By Ande Jacobson
I’m concerned. No, that’s not right. I’m terrified.
We recently celebrated another U.S. Independence Day marking the anniversary of when the United States of America was founded. Now the biggest election of my lifetime (and perhaps in our nation’s history) looms over us in just under four months, and we have a media machine that seems determined to foment division by continuing its years long assault on the Democratic incumbent while at the same time ignoring his record of accomplishments and ignoring or normalizing the outright malfeasance of his likely GOP opponent. The media has presented the presidential race as a horse race rather than focusing on the real issues at hand which does the country a huge disservice. Why they are doing this is the subject of a lot of speculation. On the one hand, the media long ago moved away from their role as impartial observers and sources of information about current events into a much more lavish, dynamic, and profitable role as entertainers. They are businesses intent on turning a profit, so they do all they can to build audience and keep people coming back for more. Division and controversy sells far better than dry data, so their move toward the former in this quest became their imperative. Profits after all are more important than informing the public to many of these entities. A GOP presidency, particularly with their likely candidate, would garner them higher profits given the crises and favorable tax modifications that would result. Unfortunately, far too many people accept what they are told by the media without looking beyond the hype, and that could spell disaster for the country and the world.
This year’s election will determine whether we remain a democratic republic or end the experiment and become a fascist country ruled by Christian nationalists. Although that sounds like hyperbole, it’s not. The Heritage Foundation has worked with a veritable Who’s Who of Christian nationalists in creating their plan called Project 2025 which they intend to implement with any GOP administration. This is an existential threat to our democracy. In it they provide the plans and procedures to implement a concerted effort to do several things. A partial list includes:
- End federal regulatory agencies chartered to protect the public
- End all climate change mitigation initiatives
- Reclassify the nonpartisan civil service leadership and senior personnel as Schedule F to serve at the pleasure of the president, and fire those not sufficiently loyal to the president rather than the Constitution
- Effectively suspend the Constitution as written
- Outlaw abortion and contraception through the Comstock Act nationwide
- Outlaw all non-heteronormative people and family units
- End all gender affirming care
- Enforce a patriarchal hierarchy throughout American society
- Enforce Christianity in all aspects of American life mandated by the government eliminating any semblance of the separation of church and state guaranteed by the Constitution
- End secular public education with public support going toward private religious schools
- Imprison and deport tens of millions of immigrants, many here legally
- End birthright citizenship
- Exit NATO
- Implement the “Prosperity Doctrine” by privatizing and essentially eliminating the social safety net including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP
- Prohibit the government from negotiating drug prices with big pharma
- Use the American military against citizens on American soil to squelch all dissent including peaceful assemblies allowed by the Constitution
- Freely ban books that don’t conform to government mandated Christian religious dictates
- Reverse all student debt relief efforts
- Implement increased tariffs on all imports
- Further lower corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthiest Americans while increasing taxes on the middle and lower economic sectors
- Build on the recent SCOTUS decision to put the president completely above the law with no accountability or oversight for any actions taken in office
The above is only a partial list of the damage that Project 2025 would do. Ending federal regulatory agencies would prevent them from providing the protections that Americans now enjoy. No FDA regulation means that we wouldn’t be able to count on having water that is safe to drink, food that is safe to eat, or medications that are safe to treat us when we get sick. Losing the EPA would eliminate any environmental protections lowering our air quality, and losing our natural lands to human development which in turn would wreak havoc with the ecosystem and at the same time accelerate the disastrous effects of climate change. Eliminating OSHA would mean that our workplaces would no longer have employee safety protections. The CDC and its public health guidance would also end worsening any response to the next pandemic or any number of health emergencies that will likely arise over time.
On abortion, we’ve already seen how the state bans have put millions of women at grave risk. About 25% of pregnancies naturally end in miscarriage, and the treatments that are used for abortion are also used in cases of a miscarriage meaning that pregnancy would become far more dangerous across the country. Women would be unable to get needed care for pregnancy complications until they were actively dying, and often not even then. Right now this is true in the states with strict abortion bans, but if Project 2025 came to fruition, it would be nationwide.
Implementing higher tariffs on all imports would increase consumer prices and throw the country into recession or worse very quickly according to economic experts across the political spectrum. With tariffs, the consumer, not the manufacturer pays the fee.
The only way to prevent Project 2025 from being implemented is to elect the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. The only way to protect against such a plan from coming up again in the future is to elect strong Democratic representation in both chambers of Congress to legislate appropriate protections for our Constitutional authority.
The incumbents, Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have an impressive record that stands on its own. They have chosen to run for reelection as an incumbent team often does, particularly if they are part of a wildly successful administration. They captured over 14 million votes through the 2024 primaries securing the necessary delegates to win the nomination at the upcoming Democratic convention in August. Generally speaking, if an incumbent withdraws from the race later in the process, it does not go well for their replacement. The most recent time an incumbent decided not to accept the nomination of his party was in 1968, and his replacement, Hubert Humphrey, lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon. Those who’ve followed history know what happened after that.
The likely GOP challenger, former president Donald J. Trump, is a convicted felon who has also lost multiple civil judgements through the courts. He has several other trials pending for his actions before, during, and after his presidency; is clearly impaired both physically and mentally; has no concept of governing; and has an agenda (detailed in Project 2025 and Agenda 47) to become a dictator, not a president. He has said that he’ll refuse to accept any election result other than a win. The media has largely chosen to ignore his record, his criminal proceedings, and his demonstrated cognitive decline instead normalizing his behavior while attacking President Biden’s age and mental acuity despite Biden’s impressive record ostensibly because of Biden’s bad debate performance. Of course it’s worth noting that the bad debate performance was based solely on appearances and not the substance of what was said. Reading the transcript of the debate shows an entirely different picture where Biden cogently answered the questions asked while Trump spewed gibberish and lies, but he “looked” good.
Beyond our dangerously fractious presidential race, our highest court has been taken over by ideologues who have taken it upon themselves to dissolve the Constitution. The Constitution set forth three co-equal branches of government, each acting as a check and balance on the other two. The Constitution did not make the president a king or invincible. As set out in our Constitution, the president must follow the law just like every other American, or did until the Supreme Court decided to anoint the president king of the U.S. with a ridiculous level of immunity that only a dictator would even want. Through their ruling in Trump v. United States, an extreme ideological majority on the court gave the president immunity for all official acts such that they can no longer even be investigated for any crimes said president might commit while in office. Of course the SCOTUS majority put in a kicker that they would be the arbiters of what constitutes an official act, so they could favor a president of their choice while denying one not in their favor. This goes against the Constitution where everyone, even the president, has to follow the law. It also flies in the face of the rationale the GOP members of Congress gave for not convicting Trump for his actions on January 6, 2021 in fomenting an insurrection to hold on to the presidency despite his losing the election. Until that day, a shining precept of our democracy was the peaceful transfer of power after an election. On January 6, 2021, that came to a violent end as an angry mob spurred on by Trump attacked the capitol, threatened the lives of then Vice President Pence and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi while Trump watched and did nothing to stop it for hours.
This is where we are today, and it comes down to the electorate in the end. The voters will decide the outcome of this election. In that, it’s imperative that we all do all that we can to make sure the public knows the truth about Project 2025 since we cannot count on the media to inform the public accurately about its dangers and its goals. We have to make sure the public sees how President Biden and Vice President Harris are continuing to govern and how they are speaking to the voters directly because we cannot count on the media to inform the public accurately. We have to make sure that the public sees how Trump behaves as well since we cannot count on the media to accurately report on his activities.
Yes, President Biden is old, but Trump is only three years younger. President Biden is an elder statesman with the wisdom and knowledge built from study, vast experience, and hard work serving this nation and focusing on the issues and work that he has done and continues to do for the people of this country. Trump focuses on revenge against those who have held him accountable for his actions while spewing gibberish and lies. The contrast couldn’t be more extreme though the media refuses to report on this accurately as well.
It’s up to us, the people of the United States of America, whether we will continue to live in a democratic republic by reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris, or whether the almost 250 year experiment of a country founded in freedom under the rule of law where the governed have a say in their government falls into autocracy under a Trump dictatorship. It’s up to WE THE PEOPLE. Please vote responsibly.
References:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-biden-speaks-to-nato-and-afl-cio-after-trump-read-a-teleprompter-full-of-lies-214624325572
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/project-2025-heritage-foundation-trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-XXfex0_3Q
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-27-2024
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-27-2024-fa6
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/a-tough-night-and-a-mea-culpa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgjyHwQOUoo
https://terikanefield.com/musing-about-books-law-and-politics-blog
https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/read-biden-trump-debate-rush-transcript/index.html
https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/lawrence-on-getting-back-up-2-more
https://joebiden.com/project2025/
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
https://static.project2025.org
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/trumps-project-2025
https://www.au.org/project2025/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRKxpym7rY
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/dear-white-women-this-is-what-we
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/sources-familiar-with-the-call-dont
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/advice-from-an-insider-ignore-the
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/the-biden-replacement-theory-a-joke
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/the-biden-replacement-theory-and
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/moving-the-goalpost-again
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-5572_l6hn.pdf
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