Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise—PowerPoint for Discussion Groups and the College Classroom

Friends,

I got an idea from a friend yesterday evening regarding a discussion group that people in her community are going to have on Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise. This gave me the idea to post a downloadable PowerPoint I put together for this very purpose. I invite university professors to also make use of it this fall in their classrooms. The second download button is a reading list titled, "Critical Readings for Understanding the Political Formations Currently at Play in Texas and National Politics." It's a good supplement for the college classroom. Be aware, as well, that world leaders are reading what Project 2025 for their countries. For example, read this special report from Sunday's issue of Politico Magazine titled, "The world wasn't ready for Trump in 2016. It's not making that mistake this time." 

As a 922-page document, it's a lot to plow through so to make it consumable, I highly recommend folks reading a cogent analysis of it in the June 2024 issue of The Nation that you can download and read here [pdf], beginning on page 25. It's titled, "The Plot Against America". 

My PowerPoint—that you should feel free to share liberally, aligns with the June 2024 issue and only adds a few extra slides. One has gotten some news where Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump says that another four years of a Trump administration will mean "scorched earth" policy, linking to an April 19, 2024 piece in the New York Magazine. Another is on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), as that is a particular interest of mine. 

Here is the Table of Contents with the sections written by credible political scientists, authors, and researchers.

1) "The Conservative Promise," by Kim Phillips-Fein; 

2) "The Executive," by Chris Lehmann; 

3) "Democracy: The Great Dismantling," by John Nichols;

4) "Justice: A Legal Heist" by Ellie Mystal; 

5) Housing: America's Landlord," by Sasha Abramsky; 

6) "Healthcare: Bad Medicine," by Joan Walsh; 

7) "Climate: License to Drill, Drill, Drill," by Bill McKibben; 

8) "Immigration: Deport, Detain, Deny," by Gaby del Valle; 

9) "China: A New Exclusion Act," by Jake Werner; and 

10) "The Pentagon: Masters of War," by William Hartung.

The titles alone, are alarming.

Suppose you have a group of 5 people. In that case, you can divvy up responsibilities with each person taking on 2 sections apiece of "The Plot Against America in The Nation," alongside the actual document—that could use another round of edits, by the way. My PowerPoint also provides links to both documents.

Trump appears to want to distance himself from Project 2025, but don't believe him. For example, consider this July 8, 2024 piece in the Washington Post by Philip Bump that says otherwise: The impossibility of separating Trump from Project 2025. Bump says that Trump's staff will play a key role in making sure that this agenda gets implemented. And remember, Trump isn't known to be a reader so this agenda would align conveniently with a presidency that looks like it's doing "something,"—not the least of which is a dismantling of government—without him personally having to work very hard to fulfill the mandate.

I hope this facilitates matters for folks as concerned as me who want to have conversations around this destructive agenda that will only benefit the extremist Billionaire class—that I actually think will hurt them in the end which is a conversation for another time.

We must do everything we can to resist the Trump agenda that is primarily for the top 1 percent. The solution, of course, is to vote, vote, vote! 

I welcome any friendly suggestions or feedback. I encourage you to post to these below. 

Happy to perform my civic duty today. 🙂

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Bump, P. (2024, July 8). The impossibility of separating Trump from Project 2025, Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/08/trump-project-2025-policy-staff/

Chait, J. (2024, April 3) Lara Trump Threatens ‘Four Years of Scorched Earth’ If Trump Retakes Power: Sounds like a fun time for America, New York Magazine, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/lara-trump-four-years-of-scorched-earth-if-trump-wins.html

Dans, P. & Groves, S. (2023). Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise, Heritage Foundation. https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

McLeary, P., Schiltz, C., Bolzen, S., Barigazzi, J.& Fritz, P. (2024, July 7). Special Report. The world wasn't ready for Trump in 2016. It's not making that mistake this time, Politico Magazine, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/07/nato-prepare-trump-2024-00165522

The Nation. (2024, June). Special Issue. The Plot Against America, The Nation, https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/nation202406_r2.pdf?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Issue%20Alert:%20June%202024%20-%206.4.2024&utm_term=Active_Subscribers

Valenzuela, A. (2024, July 10). Critical Readings for Understanding the Political Formations Currently at Play in Texas and National Politics [downloadable below].

 

Angela Valenzuela's downloadable reading list titled, "Critical Readings for Understanding the Political Formations Currently at Play in Texas and National Politics."