America’s democracy could look very different in 2025, if it does not disappear entirely, under another Trump White House.
According to many Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are not on the ballot in November.
Democracy is on the ballot because Trump has vowed to be a dictator on “day one” and many of his proponents support an initiative known as Project 2025 that will roll back the rights of all Americans.
Rachel Leingang of The Guardian reported, “Project 2025 details across more than 900 pages how Trump and his allies could dismantle and disrupt US government. It suggests ridding the federal ranks of many appointed roles and stacking agencies instead with more political appointees aligned with and more beholden to Trump’s policy descriptions.
“Led by the rightwing Heritage Foundation, the project showcases a federal government that cracks down intensely on immigration, vanquishes LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, diminishes environmental protections, overhauls financial policy and takes aggressive action against China.”
Although some polls show Trump making inroads with the Black vote, many see Project 2025 as a direct threat to Black people’s civil rights.
In an article for the Seattle Medium, economist and author Julianne Malveaux wrote, “While the African American community is not mentioned explicitly (except for the mandate to eliminate affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts), the policies that Project 2025 are aligned with conservative policy. Project 2025 would cut spending in education, housing assistance, and other areas where African Americans and others frequently benefit. The project would also reduce government regulation, especially in labor markets. Project 2025 is a comprehensive attack on contemporary government organization, and it also has a component that is actively seeking the most conservative people to populate a new Republican administration.”
Malveaux continued, “The former President goes even further than Project 2025, since the Heritage Foundation is a tax-exempt organization that cannot support any particular candidate. Project 47 comes from the Trump Administration and embraces much of Project 2025, but also more aggressively addresses the Department of Justice, which would be weaponized to get revenge on President Biden (even though he didn’t do anything to the former president) by going after him for offenses, real or imagined. Project 47 would actually establish the next Republican president as a dictator who can hire and fire at will, eliminate agencies at will, and do whatever he wants.”
Trump is enraged that a jury of his peers in New York found him guilty on 34 felony charges stemming from election interference in 2016.
On the eve of the 2016 presidential election, a tape of him admitting to sexual harassment leaked to the press.
Fearful that the tape, and other allegations of sexual misconduct, would derail his presidential hopes, Trump directed his former fixer Michael Cohen to pay former porn star Stormy Daniels to keep their affair quiet.
Trump has done well with many White evangelical Christians, with some believing he is the most biblical president of all time.
However, many of Trump’s opponents believe that if the public had known about his affair with Daniels, his support amongst Christians would have dwindled, which might have swung the 2016 presidential election to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Since 2016, Trump’s support amongst White evangelicals has remained steadfast with some even comparing his prosecution for numerous crimes to the persecution that Jesus Christ endured because of His sinless life.
Trump has even said that if he is sent to prison or placed under house arrest, it would be the tipping point violently for Americans because they would not stand for his incarceration.
The former president’s rhetoric in late 2020 and early 2021 culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that threatened American democracy and the peaceful transfer of power from one president to his successor.
In addition to his vow to become a dictator and his fascination with strongmen across the globe, since Trump’s presidency, the Republican Party has actively rolled back diversity efforts.
Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, many people from various races began communicating about systemic racism and police brutality, vowing to change the racial dynamic in America in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.
As a result, many Republicans started an anti-woke campaign, which made it more difficult for schoolteachers to accurately teach about America’s racial history, which has led many educators and school board members to lose their jobs.
However, the Heritage Foundation has said that Americans have suffered because of leftwing political policies.
Therefore, Project 2025 would change the role of government and make it in the image of the hard-right.
Malveaux wrote, “Project 2025 would gut climate policy and roll back the Inflation Reduction Act. Since Black people live closest to pollution sources and have disproportionate health effects from climate issues, ignoring climate issues is an attack on Black people. And let’s not talk about voting rights. Project 2025 would tighten voting regulations, perhaps eliminating early voting and mail voting, imperiling the African American voter franchise.
“Project 2025 began in 2022 and was released in book form last year as A Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. It lays out a frightening Republican agenda, a reversal of many of the hard-won victories of the past several decades. I’d like for some of the Black Americans who think our 45th president ‘wasn’t so bad’, to read the book and govern themselves accordingly. President Biden likes to say that democracy is on the ballot. He should also say that economic justice, health access, and educational equity are also on the line.”
