Can Project 2025 Become Law?
Well, that depends entirely on who votes for whom.
Trump v. United States (enjoy this exceptional podcast by Just Security) divided Presidential immunity into three categories; unofficial conduct, official conduct that enjoys absolute immunity, official conduct that does not enjoy absolute immunity.
“The United States has gone for two-and-a-half centuries without a constitutional rule concerning presidential immunity, and it has been able to do so for a very simple reason: Most presidents aren’t criminals and don’t use their official functions to commit crimes.”
In a very real sense, the Court decided that a President’s need to not be held accountable trumps the people’s need to hold them accountable. Oddly, in deciding a case brought by a convicted criminal, the majority argues that it is much less likely that a President will go rouge by committing crimes. More common and more worrisome, they argue, is the likelihood that President’s will be prosecuted for “official acts.”
Oh, and allow me to digress, the Court also ruled that in any criminal prosecution of a President, criminal courts can not inquire into his or her motives. Look for the next waves of “Whoa. Wait, What?” podcasts, interviews, and write-up’s to be discussing the idea that the people can’t sit in judgement of presidential motives.
But, As Project 2025 Shows Us, An Act Doesn’t Have To Amount To A Crime To Be Dangerous.
In “The Retribution for Progress,” we left the Project 2025: General Welfare section on the table for later review. Pull up a seat that time is now.
Trump is mentioned 312 times in the 900+ page dystopian manifesto authored by a stockpile of former Trump appointees who penned their every fantasy about the future of American life. Do yourself a favor and subscribe to Judd Legum at Popular Information.
“All told, of the 38 people responsible for writing and editing Project 2025, 31 were appointed or nominated to positions in the Trump administration and transition. In other words, while Trump claims he has "nothing to do" with the people who created Project 2025, over 81% had formal roles in his first administration.” Legum’s math is clear and convincing.
So, let’s take a gander at how Team Trump defines “General Welfare” In other words, what they have deemed to be in your best interest. The section opens up by using increasingly common and hostile coded language to describe civil service as “massive behemoth,” “administrative state,” “bloated, arrogant, lawless…,” and “coercive.”
If you can cut through the half-truths and flat-out lies - including blaming President Biden for things President Trump did while in office - you’ll arrive at the heart of the matter. “The next secretary should also reverse the Biden Administration’s focus on ‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage,” replacing such policies with those encouraging marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families.”
Flashback to “Conflating LGBTQIA+ with Criminality,” and “Don’t Fret, My Pet,” and “The Laundry List,” and “The Price for Progress.”
Feed The Babies
The author of the section on food and farming calls for an end to “farm subsidy dependence,” and an end to “efforts to place ancillary issues like climate change ahead of food productivity and affordability.” By that they mean an end to initiatives like the Conservation Reserve Program, which encourages and supports farmers as they improve soil health and preserve native plants.
Predictably, the crafters of these proposed Agricultural policy changes, really hate programs like the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP) Supplemental Assistance for Needy Families (SNAP), Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Nutrition Program for the Elderly; Nutrition Service Incentives; the Summer Food Service Program; the Commodity Supplemental Food Program; the Temporary Emergency Food Program; the Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program; and the Special Milk Program.
Without irony, after naming the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the very picture of all that is wrong with America’s domestic policy, Project 2025 calls for all nutritional programs to be moved under HHS.
While this section hasn’t received much attention; it’s day is coming. There is something for everyone to hate including an approving nod to biotechnology and “genetic engineering.” Meet the author of this section, Daren Bakst. For a deeper dive into the history of American agricultural policy, I suggest “The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger In Our Time” by Senator George McGovern.
Take The Money & Run
In the Education section, you’ll find the normal conservative demands to end to the US Department of Education and for our federal taxpayer dollars used in funding education programs to be “blockgranted to states without strings.” Over time, the author claims, all “policymaking and funding” should be handled at the state and local level. Meet Lindsey M. Burke, author of this section. For the record, she really hates student loan forgiveness.
Why? Why would Trumpers want to end the US Department of Education functions and return them to the state and local levels. Well, it’s simple really. White, Christian, Male Superiority.
Flashback to “Education is the Weapon of the Privileged,” and “If Your Child has a Disability,” and “Ron DeSantis’ Long History of Minimizing Slavery,” and “Foster Care, Juvie, and Jesus,” and “What the Hell is Gross Immorality,” and “Desegregation.”
You see, at it’s core, the US Department of Education is responsible for insuring state and local education agencies comply with laws governing equitable and equal access to education. The Department uses carrot (dollars) and stick (recapturing dollars) to incentive compliance. For example, the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services houses the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which is responsible for overseeing $4 billion in tax payer dollars.
Those dollars are designed to assist disabled citizens prepare for employment by providing any number of support services including things like vehicle modification, medical care, psychological care, tuition for training, small business planning, and workplace accommodations such as Sign Language interpreters. The Rehabilitation Services Administration’s job is to review state plans for using the funds, disseminating those funds, providing technical assistance to states, and monitoring for compliance.
If those dollars are to be delivered via “blockgrant” with “no strings attached” as suggested by Project 2025, each Governor would have full discretion. In Florida, that amounts to about $200 million and we don’t have to imagine what Governor Ron DeSantis and his Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz, would do with that discretion. All we have to do is look at Project 2025’s test case; Rule 6A-25.021.
Rule 6A.25-021 allows the Florida Department of Education, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to reach deep into the business operations and service delivery of partnering nonprofit organizations, like Goodwill Industries. For example, the Division can mount a “due diligence” inquiry into the technology Goodwill uses and, arguably, if the Division isn’t satisfied with the Salesforce (insert any product here) platform used by Goodwill; it can require another platform of the Division’s choice. If Goodwill refuses, the Department can simply terminate the relationship with Goodwill. Same can be said for Goodwill’s Board Members. Presumably, Team DeSantis could simply mount a hostile takeover like they did at New College.
The same dangers lurk across all demographics should the US Department of Education’s role in equity diminish. Dive Deeper.
If Energy and Climate is your issue, head to page 363. “The new energy crisis is caused not by a lack of resources, but by extreme “green” policies. Under the rubrics of ‘combating climate change’ and ‘ESG’ (environmental, social, and governance), the Biden Administration, Congress, and various states, as well as Wall Street investors, international corporations, and progressive special-interest groups, are changing America’s energy landscape.”
If you’re into conservation, check out page 417. If you’re passionate about our natural resources and cultural heritage, find your way to page 517. Affordable housing policy can be found on page 503. For those of you with an interest in policy that dictates how America administers justice, check out page 545. Transportation and infrastructure starts on page 619.
ABRACADABRA
Meet Roger Severino, author of the section about the US Department of Health and Human Services. He really hates individual autonomy. Meet Jonathan Berry, author of the section about the US Department of Labor. He believes political ideology is an important hiring consideration for federal employees. I’ll leave it to John Oliver to explain how horrifying - and unconstitutional - that would be for Democracy.
This is what Project 2025 co-author William Wolfe wrote about the aim of Severino’s section on Health and Human Services. Note: he left out the whole end (or at least privatize) Medicaid and Medicare thing.
Over at the US Department of Labor, Trump’s Schedule F cronies would be busy making sure the titans of industry have complete rule over the pheasants (p. 592). Under Project 2025, companies can flex out overtime. In other words, the forty hour per week threshold will become eighty hours for two weeks to allow employers to over work employees one week and under schedule them the following week to avoid overtime.
Child labor laws? Undone.
OSHA - you know, the Nixon push to decrease the number of workplace deaths - would be shuddered. In fact, all the laws regarding your workplace rights from equal pay to protecting your pension to discriminatory practices to workplace toxins are on the chopping block.
The Joker Has Come To Swingtown
Project 2025 is forcing Americans to reject conservative soundbites and really look at the substance of the role policy plays in our daily life. Thankfully, the Americans who have done their homework, don’t like a what they see.
Dive Deeper on Section 3: General Welfare with the Remember Trump and Project 2025 podcast with Melissa Fazli.