by Andy Kroll, ProPublica, and Nick Surgey, Documented
Reporting Highlights
- Deep State Battle: Project 2025’s plan to train an army of political appointees who could fight the so-called deep state on behalf of a future Trump administration remains on track.
- New Videos: Dozens of never-before-published videos created for Project 2025 were provided to ProPublica and Documented by a person who had access to them.
- Advice Given: “If the American people elect a conservative president, his administration will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere.”
Project 2025, the controversial playbook and policy agenda for a right-wing presidential administration, has lost its director and faced scathing criticism from both Democratic groups and former President Donald Trump. But Project 2025’s plan to train an army of political appointees who could battle against the so-called deep state government bureaucracy on behalf of a future Trump administration remains on track.
One centerpiece of that program is dozens of never-before-published videos created for Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy. The vast majority of these videos — 23 in all, totaling more than 14 hours of content — were provided to ProPublica and Documented by a person who had access to them.
The Project 2025 videos coach future appointees on everything from the nuts and bolts of governing to how to outwit bureaucrats. There are strategies for avoiding embarrassing Freedom of Information Act disclosures and ensuring that conservative policies aren’t struck down by “left-wing judges.” Some of the content is routine advice that any incoming political appointee might be told. Other segments of the training offer guidance on radically changing how the federal government works and what it does.
In one video, Bethany Kozma, a conservative activist and former deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Trump administration, downplays the seriousness of climate change and says the movement to combat it is really part of a ploy to “control people.”
“If the American people elect a conservative president, his administration will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere,” Kozma says.
In the same video, Kozma calls the idea of gender fluidity “evil.” Another speaker, Katie Sullivan, who was an acting assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice under Trump, takes aim at executive actions by the administration of President Joe Biden that created gender adviser positions throughout the federal government. The goal, Biden wrote in one order, was to “advance equal rights and opportunities, regardless of gender or gender identity.”
Sullivan says, “That position has to be eradicated, as well as all the task forces, the removal of all the equity plans from all the websites, and a complete rework of the language in internal and external policy documents and grant applications.”
Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, falsely saying that he knew nothing about it and had “no idea who is behind it.” In fact, he flew on a private jet with Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, which leads Project 2025. And in a 2022 speech at a Heritage Foundation event, Trump said, “This is a great group and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.”
A review of the training videos shows that 29 of the 36 speakers have worked for Trump in some capacity — on his 2016-17 transition team, in the administration or on his 2024 reelection campaign. The videos appear to have been recorded before the resignation two weeks ago of Paul Dans, the leader of the 2025 project, and they are referenced on the project’s website. The Heritage Foundation said in a statement at the time of Dans’ resignation that it would end Project 2025’s policy-related work, but that its “collective efforts to build a personnel apparatus for policymakers of all levels — federal, state, and local — will continue.”
The Heritage Foundation and most of the people who appear in the videos cited in this story did not respond to ProPublica’s repeated requests for comment. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign who features in one of the videos, said, “As our campaign leadership and President Trump have repeatedly stated, Agenda 47 is the only official policy agenda from our campaign.”
Project 2025’s 887-page “Mandate for Leadership” document lays out a vast array of policy and governance proposals, including eliminating the Department of Education, slashing Medicaid, reclassifying tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be more easily fired and replaced, giving the president greater power to control the DOJ and further restricting abortion access.
Democrats and liberal groups have criticized the project’s policy agenda as “extreme” and “authoritarian” while pointing out the many connections between Trump and the hundreds of people who contributed to the project.
“Trump’s attempts to distance himself from Project 2025 have always been disingenuous,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “The discovery that the vast majority of speakers in Project 2025 training videos are alumni of the Trump administration or have other close ties to Trump’s political operation is unsurprising further evidence of the close connection there.”
Several speakers in the videos acknowledge that the Trump administration was slowed by staffing challenges and the inexperience of its political appointees, and they offer lessons learned from their stumbles. Some of the advice appears at odds with conservative dogma, including a suggestion that the next administration may need to expand key government agencies to achieve the larger goal of slashing federal regulations.
Rick Dearborn, who helped lead Trump’s 2016 transition team and later served in the Trump White House as deputy chief of staff, recalled in one video how “tough” it was to find people to fill all of the key positions in the early days of the administration.
The personnel part of Project 2025 is “so important to the next president,” Dearborn says. “Establishing all of this, providing the expertise, looking at a database of folks that can be part of the administration, talking to you like we are right now about what is a transition about, why do I want to be engaged in it, what would my role be — that’s a luxury that we didn’t have,” referring to a database of potential political appointees.
Dan Huff, a former legal adviser in the White House Presidential Personnel Office under Trump, says in another video that future appointees should be prepared to enact significant changes in American government and be ready to face blowback when they do.
“If you’re not on board with helping implement a dramatic course correction because you’re afraid it’ll damage your future employment prospects, it’ll harm you socially — look, I get it,” Huff says. “That’s a real danger. It’s a real thing. But please: Do us all a favor and sit this one out.”
“Eradicate Climate Change References”
The project’s experts outline regulatory and policy changes that future political appointees should prepare for in a Republican administration.
One video, titled “Hidden Meanings: The Monsters in the Attic,” is a 50-minute discussion of supposed left-wing code words and biased language that future appointees should be aware of and root out. In that video, Kozma says that U.S. intelligence agencies have named climate change as an increasingly dire threat to global stability, which, she says, illustrates how the issue “has infiltrated every part of the federal government.”
She then tells viewers that she sees climate change as merely a cover to engage in population control. “I think about the people who don’t want you to have children because of the” — here she makes air-quotes — “impact on the environment.” She adds, “This is part of their ultimate goal to control people.”
Later in the video, Katie Sullivan, the former acting assistant attorney general under Trump, advocates for removing so-called critical race theory from public education without saying how the federal government would accomplish that. (Elementary and secondary education curricula are typically set at the state and local level, not by the federal government.)
“The noxious tenets of critical race theory and gender ideology should be excised from curriculum in every single public school in this country,” Sullivan says. (Reached by phone, Sullivan told ProPublica to contact her press representative and hung up. A representative did not respond.)
In a different video, David Burton, an economic policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, discusses the importance of an obscure yet influential agency called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The Trump administration used OIRA to help roll back regulations on economic, fiscal and environmental issues. Under Biden, OIRA took a more aggressive stance in helping review and shape new regulations, which included efforts to combat housing discrimination, ban the sale of so-called ghost guns and set new renewable fuel targets.
Burton, in the Project 2025 video, urges future political appointees to work in OIRA and argues that the office should “increase its staffing levels considerably” in service of the conservative goal of reining in the so-called administrative state, namely the federal agencies that craft and issue new regulations.
“Fifty people are not enough to adequately police the regulatory actions of the entire federal government,” Burton says. “OIRA is one of the few government agencies that limits the regulatory ambitions of other agencies.” (Burton confirmed in a brief interview that he appeared in the video and endorsed expanding OIRA’s staffing levels.)
Expanding the federal workforce — even an office tasked with scrutinizing regulations — would seem to cut against the conservative movement’s long-standing goal of shrinking government. For anyone confused by Project 2025’s insistence that a conservative president should fill all appointee slots and potentially grow certain functions, Spencer Chretien, a former Trump White House aide who is now Project 2025’s associate director, addresses the tension in one video.
“Some on the right even say that we, because we believe in small government, should just lead by example and not fill certain political positions,” Chretien says. “I suggest that it would be almost impossible to bring any conservative change to America if the president did that.”
A Trump Government-in-Waiting
The speakers in the Project 2025 videos are careful not to explicitly side with Trump or talk about what a future Trump administration might do. They instead refer to a future “conservative president” or “conservative administration.”
But the links between the speakers in the videos and Trump are many. Most of those served Trump during his administration, working at the White House, the National Security Council, NASA, the Office of Management and Budget, USAID and the departments of Justice, Interior, State, Homeland Security, Transportation and Health and Human Services. Another speaker has worked in the Senate office of J.D. Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate.
Sullivan, the former DOJ acting assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s Office of Justice Programs, which oversees billions in grant funding, appears in three different videos. Leavitt, who is in a training video titled “The Art of Professionalism,” worked in the White House press office during Trump’s first presidency and is now the national press secretary for his reelection campaign.
A consistent theme in the advice and testimonials offered by these Trump alums is that Project 2025 trainees should expect a hostile reception if they go to work in the federal government. Kozma, the former USAID deputy chief of staff, says in one video that “many” of her fellow Trump appointees experienced “persecution” during their time in government.
In a video titled “The Political Appointee’s Survival Guide,” Max Primorac, a former deputy administrator at USAID during the Trump administration, warns viewers that Washington is a place that “does not share your conservative values,” and that new hires will find that “there’s so much hostility to basic traditional values.”
In the same video, Kristen Eichamer, a former deputy press secretary at the Trump-era NASA, says that the media pushed false narratives about then-President Trump and people who worked in his administration. “Being defamed on Twitter is almost a badge of honor in the Trump administration,” she says.
Outthinking “the Left”
The videos also offer less overtly political tutorials for future appointees, covering everything from how a regulation gets made to working with the media, the mechanics of a presidential transition process to obtaining a security clearance, and best practices for time management.
One recurring theme in the videos is how the next Republican administration can avoid the mistakes of the first Trump presidency. In one video, Roger Severino, the former director of the Office of Civil Rights in the Trump-era Department of Health and Human Services, explains that failure to meticulously follow federal procedure led to courts delaying or throwing out certain regulatory efforts on technical grounds.
Severino, who is also a longtime leader in the anti-abortion movement, goes on to walk viewers through the ins and outs of procedural law and says that they should prepare for “the left” to use every tool possible to derail the next conservative president. “This is a game of 3D chess,” Severino says. “You have to be always anticipating what the left is going to do to try to throw sand in the gears and trip you up and block your rule.” (In an email, Severino said he would forward ProPublica’s interview request to Heritage’s spokespeople, who did not respond.)
Operating under the assumption that some career employees might seek to thwart a future conservative president’s agenda, some of the advice pertains to how political appointees can avoid being derailed or bogged down by the government bureaucrats who work with them.
Sullivan urges viewers to “empower your political staff,” limit access to appointees’ calendars and leave out career staff from early meetings with more senior agency officials. “You are making it clear to career staff that your political appointees are in charge,” Sullivan says.
Other tips from the videos include scrubbing personal social media accounts of any content that’s “damaging, vulgar or contradict the policies you are there to implement” well before the new administration begins, as Kozma put it.
Alexei Woltornist, a former assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, encourages future appointees to bypass mainstream news outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Instead, they should focus on conservative media outlets because those are the only outlets conservative voters trust.
“The American people who vote for a conservative presidential administration, they’re not reading The New York Times, they’re not reading The Washington Post,” Woltornist says. “To the contrary, if those outlets publish something, they’re going to assume it’s false. So the only way to reach them with any voice of credibility is through working with conservative media outlets.”
And in a video about oversight and investigations, a group of conservative investigators advise future appointees on how to avoid creating a paper trail of sensitive communications that could be obtained by congressional committees or outside groups under the Freedom of Information Act.
“If you need to resolve something, if you can do it, it’s probably better to walk down the hall, buttonhole a guy and say, ‘Hey, what are we going to do here?’ Talk through the decision,” says Tom Jones, a former Senate investigator who now runs the American Accountability Foundation.
Jones adds that it’s possible that agency lawyers could cite exemptions in the public-records law to prevent the release of certain documents. But appointees are best served, he argues, if they don’t put important communications in writing in the first place.
“You’re probably better off,” Jones says, “going down to the canteen, getting a cup of coffee, talking it through and making the decision, as opposed to sending him an email and creating a thread that Accountable.US or one of those other groups is going to come back and seek.”
Do you have any information about Project 2025 that we should know? Andy Kroll can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 202-215-6203.
Videos prepared by Lisa Riordan Seville and Chris Morran. Mariam Elba contributed research.
Videos prepared by Lisa Riordan Seville and Chris Morran. Mariam Elba contributed research. Do you have any information about Project 2025 that we should know? Andy Kroll can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 202-215-6203.
Jackson says
Kind of funny (and pathetic) in how some of these very same people pushing the project 2025 agenda are the ones who ran around calling Obama a dictator.
They know they no longer have the ability to win elections of the merits of their policies so they instead look to authoritarianism to ensure power rests with them.
Jackson says
I blame mainstream media for normalizing trump and the gops’ criminality and insanity. This is beyond ridiculous at this point.
One day, Trump will be gone. But, those who support him will still be with us.
Rob says
These people are a clear danger to our country, freedom is to choose what we do with our own bodies, freedom to get married to the person we love, freedom to be who we are. How do my beliefs, who I’m sleeping with or what I do with my body impact these conservatives? Freedom is being free from oppression. These conservatives want to control us and impose their “values” on all those that disagree with them.
Miz says
They are religious fanatics whom “God has chosen & directed to take over your life
nbr says
Scary stuff, if you think it is NOT real, think again
Wallingford says
Whether you are a Republican or whether you are a Democrat you need to fear the enactment of Project 2025. Your life now will be nothing like your life if Project 2025 is enacted. Veterans who have risked their lives in defense of our Country will have their benefits greatly curtailed. The Labor force will have its voice silenced. Companies will determine the fate of Laborers. Public Unions will become a thing of the past in favor of Company Unions. Religious freedoms will become restricted. And it goes on and on. We will look more like current day China and Russia
Trump is Project twenty-twenty five says
These people make my skin crawl. Seriously. My danger-meter is already off the charts for project 2025 but add in these people and all I see is a cabal of predators.
Marlee says
Thank you for this article! ALL of this needs to be disclosed.
Just one example:…..a group of conservative investigators advise future appointees on how to avoid creating a paper trail of sensitive communications that could be obtained by congressional committees or outside groups under the Freedom of Information Act.
Sandra says
Flaglerlive is as leftist as it can be. When are we going to read about the Democrat’s dirt? Typical left wing media.
Pierre Tristam says
If you have anything comparable for Democrats, by all means, present it.
Leila says
Who is running the country? We have been lied to about the condition of the President. Seriously. Why isn’t Congress getting us answers to these questions? Harris was selected 3 weeks ago and refuses to answer questions, giving the same speech 4times in a row. The Secret Service are clearly lying to Congress,
yet nobody is being held accountable. Welz is caught lying about his service record and set up a call line during COVID where neighbors could turn each other in.
I think we have bigger problems to worry about at the moment. Much bigger problems.
Pierre Tristam says
Nothing about Hunter Biden? Hillary’s emails maybe? Benghazi? Obama’s Nairobi connection? Thank god for the beatification of Trump. He may just pull off being the first canonized saint while still alive, and he’s not even Catholic. Hallelujah.
Sherry says
@lila and sandra. . .
let’s look at your candidate trump:
OK. . . As a professional recruiter. . . AGAIN, let’s compare candidate # 2: for President:
1. 78 Years Old
2. Convicted Felon (over 30 counts) for falsifying business records
3. Also found “Guilty of Sexual Assault”
4. Also found “Guilty” of Fraud in a separate case
5. Also found “Guilty” of “Defamation” of the woman he assaulted
6. Impeached TWICE in a “bipartisan” vote in Congress
7. Outstanding “Indictments” in THREE other cases in Georgia, Florida and Washington DC
I could go on and on about his lying, adultery and many other character flaws. The question is, why? why? why? isn’t candidate # 2 in jail? Such a reprobate is NOT qualified for ANY job.
Why would anyone in their right mind want a criminal like that as President?
I’ve posted this factual list of “DISQUALIFYING” attributes 4 times now, and not one trump supporter as responded to disprove that list. WHY does anyone think convicted criminal trump is better qualified than Kamala Harris? Credentialled Facts Only, Please.
FlaPharmTech says
I am curious what your news source is? And the correct spelling is Walz.
Sherry says
Ok sandra. . .I’m waiting for you to give us “credentialed evidence” of anything like Projects 2025 from the Democrats. I’ll wait. . . but, I’m certainly not holding my breath.
The dude says
These people, who are articulating trump’s second term agenda here, are truly frightening.
Cmon man says
Hopefully a second term
Stephen says
Why are Conservatives concerned about Liberal Trump. He is just a RINO who needs Republicans to help pay his bills.
Deborah Coffey says
Oh, yes. Americans longing to live in Cuba, North Korea, or Russia absolutely LOVE this plan. Of course, from a bird’s eye view, what the plan desires overall besides complete control of the country is SLAVERY in all its forms. There will be the rich 1% oligarchs and the 99% living hand to mouth while braving fires, floods, and intense heat. Not much in this article about taxes. It’s astounding how poor the 99% will be.
Laurel says
There is not one, damned thing about this that is “conservative.” This is a one sided plan for all citizens, total conformity, killing individuality, yet they claim climate change is “control!”
I am not a Christian, but I am extremely offended that these people, who want to take over our lives, hide behind a cross on their chests, like a badge that claims “I’m a Christian, therefore, you must believe me.” They are totally misrepresenting Christians’ savior to obtain personal power. Very obnoxious and very devious. Any sociopath can stand in front of a church holding a bible. Any selfish person can wear a cross to deceive you. Many of them do for just that reason.
The ABA (American Bar Association) has created a Task Force for American Democracy https://www.americanbar.org/groups/leadership/office_of_the_president/american-democracy/
It is time to start taking this seriously and stop making excuses for Trump’s and Vance’s statements. Why do you figure that Project 2025 wants you to only watch “conservative media?” They want you to get only the information they want you to see. If you are truly a free person, you should be able to see all sides of an argument, not just the one side someone else puts on you.
Jim says
What is consistent about MAGA is that they like to do their dirty work in the dark. As covered here, as videos and more information comes out about Project 2025 and what it actually includes, amazingly, no one associated with it wants to step forward and defend these actions and activities. Now, I can’t speak for everyone, but the only time I can think of when I wouldn’t want to defend my stance on a subject is when either I’m really not comfortable with my position or I’m feeling threatened in some way. Now, if Project 2025 is feeling threatened, I’d ask “By Whom???”. The MAGA response will be “Antifa” and/or “liberals”. I’m unaware of any large scale effort underway to physically attack the “2025’ers”. Now, I do think they are getting a lot of pushback and criticism for their positions and proposed tactics and there is nothing wrong with that. So, Project 2025, if you’re so sure your positions and actions are “righteous”, please step out of the darkness and tell us all why.
That won’t happen….
And the fact that climate change is an enemy of this group tells me just how far from science and reality these people are. I’m sure if they are successful, hurricanes will weaken, tornados will be reduced in quantity and force, sea levels with return to the “old days”, the polar ice will reform, etc.
So, once again, when we all vote in November, this is just one of the lunatic activities the far Right is actively pursuing. If you have children and/or grandchildren, this lunacy should terrify you for their future. The good Lord knows the Democrats are far from perfect but I don’t hear them talking about flushing all the Right Wingers out of the government. And for those who say their attacking the Supreme Court, proposing term limits and an enforceable code of conduct is far from “forcing people out of government”.
Democracy can be ugly but it’s a far sight better than autocracy and dictatorship. I hope enough people recognize that.
Foresee says
What a bunch of weirdos- spooky weird, scary weird, nervous weird, angry weird and psycho weird. The Weird Gold Medal goes to the red head, Silver to the bearded cross guy, Bronze to the obese guy with the long tie.
Billy says
Typical democrat propaganda. Any soft minded idiot would believe it. Thats the only people who vote democrat, weak minded fools!
Sherry says
@ billy. . . Here is the link to the web site for Project 2025. First read it , yes over 900 pages, and then get back to us to explain in detail why we should not believe it.
https://www.project2025.org/
Also, please explain why you are still supporting a 78 year old “Convicted Felon”, who was also found guilty of “Sexual Assault”, “Fraud” and “Defamation” in 3 other separate cases.
Thank You!
The dude says
Speaking of “soft-minded” and “weak-minded”.
So Billy… it’s your contention that this is all a liberal ploy? That Project 2025 doesn’t exist, wasn’t authored by deeply embedded MAGAts, and foreworded (and approved) by the current Vice Presidential candidate for the MAGAts?
It’s all really the democrats? Really? That’s some serious 4d chess those crazy dems are playing there…
Yeah there’s some “fools” here… but I don’t think they’re the ones you’re screaming at.
Laurel says
The willfully stu….
FlaPharmTech says
Again, I am curious what your news source is? Oh, forget it. You’re in with a pathetic bunch of nuts.
We “fools” will be getting the Harris/Walz ticket democratically elected.
Sherry says
@ billy. . . if all “you” can do in a discussion is name calling. . . just who is the “weak minded fool”?
Tony Mac says
Project 2025:
The following is a partial list of proposed changes with chapter and page references. It shows how the Heritage Foundation with Trump as president plan to reshape our country. At a quick scan you can see how CAPITALISM plays a big part as they move to privatization for greed and control. This should frighten everyone.
• Privatize Social Security (c22, p715)
• Privatize veterans’ healthcare (c20, p635)
• Privatize infrastructure projects (c19, p555)
• Privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (c19, p565)
• Reduce federal disaster relief programs (c16, p610)
• Reduce funding for federal research programs (c12, p415)
• Decrease regulations in healthcare (c14, p450)
• Reduce funding for public health programs (c14, p455)
• Repeal the Affordable Care Act (c14, p460)
• Promote free-market healthcare (c14, p465)
• Dismantle the Department of Education (c11, p365)
• Reduce federal student aid (c11, p385)
• Increase private sector role in public education (c11, p390)
• Limit federal involvement in technology standards (c28, p850)
• Reduce federal government intervention in various sectors (c1, p25)
• Cut federal support for renewable energy projects (c12, p405)
• Reduce regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (c13, p425)
• Withdraw from international climate agreements (c13, p430)
• Reduce environmental regulations on businesses (c13, p440)
• Promote energy production on federal lands (c16, p600)
• Limit the jurisdiction of federal courts (c1, p40)
• Decrease the size of the federal workforce (c3, p95)
• Restructure the Department of Homeland Security (c5, p165)
• Reform the Department of Justice (c17, p565)
• Repeal Dodd-Frank financial regulations (c27, p800)
• Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (c27, p815)
• Repeal net neutrality regulations (c28, p845)
• Eliminate the Department of Commerce (c21, p660)
• Limit federal involvement in local policing (c17, p575)
• Reduce business regulations (c18, p520)
• Reduce federal oversight of labor standards (c18, p530)
• Implement a flat tax system (c22, p700)
• Lower corporate tax rates (c22, p725)
• Restrict the powers of the Federal Reserve (c24, p770). Please feel free to copy and share
Ed P says
Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, maybe there are a few concepts in the project that are worth discussing and implementing in some alternate format.
Such as, restructuring department of Homeland Security? Decrease the size of the federal work force? If not privatization of veteran health care, at least improve the system.
Point is, many of the listed ideas do need improving. Taking a second look with an open approach might be beneficial. What’s the harm in brainstorming?
Tony Mac says
What you say may have some merit, Ed, but the issue with Project 2025 is the implementation of these “ideas” will be dictated and are not open to compromise. Sure, I’m in the VA system and I could suggest improvements and have done so with our Representative. Instead Waltz voted to cut $22 billion from the VA. I could suggest improvements to Social Security to help us geezers…instead Republicans want to destroy the program; many people have suggested improvements to Medicare and Medicaid but Republicans specifically have endorsed ending those programs — it’s in their platform. So…compromise — yeah, maybe but I don’t believe it’s their intention.
Ed P says
Tony Mac,
First which Republicans want to destroy social security?Trump wants to end federal taxes on benefits. Conservatives don’t want Medicare health care and social security for ALL in order to preserve the program. It would collapse on itself. I’m not in agreement with the destruction assessment. The 71 million people on social security is a pretty large voting block. No one wants to destroy it. No Democrat or Republican.
Christopher Goodfellow says
Paul Revere famously uttered The British are Coming. However this time it is not the British but the American Taliban. These are people driven primarily by deep religious fervor to mold America into something that it never was, is or will be. Coach Walz captured in a few words my feelings and the feelings of millions of us « Mind your own damned business » it is ironic they picked Trump to be their second coming because I’m pretty damned sure he doesn’t hold one one hundredth of their convictions as evidenced by his past behavior. But it is a mutually beneficial arrangement right now where each side benefits off the other or at least thinks they do. The sad thing is is that the new Taliban haven’t a clue that Trump is in it only for himself and his own aggrandizement as the new Führer Amerika. Trump would agree to any Project now to just get elected and save his skin from prison because that is where he is headed if he doesn’t win. If elected of course he will use all the executive powers to stymie all opposition and it won’t be dictator for a day but his avowed new Reich. He has stated as much.
But let us hope people like John Giles, Mayor of Mesa Arizona are growing in number and seeing the light. All is not lost. There are more sane than insane people out there. None of us want the Taliban and none of us want to see our country descend into a dysfunctional dictatorship. Lord knows we have enough dysfunction as it is.
It is extremely difficult for most people to break free mentally from a long held position and belief especially if it was born out of anger to begin with. Anger at our government fueled MAGA. It was and is still very real anger and it was because we felt betrayed which fuels the strongest anger.
Many fellow citizens who drifted into the Maga movement and more specifically under the spell of Trump are now confronted with the reality that their leader has no interest in making their own lives better but solely in promoting himself into a dictator stealing away their very rights. It can no longer be denied by moderate Republicans that Trump stole away the Republican Party as it existed and transformed it into a personal cult calling for loyalty only to him. He used your anger to further his own causes. Yes, he replaced joy and positivity with anger and division. Many moderate Republicans have long been uncomfortable with this. There is a huge center in American politics that is neither left nor right but inherently reasonable. We just want to get along and see the country progress and solve its problems without descending into a dystopian chaos or religious fanaticism.
Many of these Republicans are waking up and transitioning out of the grips of the cult as they see a person very much like themselves on the Democratic ticket. Despite Trump’s best efforts to label « The Coach » as some sort of far left screwball, it isn’t working.
The Coach is what America has needed for a long time. He is unequivocally one of us. Whether we are Republican or Democrat we can all see ourselves in him. That is what is so attractive about him and so troubling and upsetting to deep MAGA cultists as they see the joy and, more importantly, hope he has already brought back to so many of us. He is a positive message for the future encouraging us all to get on TEAM AMERICA again and get the country on the right path. We desperately needed that positive message after Donnie Downer has flooded us all with such negativity for ten years. Every time Trump opens his mouth it is to tell us how we are going down the toilet. Yeah record stock market, record employment, industry coming back, etc. Etc.
Now, here comes along The Coach with a different message that no one can deny is uplifting everyone. Things are not so bad. We are not losing the game. No matter how deep our anger, we all want to be on the team and that is the message Walz is resonating through America.
I am neither a Republican or Democrat but a proud independent because I believe in making the best choice under a given set of circumstances. I am driven to my choice of whom I support more than anything by the character of the individual. I see Walz as a confident leader without being condescending. He is the no nonsense genuine article that we all need now to Coach us through this transition.
Below is a paragraph in Heather Cox Richardson’s piece today.
It certainly speaks to the times.
« It certainly seems like the birth of a new era in American history. At a Harris-Walz rally in Arizona on Friday, Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, who describes himself as a lifelong Republican, said: “I do not recognize my party. The Republican Party has been taken over by extremists that are committed to forcing people in the center of the political spectrum out of the party. I have something to say to those of us who are in the political middle: You don’t owe a damn thing to that political party…. [Y]ou don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and is hell-bent on taking our country backward. And by all means, you owe no displaced loyalty to a candidate that is morally and ethically bankrupt…. [I]n the spirit of the great Senator John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump, and protecting the rule of law, protecting our Constitution, and protecting the democracy of this great country. That is why I’m standing with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.”
Vice President Harris put it differently. Speaking to a United Auto Workers local in Wayne, Michigan, on Thursday, she explained what she and Walz have in common.
“A whole lot,” she said. “You know, we grew up the same way. We grew up in a community of people, you know—I mean, he grew up…in Nebraska; me, Oakland, California—seemingly worlds apart. But the same people raised us: good people; hard-working people; people who had pride in their hard work; you know, people who had pride in knowing that we were a community of people who looked out for each other—you know, raised by a community of folks who understood that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down. It’s based on who you lift up.” »
This week I think I have seen the greatest lifting up the Spirit of America I have ever seen and it took a relatively unknown plain speaking, genuine, empathetic but tough Coach to breath life back into the United States. It is up to us not to fumble the ball now.
Ray W. says
Thank you, Christopher Goodfellow.
I am fond of the old adage that the best exercise is helping someone else up.
Laurel says
Christopher Goodfellow: I agree with what you are saying, but you do realize that Kamala Harris is running for President, don’t you? You know, the woman?
Christopher Goodfellow says
Of course I comprehend that fully 😂. I might add that her mother spent 16 years in Montreal working at the Jewish General Hospital and she went to Westmount High School in Montreal. All good grounding to become President. The gift, if you will, that Walz brings to the team is a matching enthusiasm that has heartened us all. We now have hope and a very stark choice between an angry, dark, divided and arguably violent and uncertain future and two stable, very normal hands on the wheel. He is the right man to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
The dude says
As for our VP choices this election year…
One is the coach who tells you “well, the world needs ditch diggers too” when you struggle on that algebra test, one is the coach that stays after school and tutors you in algebra to help you do better on the next test.
Choose accordingly.
Sherry says
Thank you . . . Tony Mac and Christopher Goodfellow. . . and of course, Laurel! GO KAMALA! Let’s all do the Harris Walz!
Mind you own damned business, and keep the government out of our doctor’s offices and bedrooms! FREEDOM!
Laurel says
Sherry: And remind folks that is was the Republicans who wanted government out of our bedrooms!
Yes, if it doesn’t harm children, elders and animals, and it’s between consenting adults, discussions with their families and their doctors…MIND YOUR OWN DAMNED BUSINESS!
Sherry says
Hey magas. . . I dare you to watch this. . . all the way through= Laugh of The Day. . . :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VW6tHIcGfc
Laurel says
Sherry: Again, what the hell are some people thinking? It truly worries me, that Americans can be so fooled by blatant lying. Every time Trump plays his invisible squeeze box, he is expanding on a lie.
Robert Barney says
Would you desantis/trump repugnitans please tell me it’s not the hottest year ever!,if you can explain what’s happening worldwide (GLOBAL) then turn youre air conditioners off and then I’ll chill,