"Stop Project 2025": How House Democrats Plan To Fight Back
As awareness of the threat grows, House Democrats have launched the “Stop Project 2025 Task Force” seeking to highlight, preempt, and counteract this looming authoritarian agenda.
Thank you for reading! In the face of unrelenting disinformation, clear truth-telling and independent media are a necessity. We have to spread the truth as forcefully as gaslighters spread their lies. If you value in-depth analysis through a pro-democracy lens, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to my newsletter. Paid subscribers empower this work and gain access to exclusive community features. Your subscription makes a difference.
Something shifted in the past week.
I’ve suddenly seen a surge in viral posts about Project 2025. I’ve been asked more questions about it in the real world. Google Trends data shows a stark increase in Project 2025 search volume starting mid-last week, reaching peak popularity at a 100 level of search interest.
Awareness is rapidly growing for this radical, authoritarian, Republican plan to reshape the government into a tool of the far-right. And it’s partly because so many people have been doing everything they can to highlight the dangers of Project 2025.
The Biden Campaign has been increasing its social media posts calling out dangerous components of the plan. I’m seeing more TikTok influencers posting videos explaining the threat of Project 2025. Mainstream media outlets have ramped up coverage, including a segment on MSNBC I was recently invited on to discuss the project.
For those of us who have been ringing the alarm about this dangerous agenda, this is really good to see. I’ve been writing about this for about 8 months, hoping that not only awareness would increase but action would be taken. Well, House Democrats have just announced a new effort that seeks to do both.
Led by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the “Stop Project 2025 Task Force” was announced on Tuesday. The House Democratic press release says the task force “will serve as a central hub for pro-democracy Members of Congress, civil society, and affected communities to coordinate on examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting this right-wing plot to undermine democracy.”
Rep. Huffman outlined the scope of the task force in a statement: “Through this Task Force, leaders across the ideological spectrum and experts in every policy area that’s under attack are uniting to protect democracy as we know it. Donald Trump and those behind Project 2025 are ready to turn America into a theocratic regime if they get the chance – and we are going to be ready to stop them.”
It appears that not only will the task force spotlight the dystopian policy proposals in Project 2025, they’re coordinating with policy experts to identify any preemptive steps they can take to prevent it. The Task Force will also be analyzing ways they can combat Project 2025 if Trump wins re-election.
Rep. Huffman discussed the need for preparation, “This stuff is going to be coming at us at lightspeed. And if we are on our heels and reacting to it, we could lose our democracy. So we're going to need to be ready to confront it in real-time. And those plans need to begin now.”
The task force is stacked with influential voices in the Democratic caucus: Democratic Reps. Huffman, Ted Lieu (CA-36), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Judy Chu (CA-28), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07).
The group is collaborating with pro-democracy nonprofits and policy experts to take on this challenge.
President of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, defiantly responded to the formation of the Task Force: “Project 2025 will not be 'stopped'... We will not give up, and we will win.”
Project 2025 is, at its core, an effort to consolidate power in the executive, replace tens of thousands of civil servants with trained GOP loyalists, gut federal agencies, and execute their far-right agenda. The Heritage Foundation and over 100 right-wing organizations have organized Project 2025 and authored its 920-page playbook.
That agenda includes the centralization of power in the White House, outright dismantling of multiple federal agencies, anti-abortion measures, rolling back environmental regulations, immigration crackdowns, ending federal protections for LGBTQ+ people, pushing “Christian Nationalist” ideals, and undoing all progress made in diversity, equity, and inclusion within the federal government under the guise of religious freedom. Trump’s plans align with key components of the project.
Ultimately, the only definitive way for Democrats to stop Project 2025 is for President Biden to win the White House again in 2024. The project is a playbook for the next Republican president to follow. While it does consist of legislative plans, it’s reliant on expanded presidential power based on the unitary executive theory. Without a President to sign legislation or their planned outlandish executive orders, like the re-implementation of Schedule F to purge civil servants, then Project 2025 can’t be implemented at the federal level.
Now, of course, individual states are still pursuing Project 2025 goals (like we’re seeing with anti-abortion measures, efforts to ban race education, anti-LGBTQ policies, etc), but it will not happen at the federal level as long as a Democrat is president.
There is only so much Democrats can do legislatively in the meantime to try and prevent Project 2025 from being implemented nationally. It’s especially difficult while being the minority party in the House. Congressional Democrats have tried to pass legislation to protect civil servants from a potential 2025 purge and to protect rights Project 2025 aims to target, but predictably, Republicans have blocked those measures.
In the executive branch, the Biden Administration has issued a new rule that protects civil servants, seeking to preempt an attempt from Trump to purge federal workers in a potential second term:
“[The new rule] strengthens and clarifies existing rights for career civil servants by making clear that civil service protections cannot be taken away from employees unless they give them up voluntarily. And it makes it harder to shift jobs into a status where protections could be stripped away.”
Since this is an executive action, Donald Trump can roll this back if he’s returned to the White House. This measure will only slow down an attempted purge of civil servants.
So, the best way to prevent Project 2025 is to prevent Donald Trump from winning re-election. But that doesn’t mean the “Stop Project 2025 Task Force” can’t make an impact.
This task force can run a coordinated media strategy to make sure that mainstream media outlets run Project 2025 segments featuring task force members. They can reach out to influencers to give them briefings on the key components they believe should be highlighted. They can hold town halls with their constituents to inform them and field questions on the project. There’s a lot they can do to publicize just how dangerous and authoritarian Project 2025 is.
It’s also important to prepare for the worst-case scenario, as Rep. Huffman said this task force will do. Preparing maneuvers that can counter Project 2025 while in the minority or majority in Congress amid a Trump presidency will be very important. Also, coordinating with their partner organizations to advise on lawsuits that can combat the agenda. We know what they plan to do. We can now gear up for a rapid response if they try to do it.
It will be interesting to see how House Democrats run this task force and what impact it will have. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
In the end, it’s up to us, the voters, to stop Project 2025 at the ballot box.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts says Project 2025 can’t be stopped, and they will never give up.
Well, it can be stopped, we won’t give up either, and if we stay mobilized, we will win.
Thanks, Ahmed, so glad to know about the focus and plans to counter. Will definitely share your thoughts.
Glad to hear about this new coordinated effort. A bit of a pick me up after I read about the awful action at the Southern Baptist Convention. Keep up the good work, Ahmed.