Writing history …

On November 11 – an important day of remembrance – I wrote a post titled Seeking Understanding and suggested that we are and will be writing history in a most significant way as Donald Trump takes office for another four-year term. Today, I’d like to continue that theme by beginning to explore Project 2025 – the apparent blueprint for his presidency.

For more detail about Project 2025, without reading all 900+ pages, have a look at What Does Project 2025 Say, a website created by E.T. Parker who defines himself as an ‘ordinary American’ with a particular set of skills: software engineer, web developer, data science and data handling, and a degree in broadcast technology, focused on engineering, media literacy, mass media in a democracy, and recognizing propaganda. It’s a great resource.

Parker begins with a section on Project 2025 Goals and Policy Proposals, more than 90 goals!

I’ve looked at the first 10 in some detail – an incredible and shocking list (at least to me):

• Dismantle the government
• Deregulate industry
• Deport 11 million+ immigrants
• Disengage economically from China
• Weaponize the Department of Justice
• Declare the President above the law – guess that one’s already done!
• Establish the United States as a Christian Nationalist ethno-state
• Discontinue climate change research
• Abolish the Gender Policy Council
• Legitimize discrimination

And how does this get done? Of critical importance are the people Trump appoints to senior positions. So let’s have a look at some of those people. But first, a couple of statements from Project 2025 to set the stage:

“Choosing who will carry out that agenda [the agenda of Project 2025] on a daily basis is not only one of the first decisions a President makes in office, but also one of the most critical. The tone and tempo of an administration are often determined on January 20.”

“Although its focus should be identifying and recruiting leaders to fill the approximately 1,000 appointments that require Senate confirmation, PPO [Presidential Personnel Office] must also fill approximately 3,000 political jobs that require dedicated conservatives to support the Administration’s political leadership.”

• JD Vance – VP – endorsed Project 2025; contributed to the forward of Project 2025; deep ties to extreme right-wing Catholicism
• Robert Kennedy – Scty Health & Human Services; anti-vaccine activist; intends to clear out entire departments of the FDA
• Matt Gaetz – Attorney General; libertarian populist; far-right politics; justice department critic; accused of child sex trafficking, statutory rape, illegal drug use and misusing campaign funds; resigned from the House just before the release of an investigation into those accusations
• Tulsi Gabbard – Director of National Intelligence; supports Putin and Syrian president Bashar; National Guard veteran; opposed military aid to Ukraine
• Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense; used NDA to quash sexual assault accusation; Fox News commentator; former US Army Guard; opposed to women in combat roles
• Karoline Leavitt – White House Press Secretary; critic of liberal media; backed Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election; featured in one of Project 2025’s videos
• Marco Rubio – Scty of State; supports America first agenda; China hawk; pro-Israel; anti-Iran; has been on Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
• Mike Johnston – Speaker of the House; devout Christian and supporter of ‘family values’ – not a Trump appointee per se, but Trump endorsed him when there was a leadership crisis; has already shown that he will do Trump’s bidding
• Trump’s personal attorneys – Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, and John Sauer will be appointed to significant positions in the DOJ
• Susie Wiles – Chief of Staff; CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC; tried to disavow P2025; worked in the Reagan administration 
• Kristi Noem – Scty of Homeland Security – supported Trump’s Muslim ban; Governor South Dakota
• John Ratcliffe – CIA Director – previously served as director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term; Project 2025 contributor 
• Dan Scavino – Deputy Chief of Staff; social media expertise
• Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff; immigration hawk; promised mass deportations day one; involved in Project 2025; helped develop policy of separating migrant children from their parents during Trump’s first term
• Bill McGinley – White House Counsel; was in Trump’s first administration; practiced law in DC dealing mainly with election law and representing Republican politicians or political entities; devout Catholic
• Chris Wright – Secretary of Energy – oil industry executive (fracking); major donor; climate change denier
• Doug Burgum – Interior Secretary; broad business background; Governor of North Dakota; called for an end to regulatory overreach that’s restricting domestic oil and energy production
• Elise Stefanik – Ambassador to UN; currently member of the House for New York; opposed Trump’s first impeachment and claimed that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the Jan 6th attack; aided Trump in his 2020 efforts to overturn the election; supported the idea of expunging Trump’s impeachments
• Elon Musk – Dept of Government Efficiency; billionaire; tech entrepreneur; major donor; Trump said DOGE will “pave the way” to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
• Vivek Ramaswamy – Dept of Government Efficiency – ran against Donald Trump before endorsing him; opposes corporate DEI and ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) initiatives; anti-woke; has criticized secularism and declared support for Christian values; opposed to affirmative action, abortion, LGBTQ movement; pledged, if elected, to rule by executive fiat
• Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Israel; labels himself a Zionist; in his 2008 presidential run, Huckabee said there was “no such thing as a Palestinian” and claimed that Palestinian identity was “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
• Lee Zeldin – Environmental Protection Agency – attorney and former military intelligence officer; has voted against many environmental policies
• Tom Homan – ‘Border Czar’; former head of ICE; played a significant role in implementing policies that saw children separated from their parents at the border during Trump’s first term; Project 2025 contributor
• Mike Waltz – National Security Advisor – currently serves on Armed Services, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs Committees
• Brendan Carr – Federal Communications Commission head – wrote the FCC chapter in Project 2025; has taken aim at technology companies for censorship; close relationship with Elon Musk; was appointed to the FCC by Trump in 2017
• Behind the scenes advising Trump on various policies are several billionaire donors: John Paulson (investor), Jeff Yass (major TikTok shareholder), Harold Hamm (oil tycoon), Timothy Mellon (Mellon heir), Marc Andreeson (tech investor), Carl Icahn (Wall St investor)
• Also behind the scenes is Leonard Leo (responsible for shifting judicial appointments to the right, founder of Teneo and a major influencer with Rockbridge Network); through Teneo Leonard Leo intends to build “networks of conservatives that can roll back” liberal influence in Wall Street and Silicon Valley, among authors and academics, with pro athletes and Hollywood producers. JD Vance, Josh Hawley and Elise Stefanik are associated with Teneo. More on Leo another time.

There’s nothing wrong with being a loyalist unless it blinds you to reason and integrity. However, skills and experience are, in my humble opinion, essential to managing the levers of government at such senior levels. You be the judge on whether the balance between capability and loyalty has been well struck.

To ensure that his nominations aren’t blocked by the Senate review process, Trump is pushing for ‘recess appointments’ to avoid any opposition.

On many occasions, Trump has vowed to dismantle government bureaucracy and has created a new department – DOGE – under the leadership of Elon Musk, to help with the task.

Is there any precedent for ‘dismantling government? On a website focused on Illiberalism, Skylar G. Knight has written a paper titled Dismantling Democracy: the Organization of Hungary which describes the steps Viktor Orban and his Fidesz Party have taken in Hungary since coming to power. Hungary is no longer considered a free democracy.

These are the steps Skylar Knight outlines:

• Executive aggrandizement – essentially more power in the hands of the executive branch of government.
• Strip away the powers of their Constitutional Court (roughly equivalent to SCOTUS); in addition, adjust the retirement age such that Orban was able to replace many judges who were forced to retire with party loyalists.
• Undermine the independence of the media
• Electoral manipulation – for example, the National Election Commission which was mandated to protect election integrity is now packed with Orban loyalists
• Overhaul the constitution
• Change electoral laws such that Orban’s party Fidesz remains in power
• Restrict academic freedom
• Politicizing the economy and society – Knight explains that “Orbán treats Hungary as his private property to fatten his and his cronies’ personal pockets, and he selectively applies laws and grants rights to advantage allies and disadvantage enemies.” And “Orbán switches between market and command economy policies in order to mold Hungary into a Christian Magyar nation.”

Donald Trump has met with and consulted with Viktor Orban, indeed he hosted Orban at Mar-a-lago in spring 2024. He describes Orbán as one of the world’s “most respected men” — a “strong man” and “a tough person.” Who else among Trump’s loyalists have done so? Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, allies of Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán held a closed-door meeting with Republicans hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a major right-wing organization. Steve Bannon described Hungary as “an inspiration to the world.”

“Hungary’s immigration policy should serve as a model to the United States in terms of border, border security and immigration enforcement,” said Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona.

Check out this article by the Washington Post: Orban at CPAC brings the ‘far-right international’ into focus. Or this one: US Conservatives Yearn for Orban’s Hungary.

According to the Guardian newspaper, “in recent years Orbán has championed a transatlantic far-right alliance with a hardline stance against immigration and ‘gender ideology’, staunch Christian nationalism and scorn for those who warn of a slide into authoritarianism.”

CNN writes: “Orbán has centralized power by dismissing judges, changing election rules to favor his party, cracking down on NGO’s and appointing loyalists to key institutions. His government built a fence along the country’s southern border amid a migrant crisis in 2015 and passed stricter immigration policies. It tightened its grip on state media, reducing space for dissent. The prime minister has also promoted a Christian nationalist view of Hungarian society, passing laws restricting transgender rights and adoption by same-sex couples, redefining marriage in the constitution to only cover unions between a man and a woman, and banning materials related to LGBTQ issues in schools.”

Do these policies sound familiar?

I’ve gone on long enough on the topic of dismantling the government. Perhaps we’ll tackle industry deregulation next.

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.