It’s tough to be grateful this Thanksgiving. With Donald Trump’s impending second presidential term and Project 2025 hanging over our heads like a dark cloud, millions of Americans are finding it hard to keep positive.
Project 2025 is the latest entry in the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership series. Published by the conservative think-tank known as the Heritage Foundation, the document is a nearly 1000-page plan of policy platforms the Heritage Foundation wants the Trump administration to implement in the president’s upcoming second term. The policies it outlines will be terrible for the American people, no matter which candidate you voted for.
Given how comically long the document is (not to mention the material itself), wading through the latest Mandate for Leadership is a task I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Tiktoker Ariana Tomlinson, @arianatomlinson2323, took it upon herself to educate the masses about a few of the rights Project 2025 wants to take away from American citizens. She even provided page numbers for anyone wanting to confirm the facts for themselves. We love an informed populace! I, unfortunately, also read through the document. That’s precious time I cannot get back but I can save yours by letting you know what Project 2025 does and does not say.
“First of all, they’re trying to end no-fault divorce,” Tomlinson says, before explaining how this is harmful. “Not only would this obviously negatively impact people who have a civil breakup … this would negatively impact women who don’t have substantial evidence of abuse but want to divorce their spouse that is abusing them.” For what it’s worth, the document does not mention ending no-fault divorce (instead using terms like “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family”) but advisors behind Project 2025 have openly opposed no-fault divorce.
Tomlinson then asserts that Project 2025 intends to implement a national ban on abortion, citing pages 449 to 502 of the document. The document dances around using those exact words, but make no mistake: it means to enact backwards policies aimed to further limit what remains of abortion access.
Notably, page 458 and 459 of the plan call for restricting access and ultimately banning medication abortion pills via the Comstock Act. If the act was enforced in this way, it could lead to a national ban on all abortions. The plan also mandates reducing access to contraceptives, as noted on page 486 of the document. It also aims to damage the Affordable Care Act through defunding, adding “lifetime caps on benefits to disincentivize permanent dependence,” and imposing employment restrictions that disproportionately affect those with chronic conditions.
“On page 581, they outline their plan to eliminate unions and worker protections,” Tomlinson continues. This section discusses strategies to eliminate worker protections, reduce child labor laws, and make it more difficult for workers to organize via unions. Unions, often villainized by the right, are proven to be beneficial for workers: The Economic Policy Institute reports that workers in states with higher levels of unionization make more money, have better health insurance coverage, and are more civically engaged on average, among other benefits. Tomlinson mentions Project 2025 outlines raising the retirement age from 67, but the document doesn’t go into detail on its plans for Social Security. However, authors of Project 2025 have advocated for raising the full retirement age to 69 years old.
The authors of Project 2025 also want to reform and ultimately eliminate the Department of Education. Tomlinson explains why this is bad for students of all ages, including those in college. “The Pell Grant is funded by the Department of Education. I’m sure you guys have guessed: This will disproportionately affect poor people.” Trump’s disdain of the DOE is no secret as is his promise to completely abolish the department altogether.
As one would expect from a group espousing Christian Nationalism, Project 2025 wants to do away with LGBTQ+ protections, especially ones protecting the transgender community. It proposes abolishing what it refers to as “woke policies” such as DEI programs and eliminating protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity. While the document makes no specific provisions outlawing same-sex marriage, it asserts on page 489 that “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure” which doesn’t exactly make those rights feel secure. Throughout its pages, it uses language that negatively portrays the LGBTQ+ community as harmful to “traditional” family structures, a tactic the GOP just loves to utilize besides evidence pointing to the contrary.
The comments on Tomlinson’s post point out how regressive these policies are. “Fell asleep in 2024 and woke up in 1850,” wrote one commenter. Another shared a quote that resonated with her: “Granddaughters shouldn’t have to fight the battles their grandmothers already won.” Others wrote they appreciated Tomlinson’s video but worried it wouldn’t reach “the people that need to see this.”
During his campaign, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 despite his own administration’s heavy involvement in crafting the initiative. Now that he’s won the 2024 election, he’s appointing its authors to positions in his cabinet. From the way he’s planning his second term, Trump’s “distance“ from Project 2025 can only be measured by a microscope.
Published: Nov 28, 2024 06:55 am