#Republicans want to end the Department of Education

[republicansaretheproblem]

Lewisville,Texas closes five schools because they’re not planning on getting any Federal aid since Trump promised to close the Department of Education. The residents of Lewisville are furious their schools are closing. FYI Lewisville is in Denton County (north Dallas suburbs) voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the recent election.

Lewisville voters F—ked Around & Found Out. The dumb asses still can’t grasp the fact that they brought this on themselves. They had no idea what the consequences of closing the Deptartment of Education would be. Trump said he was going to defund education and their MAGAt pea brains had no idea they would be hurt by it. They voted for the Leopards That Bite Faces Off Party and now they’ve had their faces bitten off but somehow it’s not their fault. It must certainly be the fault of liberals…God Emperor Trump would never hurt his own people… would he?

5 minute YouTube video.

[welcometoqueer]

Some U.S. election news updates (as of afternoon November 7, 2024):

Many states, including major battleground ones, have started recounting votes on their own despite there still being no national call for a recount. Some of these states recounting or considering recounting as of November 7, 2024 include: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona (considering), and Texas (considering).

Most news outlets have been covering state laws regarding recounts and what a recount could mean. Notably, right-wing sources like Fox News have not mentioned the possibility of a recount or the high demand for one (hmmm).

In cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia, people took to the streets in a peaceful protest to demand a recount (wait, you can protest peacefully?? without starting an insurrection?? Crazy).

More information alleging Trump cheating has come forward, although many people are expressing their frustrations over there being little to no coverage of election interference by the mainstream media. Additionally, many Democratic voters are vowing to boycott news sources such as CNN and MSNBC due to their apparent tone-deaf and lackluster response to the allegations.

On Twitter, hashtags such as “Do Not Concede Kamala,” “Recount 2024,” “He/Trump Cheated,” and “Rigged” continue to trend nationally since election night.

Also in the Twitter hellscape, Elon Musk has been removing posts with resources, posts alleging Trump cheated, and posts with information on how to check your ballot and demand a recount. This is awfully suspicious and concerning behavior from someone who has also been accused of bribing voters, which is a federal crime.

Many people are also sharing their grief over the extreme likelihood of programs and services such as Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, the Department of Education, and others being diminished or fully gutted as many Republican lawmakers and Trump have promised to do. Already today (Nov. 7), House Republicans have proposed a bill that would reduce social security payments for U.S.Americans who receive disability benefits or a pension.

There are also concerns over imposed tariffs, the United States losing its NATO membership, and the potential dissolving of the United Nations.

Many MAGA Trump supporters have started to be more emboldened, not just in the Twitter space. Multiple parents have come forward to share that young boys at their children’s schools have also begun repeating the “your body, my choice” mantra, leaving other kids in distress.

Speaking of distress, nationwide, queer and trans people have been largely absent from work and school. Since election night, LGBTQ+ and other helplines have had long waits due to such high demand.

TW: suicide mention, skip the next paragraph

There’s been over 2000+ suicides of just LGBTQ+ individuals since election night and the numbers keep increasing drastically.

End TW

Politically, sitting President Joe Biden addressed the nation today to discuss a “peaceful transfer of power.” He addressed people questioning Donald Trump’s win and the election system saying: “It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose."

Needless to say, no one was pleased by his response and are still demanding an investigation or recount.

Other political figures such as Bernie Sanders and the Obamas’ released their own statements regarding the election.

The Obamas’ had a very professional yet disappointed statement.

Bernie Sanders however, took a different approach, sharing the mass sentiment among democratic voters and criticizing the Democratic Party based on their response to the situation. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

[ID:

Multiple videos and images with election news and updates.

The first video, posted to Twitter, is of an Anti-Trump protest in Chicago.

These should be peacefully taking place all over the country. This is what democracy is about, not storming Capitol buildings. Right MAGA? pic.twitter.com/lgzsP41Lze — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) November 7, 2024.

The video shows people in the streets of Chicago and in front of Trump tower peacefully protesting in demand for a recount and investigation.

Protesters chants include:

“Donald Trump, you will see!”

“Racist, sexist, anti-gay! Donald Trump, go away!”

and “You’re not welcome in this town! Donald Trump, you fascist clown!”

The second video was also posted to Twitter by CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) on November 6, 2024. It’s a video from MSNBC reporting on the strange behavior of Trump leading up to the election where he repeatedly said he didn't need votes. These statements seem to imply that regardless of how people voted, he expected to gain power.

The next image is of the official statement regarding the election results by Barack and Michelle Obama.

The statement reads:

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT AND MRS. OBAMA ON THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 6, 2024

“Over the last few weeks and through Election Day, millions of Americans cast their votes - not just for president, but for leaders at every level. Now the results are in, and we want to congratulate President Trump and Senator Vance on their victory. This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues. But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won't always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power. Michelle and I could not be prouder of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz - two extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign. And we will always be grateful to the staff and volunteers who poured their heart and soul into electing public servants they truly believed in. As I said on the campaign trail, America has been through a lot over the last few years - from a historic pandemic and price hikes resulting from the pandemic, to rapid change and the feeling a lot of folks have that, no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do. Those conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world, and last night showed that America is not immune. The good news is that these problems are solvable - but only if we listen to each other, and only if we abide by the core constitutional principles and democratic norms that made this country great. In a country as big and diverse as ours, we won't always see eye-to-eye on everything. But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace - even to people with whom we deeply disagree. That's how we've come this far, and it's how we'll keep building a country that is more fair and more just, more equal and more free.”

The last two images are Bernie Sanders’ statement on the election results, criticizing the response of the Democratic Party.

Sanders’ statement reads:

NEWS: Sanders Statement on the Results of the 2024 Presidential Election November 6, 2024 BURLINGTON, Vt. - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement in response to the outcome of the 2024 presidential election:

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they're right. Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before. Unbelievably, real, inflation-accounted-for weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower now than they were 50 years ago. Today, despite an explosion in technology and worker productivity, many young people will have a worse standard of living than their parents. And many of them worry that Artificial Intelligence and robotics will make a bad situation even worse. Today, despite spending far more per capita than other countries, we remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee health care to all as a human right and we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We, alone among major countries, cannot even guarantee paid family and medical leave. Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government's all out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children. Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not. In the coming weeks and months those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious political discussions. Stay tuned.”

/end ID]

[batboyblog]

Happy 100th Birthday to President Jimmy Carter

Born October 1st 1924

Carter was America's 39th President serving from 1977 till 1981. President Carter is notable for many reasons, the first American President to oversee a Middle East peace deal ending 30 years of war between Egypt and Israel, the first President to address climate change, and established the Departments of Education and Energy. After his 1980 defeat by Republican Ronald Reagan Carter would redefine what it is a former President is supposed to do. His 40 years out of office saw the Carters work tirelessly on humanitarian projects around the world. Carter worked with Habitat for Humanity to build houses for those in need across America well into his 90s. Carter also worked to combat decease in the developing world particularly Africa. President Carter once said he wanted only to live long enough to outlive the last Guinea worm, a goal he may have reached, when the Carter Center started its work in 1986 there were 3.5 million cases, so far in 2024, 4. In 2002 President Carter became the first and only American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize for activities after their Presidency. He was awarded the prize for the Carter Center's work promoting Democracy and Human Rights around the world. Carter's political reputation in the US has long been overshadowed by his 1980 loss and the rough end of his Presidency but in 2010s and 2020s President Carter has become more engaged with domestic politics campaigning and speaking in his native Georgia. In February 2023 aged 98 President Carter decided to enter hospice care, and many believed the end was near. 19 months later Carter is celebrating his 100th birthday. Sadly his beloved wife of 77 years former First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away in November 2023. Many commented on a frail President Carter's personal strength appearing in person at her funeral. President Carter's Family reports that since Kamala Harris entered the 2024 race he's become more alert and following events more closely. When asked about his upcoming birthday Carter told his grandson that he's looking forward to being 100, but what he really wants is to make it to November 5th and cast his last vote for Kamala Harris for President.

[saywhat-politics]

Donald Trump ran his presidential campaign promising to abolish entire federal agencies and departments, but it’s not quite so easy for a president to simply end an organization that was created and funded each year by Congress, which is supposed to be the president’s equal.

So the president and his allies, led by Elon Musk, have found a different way to achieve many of the same goals: Put agencies long targeted by Republicans into a coma by sidelining their workforce, halting their operations and launching a review of their activity. Then, maybe, ask Congress to kill them outright.

The list of government agencies on life support or targeted for direct attack after two weeks of Trump 2.0 looks something like this:

► The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

CFPB was set up by Congress after the Great Recession to protect consumers from financial abuses, and the agency has long drawn the ire of Republicans. All of its work has been halted and the director, Rohit Chopra, was fired this past weekend, before the end of his five-year term.

The acting head of the agency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ordered a review of agency policy to guarantee “consistency” with the new administration.

► US Agency for International Development

Set up by John F. Kennedy and Congress to help the developing world and defend US interests in 1961, USAID employees in 2025 have been locked out of headquarters and the website has been shut down. Agency staff around the world will be placed on administrative leave Friday and ordered to return to the US, according to a directive issued Tuesday night.

A freeze on most foreign aid while Trump’s administration reviews the agency has caused a worldwide ripple effect among non-profits and aid organizations and sparked fear the US is completely retreating from its leadership position in international development. Musk called the agency “evil” and Trump said it’s run by the “radical left.”

The acting head of USAID, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, told lawmakers in a letter that he would “begin the process of engaging in a review and potential reorganization of USAID’s activities to maximize efficiency and align operations with the national interest.”

Musk used more colorful language in a post on social media that he spent the weekend “feeding USAID into the woodchipper,” an apparent reference to the freezing of foreign aid.

► The Department of Education

In existence since the 1800s, but elevated by Congress as its own agency in 1979, the Department of Education is Trump’s next target. CNN reported that an executive order is being drafted ordering the incoming secretary, Linda McMahon, who has yet to get a Senate confirmation vote, to begin to “diminish” the department through executive action.

“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job in putting yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job – Education Department,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

A narrowly divided Congress likely won’t consent to abolishing the department. But McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term and made her wealth as founder of WWE, may well succeed in severely “diminishing” its functions — and her own job.

[mckitterick]

Christofascist Republican calls LGBTQ people "filth" during public forum

The culture of hate among Christofascists recently led to the violent beating and subsequent death of Choctaw two-spirit teenager Nex Benedict in Oklahoma.

When questioned about how 50+ anti-LGBTQ bills might have affected this case, State Senator Tom Woods said,

“We are a Republican state - supermajority - in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma.”

Several audience members clapped at his statement, while others appeared shocked.

“We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state - we are a moral state,” Woods said. “We want to ... let people be able to go to the faith they choose. We are a Republican state and I’m going to vote my district, and I’m going to vote my values, and we don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma.”

State Representative David Hardin added, “How you live your life personally, that’s between you and God... but what goes through our public schools - I will fall back on my faith. I want to make sure that at least the children in our public schools have that faith... what I want to make sure of is that our young children have the right to grow up with that faith."

After the forum, Woods reiterated his stance on the matter: "I support my constituency, and like I said, we’re a Christian state, and we are tired of having that shoved down our throat at every turn... I stand behind my statement, and I stand behind the Republican Party values."

When asked what he thought of Woods’ characterization of LGBTQ people as “filth,” State Senator Dewayne Pemberton said, “No comment.”

Again and again, today's christofascist Republicans (any other sort doesn't get elected these days) reveal that they want to indoctrinate public school kids into their own bigoted hatred, forcing children to hate anyone who doesn't subscribe to their narrow interpretation of their religious texts. Christofascists seek to impose their personal, misguided religious biases on the general public, including creating laws codifying hate and authoritarian control over the lives and bodies of everyone, not just others in their own religion.

Make no mistake, Nex Benedict's death was caused by christofascist indoctrination of the three girls who brutally beat Nex in that school bathroom. Nex Benedict's death was caused by the school failing to take their injuries seriously, by hate codified in Oklahoma state laws designed to harass LGBTQ folks and normalize bigotry against them, by Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters appointing hate-speech villain Chaya Raichik (responsible for "Libs of TikTok") to the Oklahoma Department of Education's Library Media Advisory Committee even though she doesn't live in the state (but he likes that she used Benedict's school and teacher for targeted hate). And on and on - it's a systematic attack on personal freedom and human rights - and the lives of queer folks.

Nex Benedict's death is exactly what christofascists seek through indoctrinating children into their hate that perpetuates bigotry into the future and forcing their religious fanaticism into the public sphere through unconstitutional laws built on hate and control.

Do you want to live in a theocracy dictated by those who narrowly interpret their personal religious texts to promote hate? Because as long as citizens fail to speak out against these harbingers of civilizational collapse, they'll only feel more and more emboldened to turn hate crimes into victories.

We must not let another of our people become victim of systemic bigotry. To protect children and end generational indoctrination, we must fire all public officials who subscribe to christofascist hatred and, when appropriate, prosecute them for the violence they incite.

If we fail to end the careers of hateful christofascists, we fail our children.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Pfeiffer at The Message Box:

The pace and breadth of the Trump/Musk Administration's actions feel overwhelming. Anything and everything is under attack. One day, it’s USAID; the next, it’s the National Institute of Health, air traffic controllers, and the Education Department. How can we keep up with what’s happening and respond before Trump moves on to the next thing? This is by design. This is the “flood the zone” strategy described by Trump ally Steve Bannon. Bannon explained in a 2018 interview:

[Every day we hit them with three things. They'll bite on one, and we'll get all of our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang. These guys will never—will never be able to recover.]

If the Trump presidency's first month taught us one lesson, it is that playing whack-a-mole doesn’t work. We need a broader strategic framework to stay ahead. There are no easy answers. Democrats are at a massive media disadvantage. We have neither the messengers nor the platforms to compete with Trump and Musk (And don’t get me started on the message). We need to solve these problems as soon as possible without stepping back and while simultaneously addressing our long-term challenges. To that end, I want to put forward a framework to simplify the task ahead for Democrats. Make Donald Trump unpopular. This task is easier said than done, but it’s the only way to slow down — and eventually stop — Trump. As with everything in politics, the most significant forces are beyond our control. Despite messaging and media advantages, the primary reason that the GOP is now in power was a global spike in inflation as the world came out of COVID. But there are methods to bring down Trump’s numbers.

Why Make Trump More Unpopular?

A president’s power is directly related to their popularity in three ways. One, vulnerable members of the president’s party are more likely to take tough votes when the president is popular. Two, party performance in the midterms is historically correlated with the incumbent president’s approval rating. Finally, the media narrative around a president is based on their poll numbers. When the numbers are good, the president is portrayed as strong and successful; and when the numbers go down they are seen as weak and feckless. In the first six months of Joe Biden’s presidency, he was treated as a transformational figure akin to FDR or LBJ. Once his poll numbers took a dive after Afghanistan, his press coverage turned. While legacy media coverage matters less these days, it can still set the tone and tenor for larger online conversations. The less popular Trump is, the more challenging it will be for him to pass his agenda in a narrowly divided Congress; and the more likely it will be that Democrats win the majority in 2026; and the sooner members of Trump’s coalition will abandon him. While Trump is less popular than any recent newly elected president, he is more popular than he has ever been before. [...] Therefore, Democrats need to adopt a “no layups” rule. This is a concept borrowed from basketball. There are no easy shots. If the other team tries to make a layup, you foul them before they can. This is the mentality Democrats need. We must complicate everything for Trump and the Republicans and use every lever of power to slow things down and gum up the works. Time is the only non-renewable resource in politics. Every day that Trump doesn’t move his agenda is a day he won’t get back. This is what McConnell did to Obama and it’s what Democrats need to do to Trump. The real test will come when government funding runs out and the debt limit expires. The Democratic approach must be in total opposition to any Republican proposal. We have all the leverage. If Republicans want Democratic votes, they must pay in concessions. This doesn’t mean we demand Medicare For All or an expansion of Social Security, but we can insist on concessions to protect many of the priorities being slashed by Musk and his minions. To be clear, Democrats are not forcing a shutdown. Republicans have the votes to keep the government up and running. I am simply saying that Democrats shouldn’t bail out the Republicans due to some sense of civic duty.

Dan Pfeiffer is right: The Democrats must drive Donald Trump’s approval ratings into the negatives, especially with all the evil and anti-American things he’s done in his time in office.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

“The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.

The move would come in two parts, the sources said. The order would direct the secretary of Education to create a plan to diminish the department through executive action.

Trump would also push for Congress to pass legislation to end the department, as those working on the order acknowledge that shuttering the department would require Congress’ involvement.

While calls to abolish the department or merge it with another federal agency are not new, the move has historically failed to get support from Congress.

During Trump’s first term as president, his administration proposed merging the Education and Labor Departments into one federal agency. Even though Republicans controlled both the Senate and House of Representatives at the time, the proposal did not go anywhere.

This year, the Education Department is simultaneously being targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, as CNN previously reported.

Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pointed to the department as a sign of federal overreach and tied it to culture war issues. “We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” Trump said.

But even if he succeeded in ending the department, it’s possible that some programs and funding could be retained and shifted to other agencies, which is where they were housed before the department was created in 1979.

Federal funding programs for K-12 schools that help support the education of students from low-income families and children with disabilities, for example, predated the creation of the Department of Education.

When presidents have proposed cuts to the department’s budget in the past, Congress has resisted and appropriated more funding than what the president asked for about 71% of the time, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution. Even when the first Trump administration proposed cutting the department’s budget, the Republican-controlled Congress ultimately increased funding.”

🖕🖕🖕

[marvelsmostwanted]

Anyway, Trump intends to abolish the federal Department of Education this week. That’s a messy proposition that will involve legal challenges, and an act of Congress that probably (?) won’t pass, and most schools do not rely exclusively on federal funding anyway, but it would put federal education programs at risk and the very idea should be enough to have Democrats out in the street rallying.

Is no one interested in standing up for public school students or teachers, who surely have suffered enough in the past few years - from the pandemic, dealing with anti-vax parents, having to remove banned books from classrooms, trans kids being targeted and teachers being told we’re turning kids trans, doing active shooter drills and facing frequent threats, teachers being chronically underpaid, and students dealing with mental health crises and academic needs that schools are not always properly resourced to deal with? Anyone care? Hello? And that’s not to mention issues in higher education, from the cost to the unfairness of legacy admissions (actual DEI) to Republicans claiming “free speech” is being attacked and someone should be fired every time someone says something they don’t like.

Democrats should be champions of public education, especially since Republicans clearly have no issue exclusively supporting private and religious schools and “school choice” (a coded term for people who miss when schools were segregated). This should be a key issue and it should be easy for us to win. Everywhere Republicans put school choice vouchers on the ballot, they lost in 2024. Voters want good public schools. They want public funds to go to public schools. We just have to show up and fight for that.

I could go on for days on this topic - like, can we talk about how we can be a pro-science, pro-education, and pro-intellectual party and also the relatable, pro-worker, pro-people having jobs without a college degree party? What happened to talking about free community college, btw? I could go on!!

But I’ll end with this - there are elected Democrats who are former public school teachers - Tim Walz and Elizabeth Warren, to name a few. Where are they? Who’s leading the charge here? We’re just going to sit around and pretend things are fine while Republicans put Bibles in our publicly funded schools?

Far from the first person to say it in the past few weeks, but what the fuck, guys? Where are we on this????!

[bludhavens-finest]

Ok so this is the biggest blog I have so I will be talking about it here, also comics have always been inherently political so it makes sense to talk about here, this will be posted to the rest of my blogs as well

I’m going to tag this with tw’s, if you don’t want to see more shit about the election I get it believe me I do, that’s fine. If you do stay around I’m going to be incredibly blunt about this shit

1. Do not fucking kill yourself. The amount of queer and especially young people I have seen saying that they are going to is astronomical, these people are not worth loosing your life. If you need help, get help, talk to someone, at the end of this post I’ll add numbers/websites

2. If you are disabled like me, and you need something medically whether that be vaccines, surgeries, procedures, mobility aids, medications, or even certain information; get them now while you can. The medical system in America is a bitch to deal with and even harder to get into, most of my appointments take at least three months, but if you can get in and get things done before they switch who’s in office, get it done now.

3. If you are trans and planning to get gender affirming surgery or healthcare in the next few months same goes for you, get the surgeries while you still can and get on meds now, if you get on them now it’s going to be easier to keep the prescription for as long as you can.

4. If you’re a woman or afab, get birth control while you can. Because they are going to get rid of birth control at this point, they’ve already gone after abortions and this is the next step.

5. But queer/feminist/punk media and books while you still can, because yes they can and will ban books they already do it in schools

6. Honestly I would even go so far as to say start buying physical copies of certain bands if you can, because most hardcore and just regular punk bands will probably be less accessible

7. Honestly probably just get a vpn at this point, I know you’ve gotten an ad for one from a YouTuber before, look into the company’s, find one you can afford and like

8. If non-Americans or even just some Americans who are republicans (which if you are fuck off.) think this is an over-exaggeration it’s really not.

America is the only first world country without universal healthcare, most people in this country either die waiting for a doctor, die because of a doctor (medical negligence and malpractice are leading causes of death in America, over a quarter of a million people die a year because of it.), public transit is non-existent, disabled people have been fighting for our rights for decades, women lost the right to control their own bodies after having that right for less then a life span. Many woman were there when roe v wade passed and still alive when it was overturned. Because it all happened in the span of 50 years. The amount of violence in our police departments (that are only getting more and more funding), the lack of education and lack of historically accurate information taught in public schools, the literal fucking constant brainwashing campaigns.

This is all coming from someone who is Afab, a Minor, living in the south, mentally and physically disabled, a lesbian, and trans. Believe me I understand how fucking scared people are.

It is 2024 almost 2025, not 1970. You have access to information and you are entitled to being informed, so inform yourself. Check your own sources, do your own research.

I’m well aware that this all seems fucking dystopian, I know that it seems like there’s no point, but keep yourself safe. If you need a break from seeing all this filter your tags, go outside for a while, get off the internet, play with your pets, talk to friends. Just don’t let yourself sit in this and worry yourself to death, it’s not going to help anyone.

Numbers you can call: 1-866-488-7386 (Trevor project), If you go to their website you can also text if talking isn’t safe, 988 (suicide and crisis line),

[runawaymarbles]

The 30 chapters are a daunting read. Project 2025 proposes, among a host of things, eliminating the Department of Education, eliminating the Department of Commerce, deploying the U.S. military whenever protests erupt, dismantling the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, removing protections against sexual and gender discrimination, and terminating diversity, equity, inclusion and affirmative action.

Additional mandates include: siphoning off billions of public school funding, funding private school choice vouchers, phasing out public education’s Title 1 program, gutting the nation’s free school meals program, eliminating the Head Start program, banning books and suppressing any curriculum that discusses the evils of slavery.

Project 2025 also calls for banning abortion (which makes women second-class citizens), restricting access to contraception, forcing would-be immigrants to be detained in concentration camps, eliminating Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, recruiting 54,000 loyal MAGA Republicans to replace existing federal civil servants, and ending America’s bedrock principle that separates church from state.

Anyway anyone telling you that Biden is the same as Trump is either so deep in the sauce they don't know how to find a toilet, or actively lying to you because this is the outcome they want.

Project 2025 isn't going to kickstart the glorious revolution. It's going to make people exhausted, and scared, and dead.

[mariacallous]

Republicans have spent decades howling about how affirmative action led to unqualified minorities taking jobs away from well-qualified straight white men. Thanks to the Supreme Court ending affirmative action in college admissions in 2023, conservatives had the chance to, as one of Trump’s executive orders put it, “restore merit-based opportunity.”

Implicit in that statement is the notion that people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals are unqualified, but got jobs because they check a box. They must be removed, the thinking goes, so that the most proficient and skilled people are chosen solely on merit. Except that’s not really what conservatives want.

Yes, they’re sincere about their desire to eradicate actual diversity in the workplace, but they aren’t interested in a world where skills carry the day. Rather, they want what can only be described as affirmative action for unqualified true believers. Put another way, adherence to a particularly hardline conservative worldview is the sole qualification that matters.

Just look at Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. In 2023, Stitt banned the use of any tax dollars for diversity initiatives. But that didn’t lead to him nominating the most qualified people.

Stitt just named Travis Jett to the state supreme court. Jett has never been a judge, but somehow beat out two other sitting lower court judges, one of whom has been on the bench since 2009, the other since 2014. But what Jett lacks in judicial experience he makes up for in ideology, with connections to a conservative think tank that hates the state’s judicial nomination commission.

Conservatives also want to reshape education by requiring their views be coddled and their people be employed. Look at Trump’s demands of Harvard. The administration threatened to withhold billions from the school unless it agreed to hire a “critical mass” of new professors with “viewpoint diversity” for any department found lacking.

This is precisely the sort of affirmative action that conservatives theoretically decry. These demands aren’t based on any assertion that existing Harvard faculty are not skilled enough, but that not enough have rightwing beliefs. That’s not merit-based opportunity. Indeed, it’s literally a quota, but only for conservatives.

It gets worse. For each “teaching unit” with insufficient viewpoint diversity, Harvard would be required to admit enough additional students — based on their views! — until viewpoint diversity was achieved. No one knows what a “teaching unit” is. A single class? A department? How does one determine the viewpoint diversity of students?

So, trying to achieve a diversity of students based on race, gender, or sexual orientation is illegal and results in less qualified students getting admitted, but mandating a diversity based on political viewpoints is totally cool, qualifications be damned. Actually, that’s not entirely fair. There is a qualification, but it has nothing to do with the experience of professors or the background of students.

Not the best and the brightest

If you look at high-profile conservatives who have recently succeeded in burrowing into academia, you can see that the qualification that matters is not experience or education. Instead, it’s just a willingness to espouse — and impose — rightwing views.

Take Christopher Rufo, who Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis installed as one of the trustees for Florida’s New School as part of his efforts to destroy the small progressive university. Rufo is very experienced at ginning up racist moral panics, but not so much so when it comes to relevant educational qualifications. Though he brags about his master’s in liberal arts from Harvard, it’s actually from the extension school there.

That might seem like a distinction without a difference — Rufo certainly tries to hand-wave it away — but the extension school is basically open-enrollment. High school grades don’t matter, and there are no standardized test requirements for admission. Instead, people are eligible after getting a B grade or better in two extension courses before officially enrolling in a degree program. In contrast, getting in as an undergrad at the actual Harvard is not easy, with over 60,000 applications for fewer than 2,000 spots. Oh, and Harvard Extension School credits don’t transfer to Harvard proper.

Nor does Rufo have any specific background in education policy or research, unless you count a stint at the Discovery Institute, which is best known for denying evolution. Ostensibly, Rufo was a research fellow and director of the Center on Wealth & Poverty, but his publications are mostly just fact-free rants about the evils of diversity.

DeSantis made sure that Rufo wasn’t alone in being an unqualified white guy DEI hire. He also tapped former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse to run the University of Florida, which has over 50,000 students. Sure, Sasse had previously run a school, except it was a tiny private college in Nebraska. But Sasse wasn’t hired for his ability to run a school. He was hired because of his rightwing views.

Sasse’s brief 17-month tenure at UF was not exactly a success. The school fell in the US News and World Report rankings, where it had previously been one of the top five public universities in the country. He tripled presidential office spending and shoveled money to GOP cronies, many of whom got six-figure jobs with the school despite living hundreds of miles away. He spent $300,000 of the school’s money on private jets and $169,000 on a single holiday party.

Sasse spent $7.2 million on consulting, over 40 times more than his predecessor, Kent Fuchs, spent in eight years. Of course, Fuchs had relevant experience, having previously been provost at Cornell and in leadership and faculty roles at Purdue and the University of Illinois.

After Sasse bolted, he got to keep his $1 million salary for staying on as a professor and adviser to the board of trustees. Meanwhile, Fuchs is now back as interim president, cleaning up the mess left by Sasse.

And then there are the people chosen directly by Trump.

By the incapable, for the incapable

Several of Trump’s first-term judicial picks were emblematic of his elevation of the incapable, with 10 of his nominees being rated as “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. Conservatives try to excuse this by saying the ABA’s ratings are driven by liberal bias, but from 1989 to 2017, spanning two GOP administrations and two Democratic ones, only 12 nominees in total received that rating.

Trump offered up people like Brett Talley. Even if you set aside concerns about Talley’s views, such as his apparent defense of the KKK, his lack of experience was staggering. At the time of his nomination, he had never tried a case or even argued a motion in federal court.

Talley’s nomination was ultimately withdrawn, but other objectively unqualified Trump appointees are now on the federal bench. Justin Walker also had no meaningful experience, having also never tried a case. What Walker did have, though, was a longtime family friendship with Sen. Mitch McConnell, who absurdly described Walker as “unquestionably the most outstanding nomination that I’ve ever recommended to presidents to serve on the bench in Kentucky.” Come on, man. However, Walker didn’t stay on the federal district court bench for long. After less than a year at that job, Trump tapped him for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Charles Goodwin was a federal magistrate for several years before his nomination, but he had a bad habit of not showing up to the courthouse until mid-afternoon, leaving the ABA concerned about his work ethic and ability to meet the demands of a federal judgeship. Today, Goodwin is one of the slowest federal judges in Oklahoma, with motions languishing for over two years.

Perhaps no one is more emblematic of the conservative commitment to elevating unqualified ideologues than Pete Hegseth. Put simply, there’s no world where Hegseth should be in any position of power, much less running the Department of Defense. Even setting aside his history of sexual assault allegations and alcohol abuse, he’s objectively wildly unqualified.

Just compare Hegseth to Trump’s first-term choices for defense secretary. His first pick, Patrick Shanahan, had no military background but spent over three decades at Boeing, including helming defense projects like missile defense and military transports. Shanahan later withdrew when a history of domestic violence incidents in his family surfaced, including Shanahan defending his son after he beat his mother with a baseball bat. Isn’t it quaint that such a thing used to derail a nomination?

An exception to the rule was Mark Esper, Trump’s longest-serving defense secretary, who had 21 years of active and reserve army service, was chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation, held high-level policy positions with multiple GOP senators, was a deputy assistant secretary of defense under George W. Bush, and was high up at Raytheon. By contrast, Hegseth ran — poorly — a few small nonprofits and was a talking head on Fox News. That’s pretty much it.

Hegseth is exactly the kind of affirmative action pick conservatives theoretically decry. He got the job because he’s a Trump-loving culture warrior with reactionary rightwing beliefs, not because he has any relevant experience that would make him qualified to oversee millions of people and hundreds of billions of dollars. He’s not even qualified to run a group chat without breaking the law.

Pretending that Hegseth got nominated on merit is ridiculous, but it’s a fiction conservatives have all agreed to adopt. To admit he’s not qualified would mean acknowledging that straight white maleness does not automatically confer expertise. It would mean acknowledging that Hegseth was picked for a trait — his regressive views — rather than for his ability to do the job.

Conservatives were never going to be content with eliminating diversity initiatives. They won’t be satisfied even if they manage to shove everyone except white men out of public life. That’s because they can’t actually compete on merit. They’ll only be satisfied when their unpopular worldviews are elevated and their unqualified picks are given jobs they don’t deserve. Talk about diversity hires.

[mimi-0007]

****†** EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE. ****Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of policy proposals to thoroughly reshape the U.S. federal government in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Established in 2022, the project aims to recruit tens of thousands of conservatives to the District of Columbia to replace existing federal civil servants—whom Republicans characterize as part of the "deep state"—and to further the objectives of the next Republican president. It adopts a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory—which asserts that the president has absolute power over the executive branch upon inauguration. Unitary executive theory is a disputed interpretation of Article II of the Constitution of the United States. Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the entire government, particularly with regard to economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes slashing funding for the Department of Justice (DOJ), dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor of fossil fuel production, eliminating the Department of Commerce, and ending the independence of various federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts, though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism. .

Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other government agencies, or terminated. Scientific research would receive federal funding only if it suits conservative principles. The Project urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care and to restrict access to contraception. The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank that leads the development of Project 2025, asserted in April 2024 that "the radical Left hates families" and "wants to eliminate the family and replace it with the state" while driving the country to emulate totalitarian nations, such as North Korea. The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity, stating in its Mandate that "freedom is defined by God, not man." Project 2025 proposes criminalizing pornography, removing protections against discrimination based on sexual or gender identity, and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as affirmative action. The Project advises the future president to immediately deploy the military for domestic law enforcement and to direct the DOJ to pursue Donald Trump's adversaries by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807. It recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants across the country. It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of such sentences. Project director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, explained that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state." Dans admitted that it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many people to join the government in order to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future President to "regain control" of the federal government. Although the project does not promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his presidential campaign. The Heritage Foundation has developed Project 2025 in collaboration with over 100 partners including Turning Point USA, led by its executive director Charlie Kirk; the Conservative Partnership Institute including former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as senior partner; the Center for Renewing America, led by former Trump Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought; and America First Legal, led by former Trump Senior Advisor Stephen Miller. The Project is detailed in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, a version of which Heritage has written as transition plans for each prospective Republican president since 1980. Critics of Project 2025 have described it as an authoritarian Christian nationalist movement and a path for the United States to become an autocracy. Several experts in law have indicated that it would undermine the rule of law and the separation of powers. Some conservatives and Republicans also criticized the plan, for example in the contexts of centralizing power, climate change, and foreign trade.

[spottedalienmonster]

For a while now, I've been trying to muster up the wherewithal to write down what's going on now that Trump is back in the White House. This is because I realized, after his first term and we had four years away from him, I had forgotten a good chunk of what had actually happened. So I want to better record stuff, mostly for myself.

Because I want to point to things explaining why we should never trust these types of people. Republicans, conservatives, grifters and more. I know these people aren't harmless, but I always just remember "they're dangerous" and not the details. So, this is mostly for myself.

Musk has defunded USAID, CFPB, many other things, and now the IRS. As we go into tax season.

Someone has already pieced together that the firings don't have anything to do actually making the government efficient. Like, we knew that from the start, but someone made a graph basically confirming it.

Trump also gutted the FAA, and we had plane crashes not more than a week later.

The White House Twitter account basically called Trump "king" by saying he got rid of congestion traffic or something and saying "Long live the King!"

He's been questioning birthright citizenship. Congressional Republicans are going to try to gut Medicare coverage. All of them intend to go after the Department of Education.

They've been going after "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" of course, or DEI, because I know that acronym will be forgotten by the time this is over. It's just a gamergate tactic to distract from their racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.

I'm not explicity writing this as a call to action. I know others are aware, I'm certainly aware, and I know there are people trying their hardest to stop this with what tools they have.

But still, whoever needs to hear it, take a breath, remain calm. Call or e-mail your reps. House and Senate republicans are being swayed by what people are telling (screaming at?) them. Be polite, of course, it's probably an intern there. But tell them, they need to hear and represent you. Organize if you have the ability. Be safe, be secure.

Courts have blocked many of Trumps executive orders. I know it's been difficult not to make institutions comply in advance, but some people have gotten them to walk it back.

The bigger threat is Musk, right now. People are divesting from Tesla and his other companies, there's been a push to move from Twitter to bsky. Especially during November, but also after he pulled that double nazi salute.

If anyone needs to hear anything, my wish, if you will, is that after all of this, we don't let them escape consequence. We can't. They're tearing apart services, letting people die, because they are literally trying to line their own pockets.

So after Trump and Musk are out, we can't just trust the system will work. We'll need to actively be pushing people to following through with consequences.

I don't know how to end this. Again, this is mostly for myself. All I'll try to do is reassure people that other people are trying to stop this, others are fighting. Just do what you can, even if it is just calling or e-mailing your reps, donating to a friend in trouble, etc.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian:

One could marvel not only at New Jersey Senator Cory Booker’s endurance during his 25+ hours on the Senate floor, but at his coherence, joyful demeanor, and superb timing (coming as Democrats anxiously awaited the results from Wisconsin). Moreover, students of history, lovers of democracy, and American patriots had the chance to relish the symbolism of a Black man supplanting the record set by an embittered segregationist Strom Thurmond. Booker said about Thurmond: [“I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.”] Booker aimed to jolt his fellow Americans out of their lethargy, defeatism, and cynicism. Beginning Monday night at 7 p.m., he declared, “I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.” He added: “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.” He proceeded to explain precisely why and how Donald Trump and Elon Musk have brutalized the most vulnerable Americans, savaged functional government, assaulted the courts, shredded the Constitution, and betrayed our deepest held values. On issues like healthcare, he shared individual stories of the people who already have been harmed; he castigated Trump and Musk for taking away benefits from the elderly and poor to pay for giant tax cuts.

“They’re stealing from your grandchildren so that the wealthiest amongst us can get bigger tax cuts, and at the same time taking away medical coverage from the most vulnerable. What is that? It's not who we are. It's not who we are, America,” he thundered. And while the plan to destroy the Affordable Care Act in 2017 would have been devastating, he noted, “Medicaid affects millions and millions of more people. Wake up. They’re coming after a vital program for American expectant mothers, for American children, for American disabled, for seniors.” He drew inspiration and citations from Langston Hughes, the Talmud, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, John McCain and, repeatedly, civil rights icon John Lewis. At the end of his speech, Booker declared, “[John Lewis] said for us to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation. I want you to redeem the dream. Let’s be bold in America.” [...] He certainly laid into Republicans for abdicating their constitutional role. “This is the people's house. It’s Article One of the Constitution, and it's under assault!” he insisted. “Our spending powers, our budgetary powers, the power to establish agencies like the Department of Education and USAID, it's under assault by a president that doesn’t respect this document.” But Booker’s central message—“More Americans need to stand up and say enough is enough”—was the sort of call to arms Democrats have been waiting for since Trump took office. He made clear the effort must come both from elected leaders: “We should be stepping up and saying we accept a lot of responsibility for this moment, but we also have a lot of responsibility for meeting this moment.” And also from ordinary Americans: “Don’t let this be another normal day in America…But what is more needed from now is less people sitting on sidelines less people being witnesses of American history and more people determined to make it.” His speech reasserted that people have agency, and our democracy still affords us the ability to hold the rich and powerful to account. (Wisconsinites did that just hours after he stopped speaking by rejecting Elon Musk’s efforts to buy a supreme court seat.) Throughout his speech, Booker emphasized the central role of collective action: “We’re senators with all of this power, but in this democracy, the power of people is greater than the people in power,” Booker said. “The civil rights movement wasn’t just won because just a few Black folks that stood up.”

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) stood up for us at a critical juncture when America needed it most: He launched a record-breaking filibuster speech, and managed to knock off segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond (D) from the record books. Thurmond was a Democrat at the time of his 1957 filibuster address, then later became a Republican in 1964.

See Also:

Pepperspectives (David Pepper): Patriots of the Week: Cory Booker…

[mysticalcrusadepeach]

Musk called for slashing federal agencies and ending the Democratic Party altogether.After Trump took office, he raised the banner of "anti-corruption", but the actual target was former President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party. Breaking 200 years of history, Musk will "wipe out the Democratic Party," What is he up to? Us federal agencies have been slashed, why say that Trump's political opponents are all miserable?

As soon as Trump took office, he immediately let the "government Efficiency Department" led by Musk play a role. Under Trump's authorization, where Musk's "cut government spending" stick went, agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and the National Intelligence Department "fell to the ground." Next, he targeted the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense, ready to check the "books" of these powerful departments. Musk took the "imperial sword" given by Trump to kill the four sides, breaking the rules of 200 years of history of the United States, and the purpose is to "eliminate the Democratic Party."

Musk's "mandate" to check the US Department of Defense will touch the sensitive nerves of a large number of interest groups such as the US military industrial complex. However, he is not going to stop there, and recently made a brief but powerful statement that the United States will become a "one-party state". This has shocked many US media: Does this mean the end of the multi-party system in the United States? You know, the American political situation is a donkey like the two parties in turn, if Trump really wants to engage in a "one-party state" as Musk said, then the first thing to do is to eliminate the Democratic Party. Of course, even if Trump had such a thought, he could not say it publicly at this time. So it's a good way to send his message to the American people through Musk's mouth, because if something goes wrong, Musk will carry it himself, which he's happy to do anyway. In this regard, some analysts believe that Musk's statement is almost equivalent to issuing an ultimatum to completely eradicate the Democratic Party from the political history of the United States.

In response, some analysts said, "Throughout the 200 years since the founding of the United States, even during the Cold War era, there has never been such a fierce internal conflict." But just because something doesn't happen in American history doesn't mean it doesn't happen in other countries. The advantage of this political system is that the government does not need to be constrained by other parties in pursuing policies. Trump seems to be "inspired" by some national leaders to try to eliminate the unfavorable factors that hinder "America being great again," and thus authorized Musk to make a big fight against the Democratic Party. Therefore, after Musk took office as the head of the "Government Efficiency Department" in the United States, he immediately sounded the horn of "comprehensive attack" on the Democratic Party, and the result was that a large number of relevant US federal agencies were cut, and Trump's political enemies' nightmares came. With Trump's support, Musk has gone even further, calling for the "removal of all agencies" from the US federal government, because "the United States certainly does not need 450 federal agencies, so the roots should be cut, or the weeds will easily grow back." In fact, Musk is ostensibly cutting down these "waste of American taxpayer money" agencies, but the target of the sword is the Democratic Party.

Not long ago, Musk's order cost tens of thousands of former Biden administration employees their jobs. Judging from Musk's latest statement, there will be more former government employees who will lose their jobs due to the relevant agencies being cut. Musk's move seems to have nothing to do with politics, but in fact it is more like reminding civil servants and even ordinary people in the United States: those who support the Republican Party have food, and those who support the Democratic Party may lose their jobs. Of course, this may only be the beginning, because if Trump wants to turn the United States into a "one-party state," all those who disagree with it must be "eliminated." Trump has repeatedly vowed to "retaliate" against his "political enemies" after taking office, in order to prevent accidents, Biden before leaving office, "precautionary" pardoned five of his relatives, and including Fauci and Milley, including a number of former politicians. Trump then asked Biden "why would he do that?" It can be seen that Musk's statement that the United States will become a "one-party state" should have been authorized by Trump, and he checked the accounts of the Department of Education and the Department of Defense may be hoping to find out the "black material" of the Democratic Party to help Trump bring down the Democratic Party.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Pat Byrnes :: @thePatByrnes

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 5, 2024 (Friday)

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 06, 2024

For all that certain members of the media continue their freakout over Biden’s electability after his appearance in last Thursday’s event on CNN, it is Trump and his Republicans who appear to be nervous about the upcoming election. 

Journalist Jennifer Schulze of Heartland Signal noted today that as of 8:00 this morning, the New York Times had published 192 pieces on Biden’s debate performance: 142 news articles and 50 opinion pieces. Trump was covered in 92 stories, about half of which were about the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Although Trump has frequently slurred his words or trailed off while speaking and repeatedly fell asleep at his own criminal trial, none of the pieces mentioned Trump’s mental fitness. 

But for all of what independent journalists are calling a “feeding frenzy,” egged on by right-wing media figures, it seems as if the true implications of Project 2025 are starting to gain traction and the Trump campaign recognizes that the policies that document advocates are hugely unpopular. 

On July 2, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts assured Trump ally Steve Bannon’s followers that they are winning in what he called “the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” In March, Roberts told former Trump administration official and now right-wing media figure Sebastian Gorka about Project 2025: “There are parts of the plan that we will not share with the Left: the executive orders, the rules and regulations. Just like a good football team we don’t want to tip off our playbook to the Left.” 

This morning, although Roberts has described Project 2025 as “institutionalizing Trumpism,” Trump’s social media feed tried to distance the former president from Project 2025. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” the post read. Despite this disavowal of any knowledge of the project, it continued: “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.” 

In what appeared to be a coordinated statement, the directors of Project 2025 wrote on social media less than two hours later that they “do not speak for any candidate.”  

Aside from the fact that “[a]nything they do, I wish them luck,” sounds much like the signaling Trump did to the Proud Boys when he told them to “stand back and stand by,” Trump’s assertion and Project 2025’s response can’t possibly erase the many and deep ties of the Trump camp to Project 2025. Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News noted that Trump’s name shows up on more than 190 pages of the Project 2025 playbook. 

Rebekah Mercer, who sits on the board of the Heritage Foundation, was one of Trump’s top donors in 2016; her family founded and operated Cambridge Analytica, the company that misused the data of millions of Facebook users to push pro-Trump and anti-Clinton material in 2016. Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has appeared in a Project 2025 video. Trump’s own super PAC has been running ads promoting Project 2025, calling it “Trump’s Project 2025,” and many of its policies—killing the Department of Education, erasing the separation of church and state, ending renewable energy programs and ramping up use of fossil fuels, deporting immigrants—are also Trump’s.

Project 2025’s director, Paul Dans, as well as both of its associate directors, Spencer Chretien and Troup Hemenway, were in charge of personnel in Trump’s White House, and the theme of Project 2025 is that “people are policy,” by which they mean that hand-picked loyalists must replace civil servants. Trump’s former body man John McEntee, who reentered the White House as a senior advisor after having to leave because he failed a background check, was in charge of hiring in the last months of the Trump White House; he helped to draft Project 2025. Key Trump ally Russell Vought wrote the section of Project 2025 that called for an authoritarian leader; he is also on the platform committee of the Republican National Convention. 

If indeed Trump knows nothing about Project 2025 and has no idea who is behind it, his cognitive ability is rotten. As former chair of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele wrote, “Since [Project 2025] is designed to institutionalize Trumpism and you know nothing about it, then why do you echo some of its policy priorities during your rallies? Coincidence? And how exactly don’t you know that Project 2025 Director Paul Dans served as your chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, and Associate Director Spencer Chretien served as your special assistant and associate director of presidential personnel? And folks say we should be worried about Biden.”

Trump’s attempt to distance himself from Project 2025 indicates just how toxic that plan is with voters. As political scientist Ian Bremmer dryly noted, it seems that “the second [A]merican revolution apparently [is] not polling as well as the first in internal focus groups.” Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson was even more direct, saying that Trump was trying to distance himself from Project 2025 because “most of it polls about like Ebola,” the deadly virus that causes severe bleeding and organ failure, and has a mortality rate of 80 to 90%.

The extremism of the MAGA Republicans was on display in another way today as well after The New Republic published a June 30 video of North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, currently the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, saying to a church audience about their opponents—whom he identified in a scattershot speech as anything from communists to “wicked people” to those standing against “conservatives”—"Kill them! Some liberal somewhere is gonna say that sounds awful. Too bad!... Some folks need killing! It's time for somebody to say it.” 

Today the Vatican turned against one of those extremists when it excommunicated pro-Trump archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was the Vatican’s diplomat to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, for “schism” after he refused to recognize the authority of Pope Francis. Viganò has repeatedly attacked Francis’s Catholic Church for being “inclusive, immigrationist, eco-sustainable, and gay-friendly.”

Also today, Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing Trump’s criminal trial for retaining hundreds of classified documents, to dismiss charges that can no longer be prosecuted in light of the Supreme Court’s decision that a president cannot be charged for crimes committed while engaging in “official acts.” They also called the case “politically motivated” and asked Cannon to stop the case entirely in light of Justice Clarence Thomas’s suggestion that Special Counsel Jack Smith was not properly appointed.

The other big news today was that the U.S. added 206,000 jobs in June, bringing the total number of jobs created under this administration to 15.7 million. Last month’s numbers were, once again, higher than economists expected and, according to economic analyst Steven Rattner, above job growth levels before the pandemic. He added that these jobs are not simply a bounceback from the depths of the pandemic: 6.2 million more Americans are employed now than before Covid hit. 

Poking fun at the calls for Biden to step down, conservative lawyer George Conway posted: “Biden needs to RESIGN NOW before any more of these terrible job things are created.”

In a speech today in Madison, Wisconsin, Biden vowed to stay in the race, and the speech appeared strong enough that right-wing extremists, including Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and activist Laura Loomer, posted on social media—falsely—that he was having a medical emergency aboard Air Force One. Tonight, George Stephanopoulos of ABC interviewed Biden without a teleprompter or notes, focusing only on Biden’s age without any questions about policy. ABC News posted the interview transcript with the president’s conversation portrayed the “g”s dropped off the words and with other colloquial pronunciations spelled out, as if it were dialect. Trump, whose words the press tends to turn into clean prose, has refused to do an interview under the same conditions.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON