Photo by Sean Lee, Unsplash
Photo by Sean Lee, Unsplash
The simple fact of the matter is that Donald Trump is Project 2025, and Project 2025 is him. More than 200 former Trump administration officials have contributed ideas and work on the project.
Republished with permission from Lucian K. Truscott IV
The tsunami of leaks continued today after Joe Biden’s interview last night on ABC News. The conventional wisdom in Washington D.C. has turned into a ticking clock counting down the days or even hours before the Democratic Party establishment succeeds in pushing Biden out as the party’s nominee and substitutes someone—anyone—in his place.
Take a look at the headlines this afternoon in “Political Wire,” Taegan Goddard’s excellent compilation of news from all over the nation and the world. “U.S. Allies Fear Biden is Finished” headlines a story about unnamed “diplomats and world leaders preparing for next week’s NATO summit.” The words “acute concern” and “dismay” and “fear” and “frail” appear in the story by Politico, which has apparently made a corporate decision to join the chorus of voices in the anti-Biden crowd among Democrats.
“More Supporters Look to Push Biden Out” headlines a story quoting…oh, boy is this going to surprise you…the New York Times. “Numerous officials, lawmakers and strategists in President Biden’s own party increasingly see his candidacy as unsustainable—and their private anxieties are slowly but steadily spilling into public view, interviews with more than 50 Democrats this week showed.”
Who are these 50 people? Well, the Times actually managed to get a few on the record, such as Representative Scott Peters from California and Representative Angie Craig from Minnesota, both of whom expressed doubts about Biden’s ability to beat Trump. But most of the article is like this: “One senior White House official, however, who has worked with Mr. Biden during his presidency, vice presidency and 2020 campaign, said in an interview on Saturday morning that Mr. Biden should not seek re-election. The official said they no longer believed the president had what it took to campaign in a vigorous way and defeat Donald J. Trump.” The official insisted on anonymity “in order to continue serving,” the Times reported.
See, this is the problem. Some asshole in the White House who doesn’t have either the guts or, most probably, the standing to be talking authoritatively about Biden is being allowed to shoot his or her mouth off about the man “they” (in the Times’ formulation) is working for. This kind of shit just goes on and on. Here is the Associated Press: “The chorus of Democratic voices calling for him to step aside is growing, from donors, strategists, lawmakers and their constituents who say he should bow out.”
Now we’ve got a goddamned “chorus,” but who are they quoting? Nobody, that’s who. Everyone is hiding. Jane Mayer from the New Yorker puts it this way: “There are two conversations in Washington right now. The public one is that Biden’s OK. The private one is the same people telling reporters it’s a disaster. Biden fans are blaming reporters but the press is just letting the public in on what’s really being said.”
I’m a Biden fan, and I’m not blaming the press. I’m blaming the lily-livered “strategists” and “White House officials” and the rest of the 50 “Democrats” who won’t go on the record as they unsheathe their knives and go after Joe Biden.
Have you noticed who they’re not talking about saving the country from?
Donald Trump.
And meanwhile, Trump went on Truth Social yesterday to deny that he knows anything about “Project 2025,” which is being put together by the Heritage Foundation as a blueprint for how Donald Trump will govern as a dictator from “day one,” as he had told us he will. In his Truth Social post, Trump said, “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” As others have pointed out, how can Trump “disagree” with a project that he knows nothing about?
Trump is flat-out lying that he doesn’t know who’s behind it. The Heritage Foundation is working hand-in-glove with the Republican National Committee, which is now run by Trump’s own daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, alongside some hand-picked hand-puppet from North Carolina called Michael Whatley. Anybody ever heard of this guy? But you’ve heard of Lara Trump, right? Who do you think is calling up Trump out there on the links reporting to him about what the RNC and the Heritage Foundation are doing?
One guess.
The simple fact of the matter is that Donald Trump is Project 2025, and Project 2025 is him. More than 200 former Trump administration officials have contributed ideas and work on the project. The so-called “advisory board” of Project 2025 includes “a broad coalition of over 80 conservative organizations,” according to the Heritage Foundation. NBC News reported that nearly half of the think tanks and other conservative organizations on the advisory board have received so-called “dark money” from a network of conservative funds that are funded by Leonard Leo. Good old Leonard is the fine fellow who told Trump who to put on the Supreme Court so they would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Donald Trump says he doesn’t know who’s behind Project 2025? Take a look at some of their plans and see if they don’t sound familiar: They want to to fire federal civil servants and replace them with “Trump loyalists,” work to insert principles of Christian Nationalism into the national government, overturn everything Joe Biden did to limit and control climate change, do away with “woke propaganda” in schools, extend and expand the Trump tax cuts of 2017, and in terms of foreign affairs, end U.S. support for Ukraine and pretty much cancel the Agency for International Development, the arm of the State Department which helps to allocate U.S. foreign aid. And oh, by the way, Project 2025 wants to purge the word “gender” from federal programs and departments, so colleges around the country should be planning on the end of Title IX if Trump seizes the Oval Office.
Maybe all these Democratic “officials” and “strategists” and “donors” might consider taking some of their venom and squirting it toward the other candidate for the presidency, the lying felonious rapist Donald Trump, who is telling us exactly what fascist plans he has for this country.
If there is anyone this country needs to be saved from, it’s Trump. I know, I know, the anonymous sources say that they just don’t think Biden can beat Trump, and that’s why they’re trying to push him out. Okay, I’ll buy that…if these so-called loyal Democrats would go on the record and say their names out loud and stop whispering to reporters about how the Biden inner circle has “hidden” everything from them.
Here’s the thing: just who do they think should be put in there in Biden’s place? Read some of these stories for yourself. You won’t find many of them taking a stand on who they want to be the new Democratic nominee, because that might cause them problems down the line. If they back Kamala Harris, what if she loses? How about California Governor Gavin Newsom? What if he gets the nod and then tanks?
See what I mean? Where’s the courage in this movement to replace Joe Biden? You want to know who they are? The Bone Spurs Chorus. Somebody else get out there and take your chances going on the record about Biden—I’ll be with you in spirit all the way.
If all the so-called Democratic establishment can do for the country is whisper in the ears of the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and Politico, we’re doomed. Come out of your foxholes, you chickenshits, and show us your faces.
Until you’re willing to stand up and be counted, shut the fuck up.
Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives in rural Pennsylvania and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better.
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