Editor's Note: This series examines the Heritage Foundation's effort to transform the government through a process called Project 2025. Lean to the Left writers CJ Waldron and V. Susan Hutchinson explore how allies of Donald Trump hope to increase the power of the presidency, eliminate career government positions, and cede regulatory responsibility to the individual states. Although Trump has criticized Project 2025 prompting its director, Paul Dans, to resign, it's critical for voters to understand key parts of this manifesto, in context with current and future GOP proposals. The statements in Project 2025 are, at best, misleading with outright lies, twisted interpretations of the Constitution, and personal opinions sprinkled throughout, and much of the document has been incorporated into the GOP Platform, virtually word for word. So, beware.
PROMISE #3: DEFEND OUR NATION’S SOVEREIGNTY, BORDERS, AND BOUNTY AGAINST GLOBAL THREATS.
Ever since Donald Trump descended the escalator to announce his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, it has been a constant message that most of our society’s ills are the result of immigrants flooding our nation, resulting in ever increasing crimes, a drug abuse epidemic and stealing jobs from hard working Americans.
He has led rallies with the chant “Build the Wall” as his solution to what has been depicted as the crisis on the Southern Border and has accused Democrats of advocating for open borders.
America First
These distortions of facts (and outright lies) are presented in Project 2025, which claims the flood of illegal immigrants coming over the Southern Border is suppressing wages and leading to the increase in violent crime despite statistics showing that wages are rising and violent crime is down.
Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts claims Democrats have “more in common with a socialist” and more and more illegal immigration are, as Donald Trump put it, “poisoning the blood of our country”, a comment that has been compared to the words of Adolf Hitler. Those on the Right assert that this flood of illegal immigrants is part of what they call “The Great Replacement Theory”, whereupon those who illegally enter the country will overwhelm the ballot boxes by voting against those who support the Conservative agenda.
Roberts demonstrates his lack of history by declaring that Democrats support the open borders policies of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He ignores the fact the Bonhoeffer was executed for his part in Valkyrie, which was a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Instead, he wants those on the Right to blindly associate anyone German with being a Nazi.
Roberts further distorts the facts by saying that the rise in violent crime is diverting needed funding from struggling public schools. This contradicts the policies of the Right that promote school choice, which truly strips public school budgets to support unregulated charter schools. Although they will deny it, this is a blatant effort to re-institute school segregation by making it easier for the wealthy to send their children to private schools while public education struggles to obtain the basic necessities.
Slashing Spending
Republicans have always claimed to be the party of fiscal responsibility, so it should come as no surprise that Project 2025 aims at slashing federal spending. They would do so by dismantling or reallocating multiple federal agencies, leading to the dismissal of up to a million federal workers, The Departments of Education, Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration(TSA), the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) would all be eliminated.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would also be eliminated with its tasks of disaster preparedness and response being divided among the Department of the Interior or the Department of Transportation with the remaining tasks allocated to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency. However, the costs of both preparedness and clean up would be shifted to the states.
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs would be highly restructured with many services privatized and actual contact personnel would be replaced by automated chat bots. Veterans would lose the ability to be treated by those familiar with the unique health issues they face and instead would be forced to rely upon local medical facilities that are already overburdened.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), once the main source of information during the COVID pandemic, would be divided into two agencies: one gathering scientific data and one making public health recommendations and policies. Testing and public health guidance would be shifted to the private sector where competing companies could offer varying interpretations of major health issues.
Most concerning, the Department of Justice, once the independent arm of government that held the Executive Branch accountable, would be placed under the control of the president, allowing him to use these personnel as his own personal “Gestapo police” to unfairly target anyone he perceives as his enemy.
By claiming to reign in Big Government, Project 2025 is only making it easier for those in power to maintain their grip while denying a majority of Americans the right to have the very services their tax dollars are intended to support.
Does this sound like America First to you?
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