You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially if it’s regarding politics. However, even the most committed left-wing conspiracy theorist might struggle to come up with anything quite as dangerous as Project 2025.
Project 2025 is talked about by progressive voices in the U.S. same way various insane lies like Pizzagate are on the right. However, the collection of policy proposals (also known as the “Presidential Transition Project”) is very much real, and very much a threat to anybody who believes the U.S should be a democracy.
The plan has been put forward by a number of think-tanks and policy makers, but the billionaire-funded Heritage Foundation is among the most notable. This foundation is known mostly for pouring money into legislation that would block people’s right to vote, as well as anti-abortion and anti-birth control stances.
The plan would involve recruiting thousands of conservatives to D.C. in order to replace the current group of civil servants, in order to ensure that a potential Trump presidency wouldn’t run into the roadblocks it did in 2016. Of course, they haven’t mentioned anything about the sheer incompetency of conservative thinkers, as evidenced by the fact Trump failed to get multiple policies off the ground despite having a majority in the House and Senate for his first two years as president.
The project is somewhat inspired by the notion of unitary executive theory, an extremist interpretation of the Constitution that claims the president has absolute power over the executive branch, once he or she is inaugurated. This would effectively make them a king or queen, which the founding fathers were famously against.
Another part of the plan includes the wholesale destruction of several government agencies. These would include the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI. The last one makes sense when you remember how much Republicans love helping out child sex offenders, and that their preferred candidate is slowly becoming more famous for his crimes than his terrible body odor.
Other departments to be neutered would be the FCC and FTC, ensuring the few flimsy regulations corporations are adhering to are destroyed. There would also be a big cut in environmental regulations.
One of the most worrying aspects of Project 2025 is the desire to abolish the Department of Education, thus ensuring a steady stream of voters lacking the critical thinking skills that ensure a healthy democracy.
And it gets even worse. Abortion would be completely outlawed, as would other forms of sexual health awareness. What federal law enforcement is left would pursue anybody who doesn’t agree with the status quo, and the death penalty would be promoted heavily.
The director of the project, Paul Dans, is a long-time conservative activist. The Heritage Foundation, for whom he works, has spent nearly $20 million on promoting the project, in collaboration with famously disreputable organizations like Turning Point USA.
To put it frankly, Project 2025 is an authoritarian Christian nationalist idea, which would see some of the most regressive policies one could imagine being put into place. The rule of law and various ideas that are intrinsic to the American fabric would be wiped out. It is as damaging and scary as it sounds, and can only be defeated at the ballot box.
Don’t believe it? Then read the Heritage Foundation’s web page outlining the project here, and you’ll be able to see this is anything but fear mongering.