# Project 2025 -- a RW blueprint for Autocracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 16, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262 "2023-11-16T20:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/41 "2024-06-20T19:18:40Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > To me, the ultimate example of projection is their stated **[plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_F_appointment)** to replace non-political, merit-based (ie, subject matter experts) federal career civil servants with loyalists, toadies, sycophants, and lackeys. Technically, Schedule F is just a way to make people easier to fire. If you have people in power who are trustworthy then the ability to fire people could just as easily be used to remove people who are corrupt, incompetent, partisan, etc. If you have people in power who are corrupt, incompetent, and partisan then, yes, you’d expect firings to focus on removing those who are competent and fair. Power doesn’t equal bad. Bad people with power equals bad. Making it impossible to do things does mean that you’re safer when bad people are elected. But the better answer is to improve the voting system so that bad people aren’t elected. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/42 "2024-06-20T21:31:32Z")
I disagree. Regardless of who ends up in charge they will be partisan. It is simply the way that our electoral system works. They may be partisan in a way I like, but that doesn’t matter. They will have the motivation to alter the system to match their policy interests, and even if I agree with their policy it is bad for the system to have the civil service constantly looking over their shoulder to make sure that they don’t arrive at an answer the boss won’t like. Its like Gerrymandering, I may like the results of having districts arranged to favor Democrats, but I still think its bad for democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/43 "2024-06-20T21:33:31Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Regardless of who ends up in charge they will be partisan. Then you’re only envisioning relatively poor voting systems. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/44 "2024-06-20T21:38:00Z")
How can you have an election that produces a president that has no political agenda? Perhaps philosopher kings appointed by the gods. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/45 "2024-06-20T21:43:43Z")
The reason that the Constitution guarantees us a republic is because it’s accepted as implicit that the people don’t have the time or resources to understand the issues. If that’s a given then how can the people cast a meaningful vote for any particular political agenda? That’s like you and me getting together to vote why there’s insufficient pressure in the shower, when neither you nor I knows a damn thing about plumbing. The job that we’re asked to do every 2 or 4 years is to vote whether the people before us seem like reasonable persons, who would work to understand the needs of all of the people in the land, has the intelligence to be able to come to understand the issues, and who will seek to find best compromises to ensure the general welfare. The whole political angle is something that partisans added, to get us off of the course that we’re supposed to be on and instead, on the course that they want us on. There’s no one that says we have to allow them to do so. I, for one, don’t see the benefit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/46 "2024-06-20T21:44:50Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > The reason that the Constitution guarantees us a republic is because it’s accepted as implicit that the people don’t have the time or resources to understand the issues. That’s not my understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/47 "2024-06-20T21:48:05Z")
> [@The Constitution](#): > > ### Section. 4. > > The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government See also: [https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th\_century/fed10.asp](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed10.asp) [https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th\_century/fed39.asp](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed39.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/48 "2024-06-20T22:34:18Z")
Two issues. First we are talking about value of Schedule F in the system we have, not in some alternative system that not only doesn’t exist here, but probably doesn’t exist anywhere. Second I’m not just talking about partisan in terms of Republican or Democrat political party I am talking partisan in terms of policy. The president will either support or oppose raising taxes, he will support of oppose gun laws etc. If a president strongly supports a specific policy but a civil servant repeatedly publishes high profile reports that argues against it, the president may decide that civil servant is a bad analyst and fire them. That result would be bad for our country, since it would reduce the civil service to a bunch of yes-men. Now of course if the president was a “reasonable person, who understands the needs of all of the people in the land, has the intelligence to be able to come to understand the issues, and who will seek to find best compromises to ensure the general welfare.” Then maybe he wouldn’t be able to accept the criticism adjust his policies based on it and move forward. But at that point, if we have a system that guarantees such an enlightened leaders, we might was well get rid of all checks on his power and not worry about abuse of any sort. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/49 "2024-06-20T23:49:32Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > First we are talking about value of Schedule F in the system we have, not in some alternative system that not only doesn’t exist here, but probably doesn’t exist anywhere. Trump passed an executive order that commanded the Attorney General of the US to withhold funding from police who practiced violence against perps and suspects. Almost immediately, Bill Barr left his position and Trump was voted out of office. By the time someone had the ability to actually act on the executive order, Merrick Garland was the Attorney General. Biden neither campaigned on nor took any action towards “Defund the Police”. He completely rejected the idea. But, as it stands, we have a Federal/Executive form of “Defund the Police” in place and it is being underseen by Merrick Garland. Under Trump, the order may have been used - against its stated intent - as a ruse to withhold funding from police stations who didn’t act in a way that Trump wanted. Under Garland, I’d expect that it’s being used to ensure that police agencies are giving their officers violence avoidance classes. Same text, different interpretations and uses. Only the text, as written, is what the law does. Whether a human uses it as written or largely as a pretext for other things is up to the human. It’s simply factually inaccurate to say that it does some other thing than what it says it does. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/50 "2024-06-21T00:43:39Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The president will either support or oppose raising taxes, he will support of oppose gun laws etc. If a president strongly supports a specific policy but a civil servant repeatedly publishes high profile reports that argues against it, the president may decide that civil servant is a bad analyst and fire them. That result would be bad for our country, since it would reduce the civil service to a bunch of yes-men. > > Now of course if the president was a “reasonable person, who understands the needs of all of the people in the land, has the intelligence to be able to come to understand the issues, and who will seek to find best compromises to ensure the general welfare.” Then maybe he wouldn’t be able to accept the criticism adjust his policies based on it and move forward. Or he will say to that person, thank you very much, your input is valued, then turn to the people in charge of doing the _enforcing_ of the policy and say, nonetheless, my policy is what best serves the public interest, you will enforce as I have instructed, because deciding is my job and doing is yours. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/51 "2024-09-24T22:20:00Z")
Holy shit, this fucking world is spinning too fast. Kevin Roberts, allegedly killed a neighbor’s dog with a shovel for barking. > **[Project 2025 mastermind allegedly told colleagues he killed a dog with a shovel](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/project-2025-kevin-roberts-killed-dog)** > > Revealed: former colleagues claim Kevin Roberts told them he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004 Two cites for your reading pleasure. > ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/52 "2024-09-25T14:32:40Z")
What these assholes don’t realize, is that decent people can shoot back. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/53 "2024-09-26T02:53:40Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > only Ferdinand Franco had staying power Generalísimo Francisco Franco’s smarter brother? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/54 "2024-09-26T23:03:49Z")
News update: Generalisimo Francisco Franco is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/55 "2025-03-06T15:38:18Z")
Bumping this just to say … how much of this looks familiar _now_?? > **[Project 2025](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025)** > > Defunct > Newspapers > Journals > When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. –Maya Angelou ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/56 "2025-03-06T17:19:11Z")
Oh, the thing trump claimed he never heard of, right? 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/57 "2025-03-06T17:28:30Z")
Lemme’ copy and paste a bit of it here for convenience: > [@](#): > > Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election. > > The ninth iteration of the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership series, Project 2025 is based on a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory that states that the entire executive branch is under the complete control of the president. Proponents of Project 2025 say it will dismantle a government bureaucracy they say is unaccountable and mostly liberal. Critics have called it an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan that will steer the U.S. toward autocracy. Legal experts say it would undermine the rule of law, separation of powers, separation of church and state, and civil liberties. > > The project calls for merit-based federal civil service workers to be replaced by people loyal to Trump, to take partisan control of key government agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Commerce (DOC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Education (ED), will be dismantled or abolished. The president will then be free to implement Project 2025’s agenda, including reducing taxes on corporations and capital gains, instituting a flat income tax on individuals, cutting Medicare and Medicaid, and reversing President Joe Biden’s policies. Project 2025 calls for reducing environmental regulations to favor fossil fuels and proposes making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) less independent and defunding its stem cell research. It proposes criminalizing pornography, removing legal protections against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs while having the DOJ prosecute anti-white racism instead. The project recommends the arrest, detention, and mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and deploying the military for domestic law enforcement. The plan also proposes enacting laws supported by the Christian right, such as criminalizing those who send and receive abortion and birth control medications and eliminating coverage of emergency contraception. > > Most of Project 2025’s writers and contributors worked either in Trump’s last administration or on his election campaign.[a] Trump campaign officials maintained contact with Project 2025, seeing its goals as aligned with their Agenda 47 program.Trump later attempted to distance himself from the plan.[b] After he won the 2024 election, he nominated several of the plan’s architects and supporters to positions in his administration. Four days into his second term, analysis by Time found that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s executive actions “mirror or partially mirror” proposals from Project 2025. The original Wikipedia article is, of course, comprehensively cited with hyperlinks to solid sources. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Oh, the thing trump claimed he never heard of, right? 🙄 I’m afraid we’re going to need you to be a bit more specific here 😉 ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/58 "2025-03-06T17:30:35Z")
Well, we still have porn. Don’t we? Don’t we?? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/59 "2025-03-06T17:40:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Well, we still have porn. Don’t we? Don’t we?? - What if it’s like The Twilight Zone’s [The Masks](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlBFyScZ-PwCx7jYYLFO8kUUUZ1-Es3dI_qvAznC0vqKIBsg5gMMRrTfsoxkD0VefBTBrxKFecgt73GKsm4WYEP7cYPLg_T17i4U50b9Pa-93plAhOJHpb03JcNmxBon48goDisTwIKY/s1600/Twilight+Zone+The+Masks.jpg)? All Trump, all the time. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262/60 "2025-03-20T19:18:22Z")
No less venerable an institution than the [**Wall Street Journal**](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/wall-street-journal/) has taken notice of the parallels between Trump 2.0 and Project 2025 – [**7min YouTube Video**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qaEDlu2NQg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-2025-a-rw-blueprint-for-autocracy/993262.md?page=4)