This will be my last posting in July. We leave for the annual pilgrimage to our Happy Place in New Hampshire on the 16th. Happy it may be but it’s not an easy place from which to do the kind of electronic business required by blog posting. Besides, I can use some recharging time before we enter a really consequential run-up to Election Day. We’ll be back in Chicago in time for the Democratic Convention. Lord knows what mysteries, surprises and echoes of 1968 that holds for us, but the city survived the insanity of NASCAR this past weekend, so it’s safe to assume Chicago will still be standing when we enter September.
This is going to be a hodge-podge because my mind is firing in many different, unrelated directions. First, there’s Hurricane Beryl that hit the Houston area yesterday. That city was home to us for 13 years, so every mention of storms and flooding triggers memories – the downed trees, one of which came close to killing our whole family; the flooded streets and underpasses that threatened to extinguish both our lives and our car engines. But mostly, we were eager to hear from friends that they were safe and minimally inconvenienced by the widespread power outages during a time of 100 degree temperatures. It’s not life-threatening to toss a freezer full of expensive, recently purchased meat, but it can be a significant hit to the pocket book.
A dear friend and devoted Houstonian wrote in response to our well-being check that she hates Houston in the summer and does everything she can to avoid being there. We too fled every summer from the relentless heat and humidity for as many weeks as my teacher’s schedule allowed, but the situation has worsened considerably because of more intense rainfall and even more elevated temperatures, all gifts of climate change which is dismissed by Texas’ deep red leadership and their national Republican allies. (Did you notice that Florida governor Ron De Santis has banned any mention of or reference to climate change in the state’s textbooks?) A whole swath of cities from Houston to Phoenix and all up and down the West Coast are on the verge of unlivability, certainly for those without air conditioning and generators.
Next, I’ve spent too much of this morning reading about Project 2025. If you’re not already familiar with this effort, it’s a 900+ page document, created by a team of right wing ideologues under the sponsorship of the hyper-conservative Heritage Foundation. Although Trump is now contending that he knows nothing about it and doesn’t agree with some of it – consider the contradiction there – it’s widely known that the designers are primarily former Trump staffers, charged with the task of crafting the road map for his second term. He is aware of how many of the recommendations are toxic and would endanger his campaign if they become widely known, so he needs to put some distance between himself and the proposals – until he is elected.
A 900 page compendium of plans is consistent with Trump’s strategy of unleashing a firehose of lies in his speeches and debates; it’s hard to know where to begin to attack them. Here’s a 7+ minute summary of its contents by Chris Hayes which barely scratches the surface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkeGixHvb4k
By necessity, Hayes’s summary doesn’t touch on other critical issues addressed by the report. Example: a plan to repeal the 22nd amendent to the Constitution that limits a president to two terms in office, thereby clearing the path for Trump to serve as many terms as his mortality will allow. The most highly publicized aspects of the plan include the complete weaponization of the Justice Department, placing it completely under the President’s control, enabling him to prosecute his enemies without constraints, opening the door for his announced intention to seek revenge against those who have opposed him; the elimination of personal freedoms in the areas of abortion, contraception, LGBTQ rights, particularly those allowed to transgender citizens; the deportation of millions of undocumented residents; and the elimination of civil service positions, enabling the President to appoint his followers to implement his wishes in every department of government.
Project 2025 covers every department of government and includes implementation plans for the first 180 days in office. The authors are acutely aware of how unprepared Trump was to govern at the start of his first term and are determined not to allow that to happen again. To prevent that they have written something that reads like an Ayn Rand wet dream.
For that reason, it’s critical that Democrats keep the spotlight on Project 2025 from here till Election Day. I’m sure you’ve been reading a lot about this recently, but if we’ve learned anything from Trump, it’s the power of repetition. That’s why we need to flood the information networks with the details of this dangerous plan. As I’ve said before, Republican control rests on maintaining a preponderance of “low knowledge” voters. That’s the only way they can make permanent their plans for a system of minority control of government. They’re not hiding their intentions. It’s our job to make the public aware of their sinister plans. People need to know what they’re signing on to if they cast their vote for Trump. Even some of his ardent supporters should be shocked by what Project 2025 means for their most cherished rights.
I’ll be viewing the Olympics from our perch in NH later this months, as I’m sure most of you will, but I’m not going to let that distract me from the dangers that these next months pose.
