time around. They are smarter and better prepared.
Miller has, at CPAC, described the deportation plans in chilling detail. Speaker after speaker at a Turning Point USA conference promise violence and retribution against political opponents, the dismantling of nearly all public goods, and plans to bring a shrill Christian nationalism to the center of governance and civic life. There are unapologetic defenses of eugenics and scientific racism on right-wing media channels with millions of followers.
Conservatives often celebrate the unity of their governing philosophy, rooted in small government, entrepreneurship, faith, and family. But there is nothing coherent or rational about these policies. Plunder is the prevailing principle. Destroying our 248-year democracy is the name of the game, all in the quest for power, control, and money. That’s it.
In the face of this threatened calamity, what can be done? The material consequences of this agenda must be exposed, which is what I’ve been attempting to do within my own comparatively small community. MAGA supporters often suggest Trump should be taken “seriously but not literally.” Project 2025’s 920-page policy document is not political theater - its threat to the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people must be laid out in stark terms.
At the same time, we must not succumb to a fatalism. Right-wing tacticians like Christopher Rufo have explained that they publicize their strategies to intentionally demoralize their opposition. If we only warn against the threat of fascism, we risk leaving people even more fearful and isolated, cynical towards the prospect of any collective change or resistance.
Polls show large majorities of the US public deeply opposed to the Project 2025 agenda. But will that majority get out and vote? Every outlet (Congress, the Judiciary on many levels, the Supreme Court) we have counted on in the past to “save” us has failed.
And, the media? Well, they are clearly biased. As journalist Bob Woodward has said, democracy dies in the dark. Our major newspapers, owned by mega-oligarchs, have succumbed to Trump’s unvoiced threats before the election is decided by pulling their support from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. In the words of Matthew Dowd, they are cowards. If that isn’t the beginnings of fascism, I don’t know what is. We’re it.
THERE IS NO CALVARY COMING TO SAVE US OR OUR DEMOCRACY - it’s all up to us…we are the cavalry and the final stronghold. PLEASE VOTE.
This will be my last post about Project 2025 whose agenda poses an all-out assault on millions of Americans. Please do your own research and vote accordingly. We’ve been here before. A packed house October 27th, 2024 at Madison Square Garden is reminiscent of the 1939 Nazi rally at the same venue. It was no accident - they knew what they were doing. In my estimation, they are riling up the “militia” base, in case of a loss. The racist “jokes” and “tropes” were hardly funny. Is this the America we want? Trump is not for the people. He is for himself and simply trying to stay out of jail. The enemy within is Donald Trump.
Standing strong for democracy,
Donna
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Thank you to Daniel Martinez HoSang - a Professor of American Studies at Yale and a Race and Democracy Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute - for much of this information.