Donald Trump’s denial of Project 2025 has morphed into a classic example of the “Streisand Effect,” finally bringing threats of this dangerous, radical plan to public attention. By lying about his connection to the plan, Trump has generated a rise in reporting and public interest that is making Americans aware of a scheme to turn the federal government into a “fascist’s paradise.”
Trump’s denial was spurred by the pushback generated when Kevin Roberts, leader of the Heritage Foundation, which developed Project 2025, threatened to kill the left if they failed to roll over to the authoritarian capture of the government. “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said on the far-right news channel America’s Voice.
President Joe Biden’s campaign responded to this threat with a statement that strongly attacked “Donald Trump’s revenge, resentment, and retribution.” Then Trump responded by claiming that he knew “nothing about Project 2025.”
The fresh attention brought to Project 2025 through Trump’s loud denial has generated an increase in stories in the media and a surge of interest online:
Trump’s denial has now entered the second round, as surrogates like Marco Rubio march forth to repeat his false claims. But even as Rubio tries to brush this off as “think tank stuff,” and Trump advisers try to disown their involvement, expanding the effort to place a facade between Trump and Trump’s aggressive plan for reshaping America in his image is likely to only continue to generate more coverage. A big part of that is his claims of ignorance are so ridiculous.
Project 2025 contains so many horrors, that it seems like it should have been at the top of every newspaper every day. Reporters have sporadically mentioned aspects of the plan for months, including how it plans to purge the federal government, weaponize the DOJ, and threaten democracy. And let’s not forget cutting Social Security, eliminating Medicare, and putting immigrants in “camps.” But when compared to the incredible levels of attention given to other stories in this election, a scheme that contains so much potential destruction has gotten off incredibly lightly.
Even now, too many of the stories in the news still treat Project 2025 as if it’s nothing more than a distraction for Democrats rather than something that should concern every voter in the nation.
To highlight only a few aspects of the plan, Project 2025 would reclassify 50,000 federal workers so they could be easily dismissed and replaced with a MAGA army of Trump loyalists. Those loyalists could then execute the plan and lock down America in a vision of right-wing Christian nationalism.
“It is not enough for conservatives to win elections,” reads the introduction to the plan. “If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration.”
It demands that the FDA reverse its approval of abortion drugs or support for military members seeking abortion. It takes the right-wing war on diversity to a new level, requiring that regulations delete any terms for gender, gender equality, or reproductive rights and makes a case for ending enforcement of hate crime legislation by saying that Americans shouldn’t be deprived of “their First Amendment rights.”
Both the authors and supporters of the plan call it a “handbook for dismantling the administrative state,” devolving the nation into a collection of states under one ultra-powerful executive.
The list contained in the image above doesn’t even come close to containing everything that it features in the 900-page plan, such as a scheme to end public broadcasting and turn Voice of America into a propaganda outlet for the National Security Council.
It’s taken too long for the media to start talking about Project 2025 in a way that’s garnering serious public attention. If a death threat and a massive lie is what it took … maybe that’s the price of getting some air time.
