Friday, July 26, 2024

Project 2025 - The hype and the truth


This is what Project 2025 is claimed to suggest. Is it true? The actual project can be inspected at https://www.project2025.org/policy/ It's quite verbose and I'm sure that Trump, being adverse to reading, won't know about most of it. Some of its policy is very reasonable but that can be expected. Most political groups are not wrong all the time. 

But this is what some people say it contains. Are these items really hidden amongst it?

The project is available as a printed book but is apparently not available as a proper ebook. It is available as a pdf file though and that is searchable so that's what I did - searched it. Here's the results The bold text is what is claimed to be in Project 2025, If it's red then I couldn't find any reference to it. My comments are in square brackets.

End no-fault divorce 

[Not found]

Complete ban on abortion with no exceptions 

[bans on the federal funding of abortion p6] 

FDA should…reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs p284 p458

Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds p471

Ensure that training for medical professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) and doulas is not being used for abortion training p485

[For many people these steps will make abortion difficult but not a 'complete ban with no exceptions]

Ban contraceptives

[Not found apart from 'Eliminate the week-after-pill from the contraceptive mandate as a potential abortifacient.' p485]

Additional tax breaks for corporations and the 1%; 

[A search for 'tax ' (including the space) finds 203 mentions including:]

 Department of the Treasury: Implement all necessary regulations both to equalize taxes between American citizens and working visa holders and to provide DHS with all tax information of illegal aliens as expeditiously as possible. p167 

Clarify the critical importance of efficiency to food affordability, and why a failure to recognize this fact especially hurts low-income households who spend a disproportionate share of after-tax income on food compared to higher-income households. p293 

nonresident parents with child support orders can receive a nondependent, child support tax credit. p479 

Congress can propose tax credits for the renovation or repair of housing stock in rural areas so that more Americans are able to access the American Dream of homeownership. p511 

Second, the tax system should minimize its adverse impact on the family and the core institutions of civil society. Third, the tax system should be applied consistently—with special privileges for none—and respect taxpayer due process and privacy rights. p696 

The corporate income tax rate should be reduced to 18 percent. The corporate income tax is the most damaging tax in the U.S. tax system, and its primary economic burden falls on workers because capital is more mobile than labor. 17 Capital gains and qualified dividends should be taxed at 15 percent.  p696 

To encourage entrepreneurship, the business loss limitation should be increased to at least $500,000. Businesses should also be allowed to fully carry forward net operating losses. Extra layers of taxes on investment and capital should also be eliminated or reduced. p697 

The estate and gift tax should be reduced to no higher than 20 percent p697 

[Non-taxable benefits offered to employees in liu of wages would be capped at $12,000, the idea being to prevent employees from being trapped by being unable to give up non-taxable benefits p697]

 Fundamental Tax Reform would see lobbyists, lawyers, benefit consultants, accountants, and tax preparers incomes decline. p698

Higher taxes for the working class;

 [There are several suggestions which would have the opposite effect such as:]

The Treasury should work with Congress to simplify the tax code by enacting a simple two-rate individual tax system of 15 percent and 30 percent that eliminates most deductions, credits and exclusions. The 30 percent bracket should begin at or near the Social Security wage base to ensure the combined income and payroll tax structure acts as a nearly flat tax on wage income beyond the standard deduction. p696 

Universal Savings Accounts. All taxpayers should be allowed to contribute up to $15,000 (adjusted for inflation) of post-tax earnings into Universal Savings Accounts (USAs). The tax treatment of these accounts would be comparable to Roth IRAs. USAs should be highly flexible to allow Americans to save and invest as they see fit, including, for example, investments in a closely held business. Gains from investments in USAs would be non-taxable and could be withdrawn at any time for any purpose. This would allow the vast majority of American families to save and invest without facing a punitive double layer of taxation. p696

Elimination of unions and workers' protection 

[Not found. Related union issue were 'Congress should also consider whether public-sector unions are appropriate in the first place.' p82 'remove all unions in the department for national security purposes.' p135]

Raise the retirement age 

[Not found but retirement related items are: 'Reforming Federal Retirement Benefits'. p77 Seems that public sector should be aiming at matching federal retirement benefits! ie retire at 55 with $200,000 more than public sector], 

'Equalize retirement savings access across married households' & 'To equalize access to tax-free retirement savings for married couples' p588

Cut Social Security

[Not found]

Cut Medicare

[Not found. Reforms to medicare include:]

'Increase Medicare beneficiaries’ control of their health care.', 'Reduce regulatory burdens on doctors', 'Ensure sustainability and value for beneficiaries and taxpayers.' & 'Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse' p463 'Remove restrictions on physician-owned hospitals.' & 'Encourage more direct competition between Medicare Advantage and private plans. p464

Reforms to medicare and Medicaid p465-469

End the Affordable Care Act

[Not found]

Raise prescription drug prices 

[Not found although there is a reference to 'Medicare Part D Reform' on p465]

Eliminate the Department of Education 

Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. When power is exercised, it should empower students and families, not government. & 'Ultimately, every parent should have the option to direct his or her child’s share of education funding through an education savings account (ESA), funded overwhelmingly by state and local taxpayers, which would empower parents to choose a set of education options that meet their child's unique needs' p319

Use public, taxpayer money for private religious schools 

[An ESA (see previous item) would allow this.] 

Teach Christian religious beliefs in public schools 

[Not found. However there is a suggestion that a communal 'day off', by default a Sunday, should be recognised and workers on that day should be recompensed with 1.5 times salary. There are exceptions though for hospitals and emergency services p598]

End free and discounted school lunch programs. 

[Not found. There is, in fact, a suggestion that funding for this may NOT be withheld p337]

End civil rights & DEI protections in government 

[Not found but there are: 'Safeguarding civil rights' p332, 'Pursuing Equal Protection for All Americans by Vigorously Enforcing Applicable Federal Civil Rights Laws in Government, Education, and the Private Sector.' p561 & 'Reorganize and refocus the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to serve as the vanguard for this return to lawfulness.' p562]

 Issue an executive order banning, and Congress should pass a law prohibiting the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to fund, all critical race theory training (CRT). p582] [The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists. p4

Ban African American and gender studies in all levels of education Ban books and curriculum about slavery. 

[Not found but 'Divisive symbols such as the rainbow flag or the Black Lives Matter flag have no place next to the Stars and Stripes at our embassies'. p89 & 'Funding to institutions should be block-granted and narrowed to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and tribally controlled colleges.' p327]

Ending climate protections 

Eliminate carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) programs. p376

Consider whether to defund the civil nuclear tax credit program and hydroelectric power efficiency and production incentives established in the IIJA and administered through GDO p380

Increase Arctic drilling, Deregulate big business and the oil industry 

[Covered p521-523]

Promote and expedite capital punishment 

[Hardly promoted but 'Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable' p554]

End marriage equality 

[Not found but there are a number of issues under tax to offer tax benefits in marriages]

Condemn single mothers while promoting only "traditional families" 

[No condemnation found but concern is expressed over single parent families several times]

Defund the FBI 

[The DOJ and FBI have been criticized p545-547 but no defunding of then has been found] 

Emphasize, fund, and reward field offices while shrinking headquarters staff p551

Defund Homeland Security 

[Our primary recommendation is that the President pursue legislation to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). p133 The proposal is that it should be broken up and some parts combined while other parts are merged with other departments]

Use military to breakup protests; 

[Partly true. The only 'military' mentioned for this is the National Guard 'Transform how the National Guard is employed during extended operations short of declared war to preclude back-to-back federal and state deployments of National Guard soldiers in order to stabilize and preserve military volunteerism in our communities.' p110] 

[There is also 'Department of Defense: Assist in aggressively building the border wall system on America’s southern border. Additionally, explicitly acknowledge and adjust personnel and priorities to participate actively in the defense of America’s borders, including using military personnel and hardware to prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry and channel all cross-border traffic to legal ports of entry' p166-167 & p555]

Mass deportation of immigrants and incarceration in "camps" 

[Nothing found for mass deportation but 'Congress should mandate and fund additional bed space for alien detainees. ICE should be funded for a significant increase in detention space, raising the daily available number of beds to 100,000.' p143]

End birthright citizenship

[Nothing found]

Ban Muslims from entering the country

[Nothing found]

Eliminate federal Agencies such as EPA 

[Partly true] Back to Basics. EPA’s structure and mission should be greatly circumscribed to reflect the principles of cooperative federalism and limited government. This will require significant restructuring and streamlining of the agency p420

Eliminate federal Agencies such as FDA  

[Nothing found]


Eliminate federal Agencies such as NOAA and more 

['and more' is too vague but 'Break Up NOAA.' found p674]

Continue to pack the Supreme Court and lower courts with right-wing judges. 

[No references found]

Not mentioned in the claimed contents of Project 2025 

[How did the Anti-Project2025 people miss these?]

 Environment 

[The next Administration should also push for legislation to fully repeal recently passed subsidies in the tax code, including the dozens of credits and tax breaks for green energy companies in Subtitle D of the Inflation Reduction Act. p696]

Armament Industry

'The United States must regain its role as the “Arsenal of Democracy.” In fiscal year (FY) 2021, U.S. government foreign military sales (FMS) nosedived to a low of $34.8 billion from a record high of $55.7 billion in FY 2018.' p100. [The same was happening in Russia. In Feb 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and arms sales immediately picked up again.]



Well stopthecoup2025.org, spreading misinformation isn't going to help your cause. There's plenty in the book to object to but lots of what you claim just doesn't appear to be true. I'm sure most people with any sense don't want to see Trump re-elected but let's campaign honestly.

Perhaps there is a different Project 2025, the one suggested by those labeled 'conspiracy theorists'?

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