That's what I began sharing of late. Democracy isn't a "single issue," it's what we have to lose this November. Finding the most relevant piece in this 920 page document of terror when in conversation with someone on the subject is that perfect strategy of "meet people where they are." Far more useful than screaming or fear-mongering, but a heckuva lot harder to practice in these fraught times.
Good suggestion! To тАЬmeet people where they areтАЭ takes policy out of the abstract and makes it personal. It motivates people to pay attention and investigate. Most importantly voters need details to imagine the cruelty of what a 2nd Trump America would look like.
Michael, as I found it necessary to unwind from social media some while ago, largely because "conspiratorial nut job" isn't a good look for me, ha, I salute your efforts. FB in particular is a space I avoid, and choose instead to work through likeminded group efforts that don't require my participation in the mayhem and noise of platforms too easily manipulated.
Absolutely! If this were FDRтАЩs third term and letтАЩs say a nazi were running against him, excusing the holocaust, would the media focus on FDRтАЩs health? That he was in a wheelchair? Migod! Project 2025 vs democracy indeed!
The press has become the GOP cheerleading squad, while busily pointing out the chinks in Democrat's armor, they ignore the entire right wing fetid neo-fascist machine the GOP has become.
They are controlled by the very oligarchs they should be reporting on.
Agreed. That is why talking to people one-on-one is going to be so important to the swing voters. The rest of us know the deal already even if many do not know the details of Project 2025. My group of Democrats Abroad in Hamburg and Northern Germany have started a book club on Project 2025. We started with reading some articles about it just to get our feet wet and organize how we want to do this. Our goal is just what is being suggested here, to be able to talk to people. So, I read the Education part myself at Joyce Vance's suggestion, and I have had a lot to say about it because it is talking about destroying public education. Even if you are a home schooler you often need to turn to the public schools for struggling child to get specialized services. This is horrifying because clearly they don't believe in Public Education. Yesterday Heather Cox Richardson spoke to a few thousand Democrats Abroad and when asked about Christian Nationalists, she was telling us that for the first Election Trump made them his base but his policy was for the Business community. Now, they are his base and his policy is for them too, and the business community has to be satisfied with tax breaks in a country that will break down in all of the ways that it has existed. I also think we need to be asking people what they think government is there for. To invade your private life, or to take care of the people. Under Trump there will be no care taking, and lots of invading your private life. Today I am going on to read the part called The White House Office by Rick Dearborn. I am taking notes on what I read too. He as the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, so how Trump does not know about this is either because Trump is too far gone to know about anything, or because Trump is as usual lying and the press as you point is complicit in that they just let him be. He has totally manipulated them into being part of his fascist propaganda machine.
Trump lies about it since he has not read it, cannot understand it, and does not want to explain it! Over his head, but he will have people who will carry it out in his midst. Too much for Trump! He depends on others to do the dirty work!
"The Press"? Right now I'm listening to Media Matters, a project of the Courier Newsroom. Do you want to declare war on them too? Do you want to declare war on, say, ProPublica, which broke the story of Clarence Thomas's "gifts" from billionaire Harlan Crow and others? Maybe you should be a bit more specific.
Please provide me with a suitable description for how average Americans are being led to believe that Biden is on his death bed, is destroying America and Convict Trump is the Savior and IтАЩll use that
But they are NOT treating him as the dangerous criminal, a guy ON BAIL, who has promised to be a dictator on day one and was just handed the power to be just that by SCOTUS. They are NOT doing their job in their role in a democracy to inform citizens accurately so that we can then act and vote in accordance with that information.
Apples and oranges. Yes, Substack and the news media both qualify as "media," but the differences are major. Substack comprises many voices, some with a vast number of subscribers, others with very few. The reach of the corporate news outlets -- print, cable, web, TV -- dwarfs that of Substack and even Twitter in the pre-Musk days. I have yet to see any Substack column being piped in to a doctor's office or bar.
Good point. On my last visit to an Emergency Department Fox was blaring from a large screen TV. A well known BBQ chain airs FOX and Newsmax and plays the Star Spangled Banner once an hour so that patrons have to stop, stand, and sing during their meal.
I don't see The Bullwark or Meidas Touch playing in any bars or restaraunts.
SCOTUS has become an arm of the right wing. The Presidential Immunity decision just topped the "wedding cake" of bad decisions they have made.
Yes, I read and hear lots of great info on Substack about that, but it's not getting the hard hitting front page reporting from main stream media that this whole oligarch created anti-democracy movement deserves.
Trumpism is being normalized in the media like some commentary on a reality TV show, instead of being boldly exposed.
The Republicans had Victor Orban as a keynote speaker for Christ's sakes!
Not universally or as often and forcefully as I'd also like. News reporters and editors still adhere to the traditional model of striving for balance and neutrality ("the voice from nowehere," as NYU journalism Professor Jay Rosen derides it) and forcus too much on the "horse trace" rather than the stakes . . .
"Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the countryтАЩs future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him. . . .
"We urge voters to see the dangers of a second Trump term clearly and to reject it. The stakes and significance of the presidency demand a person who has essential qualities and values to earn our trust, and on each one, Donald Trump fails."
"Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency."
thing of it is... he showed this in 2016. And got elected anyway.
The gop/tea party has been building this effort since the Reagan era. They've had 40+ years to infiltrate school boards, city offices, state offices, federal offices, all the way up to the supreme court. They have also infiltrated the media, not only with Faux News, but even the NYT and WaPo have 'journalists' in their newsrooms skewing the narrative.
Honestly people, this is a mountain we are hoping to dismantle. I agree that we must do it. But I don't think this one election will fix the whole mess. This has to be an ongoing effort. We need to dedicate the next 40 years to getting back what we've lost in the last 40.
An extreme outlier preaching pure propaganda solely to MAGA acolytes. Not part of mainstream media in the respected or legitimate sense, as widely defined.
That's why my comment is qualified with "that I see." ["No newspapers, news sites or broadcasters that I see are treating Trump as a savior."]
Well said. There is a press out there,but it is harder to find. NYT (among others) seems to have suddenly fallen toward the right, ignoring the chasm that Trump, Leonard, SCOTUS, et al is pushing democracy into.
The Foxification of "news" is driving the narrative, and much of America has been lulled into a zombie like trance of blind acceptance.
We have a few short months to ring the warning bells. No time for rest or room for division in this mission.
and it is also becoming social media. FB is using an "independent fact checker" that is removing posts about project 2025. Robert Reich posted and image about what project 2025 would do and many reported their re-posts (including me) removed for "disinformation". also a lot of right wing posts about how comments about the billionaires are paying their fair share and it is wrong to want to increase their tax rate. Robert Reich also had a tic tok video removed.
Oh come on now, please. There is no 'The Press' -- there are hundreds of newspapers, news sites and broadcasters with varied coverage of the presidential race.
Yes, some seem unduly focused on Biden's fitnesss and a few -- a few -- suggest in editorials that his candidacy should end. A vast majority of others cover the legit questions raised by the debate in a balanced, fair way.
Where are the comments about Trump lying continuously and talking gibberish at his rallies? He's getting a free pass by mainstream news media. Biden's issues are now more flashy so let's destroy democracy by not comparing him to a felon.
I see and hear examples regularly, Ruth, even though I try to avoid coverage solely about Trump. His nonsense in June and again recently about shark attack risks from electric boats sinking because of heavy batteries was reported and ridiculed widely.
In The New York Times today, columnist John McWhorter writes about what he calls Biden's "lack of elocution тАФ which Donald Trump is also quite given to."
In The Washington Post on June 24, longtime columnist Eugene Robinson wrote: "Equally alarming is his disordered, elliptical syntax. Sentences take off in one direction and change course midflight. Pronouns lack antecedents. . . .
"Repeatedly telling a nonsensical story, and in a chopped salad of words, is different тАФ and hair-raising when the speaker is a candidate for president."
Since 'the debate' they've been quiet about Trump for the most part. Yes, NYT wrote about Trump being wholy unqualified, but they've mostly been very quiet. They're enjoying the Biden fiasco, knowing that this could put Trump back in the Whitehouse. They could write and talk about Trump as much as they're doing about Biden, but that's old news. This is more fun for them.
I get why it appears that way, but don't believe "enjoying" and "more fun" underlie the coverage focus.
Trump's defects and dangers are well-known, so less compelling to rehash/focus on anew than the relative suprirse of Biden's seemingly sudden and sharp decline. His personal crisis and the party's, as well as potentially the country's, are far more newsworthy than "Trump is still unaware and crazy" updates.
The first three letters of news drive the over-coverage, which I'm not defending.
That's fine for those who actually pay attention but the election will be won by those who can't tell the difference between Biden or any other Democrat and Trump. I don't understand how that's possible, but it is.
Alan, a few? Listening to Sirrius POTUS channel right now. Its all about тАЬI canтАЩt believe Biden hasnтАЩt dropped out yetтАЭ. Nothing on crimal Trump
As a veteran postcarder, I think that such postcards would have to be targeted to particular audiences, as Joyce's Substack demonstrates. Postcards are effective in informing voters about specific issues like candidates' positions, registration deadlines, etc. Project 2025 is big and sprawling. Hard to explain on a postcard (1) what it is, and (2) why they should care about it.
Steve, yes, stories are powerful, particularly if you have one that relates directly to the people you are talking with. I would like to hear someone interviewed who helped develop the plan and maybe reps from some of those 100 organizations that endorse it to see what they were thinking, who put them up to it, how much they were paid to essentially betray their country, you know, the usual stuff one would ask a saboteur of democracy. I know their answer would be bull**it, but it would be interesting to hear their cookie-cutter answers which will make no sense to any thinking person, but will sound just great to them, guys who are so addicted to power and money they can hardly function without hurting someone.
OMG, yes! Has anything like this been done? If not, why not? A top question would have to be "How do you reconcile Project 2025 with the U.S. Constitution?"
Barb McQuaid does a great job in her book "Attack from Within" describing mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MSM), and how it operates. If you ask the question proposed, they would try to dismiss your question and denigrate the source.of the query.
Its a deplorable debate tactic, but anyone involved with the plan will provide a sales pitch not a substantive answer.
I was just looking on Amazon and there are many books and even t-shirts presenting a pro-Project 2025 point of view, if you can believe that. I was horrified.
At this point, after reading P2025, the depth of depravity to which people will descend is appalling. Whether in support of the lies in the manifesto, or in efforts capitalize on it.
I agree. The document is too long and sprawling to discuss competently. Each chapter needs to be condensed and personalized so folks will understand how it affects them personally, and not just as some existential threat. Like a page or two per chapter.
The problem with such condensing P2025 into smaller pieces is its complexity.
I found it easy, but tedious, to eliminate the grievances which form the basis of the need for change argument. However in so doing one eliminates any context which may be needed to understand a given change.
The sheer volume of text even without the grievances is daunting. I struggled over what was necessary to illustrate the extreme nature of the change .
Quite frankly it simply is too extensive. Every proposed change included in the plan is significant enough to sound an alarm.
I am not a professional editor. I wanted to produce what you describe but found it much more difficult than imagined. Looking back, the idea I had of producing a summary, was not something of which was capable. So I changed course.
What I tried to do was extract ideas from the plan then edit those ideas with an eye to retaining their meaning., and not provide any opinion. I wanted the plan's words to be give folks the freedom to form their opinion.
The result was a ham-handed attempt in pursuit of a noble goal.
I am heartened to see P2025 being discussed widely at this point.
I no longer feel like a lone voice yelling into a hurricane.
Field Team 6 has a new postcard script about Project 2025. I have been using it all week. I like it but see what you think:
"Americans expect freedom and safety. But if elected, convicted felon Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans will enact a terrifying plan called Project 2025 that will take away our freedoms, ban abortion, contraception and IVF, and destroy our planet. Fight back! Register at Voterizer.org and elect Democrats, who are the only party standing between us and this unAmerican future."
That's an impressive website got set up. very cool.
Public interest in Project 2025 is rising.
Turns out my above described ham-handed series did produce one post of value. While reading the plan I made a glossary of acronyms after being overwhelmed in the first 80 pages. I had to publish it as a post to get a URL to hyperlink to it for my posts, to let a non-subscriber use it. I'm an educator, of course this is a tool for learning, I could have myself a lot of time.
When I posted it April 6, it up it went to 13 people. Through the substack community restacking it 16 times, now I have subscribers in 31 states who are using it to read the plan for themselves. It has been viewed over 900 times in 3 days.
The professional journalists and legal analysts have undertaken series.
here's a couple of links to circulate, if you'd like. Share them with Field Team 6, let them know things are working.
Concerning mass-education, I can give you an update. This is part of a response somewhere farther down thread:
The problem with such condensing P2025 into smaller pieces is its complexity.
I found it easy, but tedious, to eliminate the grievances which form the basis of the need for change argument. However in so doing one eliminates any context which may be needed to understand a given change.
The sheer volume of text even without the grievances is daunting. I struggled over what was necessary to illustrate the extreme nature of the change .
Quite frankly it simply is too extensive. Every proposed change included in the plan is significant enough to sound an alarm.
I am not a professional editor. I wanted to produce what you describe but found it much more difficult than imagined. Looking back, the idea I had of producing a summary, was not something of which was capable. So I changed course.
What I tried to do was extract ideas from the plan then edit those ideas with an eye to retaining their meaning., and not provide any opinion. I wanted the plan's words to be give folks the freedom to form their opinion.
The result was a ham-handed attempt in pursuit of a noble goal.
Except for this one post:
I made a glossary of acronyms used in Project 2025.
When I posted it April 6, it up it went out to 13 people. Through the substack community restacking it 16 times, It has been viewed over 900 times in the last three days in at least 31 states. It's helping people read it themselves in 31 states that I know of. Here's a link to share if you'd like.
Go to David PepperтАЩs Substack, тАЬPepperspectivesтАЭ (I think thatтАЩs correct). HeтАЩs writing a novel about P2025, and has so far released 4 chapters, all absolutely chilling! Read and then share each one separately, so as not to overwhelm those you share with. IтАЩm finding this to be quite effective.
I just mention 1) womenтАЩs rights to healthcare, 2) they want to abolish Medicare and Medicaid, 3) they want to get rid of the CDC and the NIH. Those 3 usually wind up in what else does the GOP want to get rid of. Conversation ensues!
This is an intersting idea. I am trying to get my congressman to write a summary to put into each newspaper within his constituency . I like it referred to as a document of terror. Nice ring LinMarie.
I've also been thinking about Project 2025 postcards. Besides mailing them, I'd like to have a postcard reminder of the bullet points to reference in conversation. This person has made a list that would fit on a postcard--or half the list on different cards. Anyone able to make it happen? If so, I have a few avenues of amplification, and you can email me at heathersherd@gmail.com.
Consider just one group:. people on SSI, their friends, family, caregivers, social workers, and especially their lawyers. As of 2023, 67,076,966 Americans received SSI. IтАЩm sure more do now. As president, Trump tried and failed to cut benefits drastically. Some Republicans wanted to replace the entire system. See. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Trump, House Republican Cuts to SSI Would Harm Children With Disabilities, Sept. 18, 2017, Kathleen Romig and Guillermo Herrera. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/trump-house-republican-cuts-to-ssi-would-harm-children-with-disabilities
тАЬThe Trump proposal would cut SSI by more than $8 billion over the next decade, shrinking benefits for roughly a quarter of a million children with disabilities by between 38 and 66 percent. It would also increase SSIтАЩs administrative costs and improper paymentsтАЭ.
Some Republicans have threatened to kill it. Demean beneficiaries as тАЬtakers.тАЭ
Yet some SSI recipients are registered Republican!
It's ironic that some on SSI slit their own throats.
Every dime an SSI beneficiary gets is spent and proves that John Maynard Keynes was right -- causing a positive ripple effect. тАЬDemand creates its own supply.тАЭ
Those benefits go into the hands of practically every business.
I've been asking DNC data to identify MAGATs on SSI and their caregivers to alert them that they are committing suicide.
I looked this morning for Project 2025 tshirts and didnтАЩt find any. How about a shirt with the Civil Discourse logo and Something like Vote for Democracy. Stop Project 2025.
I think that's a great idea. I'm writing what feels like an endless stream of postcards to encourage people in Georgia to vote -- I think the 2025 info mailing is a great idea.
Not Postcards! One of the Most Dangerous confrontations I had with MAGA Violence followed a handwritten Dem postcard (postmark in CA) to my (GA) mailbox about standing up for women, in early 2017. MAGA's "Biblical Patriarchy" (like Bannon fancies himself) intercepts mail; in regard to mail they don't like, e.g. voting, they make sure injuries are severe enough that we miss voting. (This Danger is common; the African American community has warned us since the Voting Rights Act(s), a *legal right* is not a *right in reality*; and since the 1970s, has impacted those of us who continue to nonviolently stand for human & civil rights. FYI: Project 2025's "Mandate" was actually written in 1981 for Reagan; GOP started institutionalizing it (I saw it, I & Others have been injured repeatedly under its "authority" operating here in GA). It was only "Updated" in 2023 for 2025. Take it seriously. And No Postcards. "Relationship influence" ("pay-it-forward" with ideas, is the most effective organizing method; despite the Biblical Patriarchy, we turned GA purple, even blue in some previously stronghold-red suburbs).
It sure as heck wouldnтАЩt hurt! Getting the word out any way you can is what must happen. Every store I go into in my small town, I ask if everyone is registered to vote and if not, I have a bunch of registration forms from our Board of Elections to hand out and even leave a few in the event someone wants to get their spouse or older (eligible!) son or daughter. ItтАЩs surprising how many folks arenтАЩt registered! I also have a sheet printed with how to find Project 2025 from those who havenтАЩt a clue about it!
I think it is more the mediaтАЩs deliberate misinterpretation of PelosiтАЩs words that is gumming up the works right now. As is their fashion of late. Do they not understand that Project 2025 is coming for them too.
The corporate media barons are unashamedly pro MAGA. The promise of further deregulation and lower taxes translates into higher personal profits for them. They are not in the media business to inform people but to fleece them. Most of their employees are freelance and their livelihoods depend upon following the company line. Their greed obsessed higher management do not care what happens to their serfs under Project 2025 and have neither the historical education or the imagination to enable them to understand what is in store for them and their families under a Christo fascist Trump led autocracy.
The substacks of Jeff Tiedrich, Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson and TC in LA and their well informed commenters are a few folk that are highly recommended for you to fulfil your request for immaculately sourced specific examples.
I am saddened by her lukewarm comments about Biden this morning. It may well be that he withdraws, but if so, he should go out in glory,--not pushed out.
Watch Heather Cox Richardson on Monday, July 15, at 7:00 pm. This is sponsored by Red, Wine and Blue. Sign up on the website. Be informed about what we face as a country if Trump is elected. There is no doubt that this Republican platform goes against everything we stand for in this country. Think about how this could impact you and members of your family personally.
If trump and Project 2025 win, NO ONE, and I do mean NO ONE will be safe. They will turn America into scorched earth. Remember how well fascism and Hitler worked out for Germany and the world?
I can't recall how I first heard of Project 2025, but I knew I had to read the whole thing to understand it in context. Skipping content in math, inevitably demands that one read the missed content.
Honestly, I didn't want to fill my head with the garbage I suspected it would contain. Recognizing my reluctance, I was compelled to read the entire plan. I spent a lot of time reading Thoreau to rehab my brain afterwards.
It's easy to describe in broad strokes: The plan will destroy our government. This doesn't convey its severity, or the urgency of action needed to reject it.
The detailed nature of the plan is perhaps something one can use to convince others to investigate.
If I had to select one thing that would capture the attention of someone it would be the preparation and execution of the plan.
With the experience of 2020 upon which to draw, Project 2025 has been designed for rapid deployment. When the plan refers to Day one implementation, the natural question is: What can be changed in a day? My answer: The complete, systematic elimination of anything that could stultify their coup.
With executive orders in hand, replacements can enter the offices of all key positions, and within minutes be installed in that position. The plan will allow positions to be filled with replacements holding "Acting" status immediately and furthermore imbues them with all the authority of that position.
This solves two problems viz. Avoiding the possibility of delays by senate confirmation requirements or any vetting process of the replacements. and, The replacements will have complete authority over that positions policy decisions.
They could literally control all government policy so quickly, that by the time you realize what's happening, it's already in place..
The entire government is gone and executive orders have been issued to make what they've done legal. Hitler did this in his rise to power.
Is that scary enough? If not, read the plan.
We could wake up to a new, and very different, reality on Day 2.
I don't usually present this doomsday aspect. Subscribers here, however, who need incentive, may be spurred to action with this approach..
I am heartened to see the elevation of Project 2025, by sources with a wider reach than mine.
This is no longer Biden vs Trump. This is bigger and should be emphasized as such in the campaign. This is DEMOCRACY vs PROJECT 2025.
That's what I began sharing of late. Democracy isn't a "single issue," it's what we have to lose this November. Finding the most relevant piece in this 920 page document of terror when in conversation with someone on the subject is that perfect strategy of "meet people where they are." Far more useful than screaming or fear-mongering, but a heckuva lot harder to practice in these fraught times.
Good suggestion! To тАЬmeet people where they areтАЭ takes policy out of the abstract and makes it personal. It motivates people to pay attention and investigate. Most importantly voters need details to imagine the cruelty of what a 2nd Trump America would look like.
MaryJo, thanks; truly, the devil is buried in all those details, and a couple of the examples Joyce shared in her post truly resonated.
@LinMarie: Register Democrats to beat Project 2025.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
yes, fieldteam6, registering Democratic voters!
I'm sharing information daily, on FB, X, and Instragram, but without sounding like a conspiratorial nut job, lol. It's harder than it looks.
Michael, as I found it necessary to unwind from social media some while ago, largely because "conspiratorial nut job" isn't a good look for me, ha, I salute your efforts. FB in particular is a space I avoid, and choose instead to work through likeminded group efforts that don't require my participation in the mayhem and noise of platforms too easily manipulated.
Absolutely! If this were FDRтАЩs third term and letтАЩs say a nazi were running against him, excusing the holocaust, would the media focus on FDRтАЩs health? That he was in a wheelchair? Migod! Project 2025 vs democracy indeed!
Democracy vs Project 2025 AND The Press
The Press is WOEFULLY inadequate.
The Press is complicit
The press is doing to Biden exactly what they did to Hillary.
The press has become the GOP cheerleading squad, while busily pointing out the chinks in Democrat's armor, they ignore the entire right wing fetid neo-fascist machine the GOP has become.
They are controlled by the very oligarchs they should be reporting on.
Media is as harmful as Jim Comey?
Distractions to hide the reality that the Republican party no longer exists.
Agreed. That is why talking to people one-on-one is going to be so important to the swing voters. The rest of us know the deal already even if many do not know the details of Project 2025. My group of Democrats Abroad in Hamburg and Northern Germany have started a book club on Project 2025. We started with reading some articles about it just to get our feet wet and organize how we want to do this. Our goal is just what is being suggested here, to be able to talk to people. So, I read the Education part myself at Joyce Vance's suggestion, and I have had a lot to say about it because it is talking about destroying public education. Even if you are a home schooler you often need to turn to the public schools for struggling child to get specialized services. This is horrifying because clearly they don't believe in Public Education. Yesterday Heather Cox Richardson spoke to a few thousand Democrats Abroad and when asked about Christian Nationalists, she was telling us that for the first Election Trump made them his base but his policy was for the Business community. Now, they are his base and his policy is for them too, and the business community has to be satisfied with tax breaks in a country that will break down in all of the ways that it has existed. I also think we need to be asking people what they think government is there for. To invade your private life, or to take care of the people. Under Trump there will be no care taking, and lots of invading your private life. Today I am going on to read the part called The White House Office by Rick Dearborn. I am taking notes on what I read too. He as the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, so how Trump does not know about this is either because Trump is too far gone to know about anything, or because Trump is as usual lying and the press as you point is complicit in that they just let him be. He has totally manipulated them into being part of his fascist propaganda machine.
Trump knows about it. He is lying, as usual.
Trump lies about it since he has not read it, cannot understand it, and does not want to explain it! Over his head, but he will have people who will carry it out in his midst. Too much for Trump! He depends on others to do the dirty work!
And this is it. He is their 'useful idiot.'
As he always hasтАж
Agreed.
"The Press"? Right now I'm listening to Media Matters, a project of the Courier Newsroom. Do you want to declare war on them too? Do you want to declare war on, say, ProPublica, which broke the story of Clarence Thomas's "gifts" from billionaire Harlan Crow and others? Maybe you should be a bit more specific.
Please provide me with a suitable description for how average Americans are being led to believe that Biden is on his death bed, is destroying America and Convict Trump is the Savior and IтАЩll use that
Corporate MSM. Media Matters and ProPublica are not that.
Exactly my point. "The press" needs a qualifier like "corporate" or "mainstream" to clarify what's meant.
Susanna, Hmm, The Corporate Press? ThatтАЩs the qualifier that distinguishes the legit from the crumb bums?
What qualifies (for instance) Pro Publica as тАЬnonтАЭ MSM?
Should I just specifically name every guilty press orgs in every post, or did you surmise what I meant ahead of time?
ProPublica is funded entirely by donations. It is not owned by conservative billionaires.
Mary. Yes I know. I contribute. I used them on ourpose
Please be more careful with your blanket statements.
Hmmm, I shall, however using your suggestion doesnтАЩt seem too descriptive in the face of your critique
Whoa now -- you unfairly conflate *some* media outlets with a wide and deep news industry that is doing nothing close to what you suggest.
No newspapers, news sites or broadcasters that I see are treating Trump as a savior. None. Not a single one.
But they are NOT treating him as the dangerous criminal, a guy ON BAIL, who has promised to be a dictator on day one and was just handed the power to be just that by SCOTUS. They are NOT doing their job in their role in a democracy to inform citizens accurately so that we can then act and vote in accordance with that information.
I respectfully disagree, Joy. We clearly read and watch different media, a category that includes Substack.
I do agree with Joyce that journalists and citizens should learn and talk more about Project 2025. We're in this together.
Apples and oranges. Yes, Substack and the news media both qualify as "media," but the differences are major. Substack comprises many voices, some with a vast number of subscribers, others with very few. The reach of the corporate news outlets -- print, cable, web, TV -- dwarfs that of Substack and even Twitter in the pre-Musk days. I have yet to see any Substack column being piped in to a doctor's office or bar.
Good point. On my last visit to an Emergency Department Fox was blaring from a large screen TV. A well known BBQ chain airs FOX and Newsmax and plays the Star Spangled Banner once an hour so that patrons have to stop, stand, and sing during their meal.
I don't see The Bullwark or Meidas Touch playing in any bars or restaraunts.
Substack has become a commentary website that qualifies as social media, It is not true journalism.
SCOTUS has become an arm of the right wing. The Presidential Immunity decision just topped the "wedding cake" of bad decisions they have made.
Yes, I read and hear lots of great info on Substack about that, but it's not getting the hard hitting front page reporting from main stream media that this whole oligarch created anti-democracy movement deserves.
Trumpism is being normalized in the media like some commentary on a reality TV show, instead of being boldly exposed.
The Republicans had Victor Orban as a keynote speaker for Christ's sakes!
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/new-york-times-editorial-on-trump?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7ygy0
Joy. Brava
Alan, are they treating him as a convicted, dangerous pariah as he is?
Not universally or as often and forcefully as I'd also like. News reporters and editors still adhere to the traditional model of striving for balance and neutrality ("the voice from nowehere," as NYU journalism Professor Jay Rosen derides it) and forcus too much on the "horse trace" rather than the stakes . . .
. . . But I'm heartened by sharp-edged editoria;s such as The New York Times' today (July 11), headlined "Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead" [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/11/opinion/editorials/donald-trump-2024-unfit.html]. Excerpts:
"Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the countryтАЩs future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him. . . .
"We urge voters to see the dangers of a second Trump term clearly and to reject it. The stakes and significance of the presidency demand a person who has essential qualities and values to earn our trust, and on each one, Donald Trump fails."
"Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency."
thing of it is... he showed this in 2016. And got elected anyway.
The gop/tea party has been building this effort since the Reagan era. They've had 40+ years to infiltrate school boards, city offices, state offices, federal offices, all the way up to the supreme court. They have also infiltrated the media, not only with Faux News, but even the NYT and WaPo have 'journalists' in their newsrooms skewing the narrative.
Honestly people, this is a mountain we are hoping to dismantle. I agree that we must do it. But I don't think this one election will fix the whole mess. This has to be an ongoing effort. We need to dedicate the next 40 years to getting back what we've lost in the last 40.
Baby steps!?
Then thete's this ctitique of the NYT article:
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/new-york-times-editorial-on-trump?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7ygy0
Fox? WSJ? Newsmax? New York Post?
Fox News.
An extreme outlier preaching pure propaganda solely to MAGA acolytes. Not part of mainstream media in the respected or legitimate sense, as widely defined.
That's why my comment is qualified with "that I see." ["No newspapers, news sites or broadcasters that I see are treating Trump as a savior."]
with MSM, look at who owns the publication.
Well said. There is a press out there,but it is harder to find. NYT (among others) seems to have suddenly fallen toward the right, ignoring the chasm that Trump, Leonard, SCOTUS, et al is pushing democracy into.
The Foxification of "news" is driving the narrative, and much of America has been lulled into a zombie like trance of blind acceptance.
We have a few short months to ring the warning bells. No time for rest or room for division in this mission.
and it is also becoming social media. FB is using an "independent fact checker" that is removing posts about project 2025. Robert Reich posted and image about what project 2025 would do and many reported their re-posts (including me) removed for "disinformation". also a lot of right wing posts about how comments about the billionaires are paying their fair share and it is wrong to want to increase their tax rate. Robert Reich also had a tic tok video removed.
So much for responsibility on the part of social mediaтАж This makes me glad that I got permanently off facebook, and am on no other media platforms.
Dave, the sad part of the press is that they have sold their souls and continue to spread the lies by not reporting the truth.
Who are "they" or "the press"? You accuse much to broadly for it to be meaningful.
Democracy vs Project 2025/Main Stream Media/SCOTUS
Oh come on now, please. There is no 'The Press' -- there are hundreds of newspapers, news sites and broadcasters with varied coverage of the presidential race.
Yes, some seem unduly focused on Biden's fitnesss and a few -- a few -- suggest in editorials that his candidacy should end. A vast majority of others cover the legit questions raised by the debate in a balanced, fair way.
Where are the comments about Trump lying continuously and talking gibberish at his rallies? He's getting a free pass by mainstream news media. Biden's issues are now more flashy so let's destroy democracy by not comparing him to a felon.
I see and hear examples regularly, Ruth, even though I try to avoid coverage solely about Trump. His nonsense in June and again recently about shark attack risks from electric boats sinking because of heavy batteries was reported and ridiculed widely.
In The New York Times today, columnist John McWhorter writes about what he calls Biden's "lack of elocution тАФ which Donald Trump is also quite given to."
In The Washington Post on June 24, longtime columnist Eugene Robinson wrote: "Equally alarming is his disordered, elliptical syntax. Sentences take off in one direction and change course midflight. Pronouns lack antecedents. . . .
"Repeatedly telling a nonsensical story, and in a chopped salad of words, is different тАФ and hair-raising when the speaker is a candidate for president."
[source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/24/trump-rally-sharks-media-electrocution/]
Since 'the debate' they've been quiet about Trump for the most part. Yes, NYT wrote about Trump being wholy unqualified, but they've mostly been very quiet. They're enjoying the Biden fiasco, knowing that this could put Trump back in the Whitehouse. They could write and talk about Trump as much as they're doing about Biden, but that's old news. This is more fun for them.
I get why it appears that way, but don't believe "enjoying" and "more fun" underlie the coverage focus.
Trump's defects and dangers are well-known, so less compelling to rehash/focus on anew than the relative suprirse of Biden's seemingly sudden and sharp decline. His personal crisis and the party's, as well as potentially the country's, are far more newsworthy than "Trump is still unaware and crazy" updates.
The first three letters of news drive the over-coverage, which I'm not defending.
That's fine for those who actually pay attention but the election will be won by those who can't tell the difference between Biden or any other Democrat and Trump. I don't understand how that's possible, but it is.
Alan, a few? Listening to Sirrius POTUS channel right now. Its all about тАЬI canтАЩt believe Biden hasnтАЩt dropped out yetтАЭ. Nothing on crimal Trump
In the current environment - of course that is exactly what would happen!
Would sending out massive amounts of Project 2025 postcards help?
As a veteran postcarder, I think that such postcards would have to be targeted to particular audiences, as Joyce's Substack demonstrates. Postcards are effective in informing voters about specific issues like candidates' positions, registration deadlines, etc. Project 2025 is big and sprawling. Hard to explain on a postcard (1) what it is, and (2) why they should care about it.
But as my comment below suggests we need to develop more mass education materials, in accessible bite-sized pieces.
Stories about people. Brief stories, like the one Joyce put in her essay about the guy with a daughter.
Steve, yes, stories are powerful, particularly if you have one that relates directly to the people you are talking with. I would like to hear someone interviewed who helped develop the plan and maybe reps from some of those 100 organizations that endorse it to see what they were thinking, who put them up to it, how much they were paid to essentially betray their country, you know, the usual stuff one would ask a saboteur of democracy. I know their answer would be bull**it, but it would be interesting to hear their cookie-cutter answers which will make no sense to any thinking person, but will sound just great to them, guys who are so addicted to power and money they can hardly function without hurting someone.
OMG, yes! Has anything like this been done? If not, why not? A top question would have to be "How do you reconcile Project 2025 with the U.S. Constitution?"
By lying about its content.
Barb McQuaid does a great job in her book "Attack from Within" describing mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MSM), and how it operates. If you ask the question proposed, they would try to dismiss your question and denigrate the source.of the query.
Its a deplorable debate tactic, but anyone involved with the plan will provide a sales pitch not a substantive answer.
They are hardened in wickedness.
I was just looking on Amazon and there are many books and even t-shirts presenting a pro-Project 2025 point of view, if you can believe that. I was horrified.
At this point, after reading P2025, the depth of depravity to which people will descend is appalling. Whether in support of the lies in the manifesto, or in efforts capitalize on it.
Absolutely agree.
Candor shouldn't be expected of anyone involved in the development of the plan, beyond admitting they authored parts of it.
I agree. The document is too long and sprawling to discuss competently. Each chapter needs to be condensed and personalized so folks will understand how it affects them personally, and not just as some existential threat. Like a page or two per chapter.
The problem with such condensing P2025 into smaller pieces is its complexity.
I found it easy, but tedious, to eliminate the grievances which form the basis of the need for change argument. However in so doing one eliminates any context which may be needed to understand a given change.
The sheer volume of text even without the grievances is daunting. I struggled over what was necessary to illustrate the extreme nature of the change .
Quite frankly it simply is too extensive. Every proposed change included in the plan is significant enough to sound an alarm.
I am not a professional editor. I wanted to produce what you describe but found it much more difficult than imagined. Looking back, the idea I had of producing a summary, was not something of which was capable. So I changed course.
What I tried to do was extract ideas from the plan then edit those ideas with an eye to retaining their meaning., and not provide any opinion. I wanted the plan's words to be give folks the freedom to form their opinion.
The result was a ham-handed attempt in pursuit of a noble goal.
I am heartened to see P2025 being discussed widely at this point.
I no longer feel like a lone voice yelling into a hurricane.
Field Team 6 has a new postcard script about Project 2025. I have been using it all week. I like it but see what you think:
"Americans expect freedom and safety. But if elected, convicted felon Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans will enact a terrifying plan called Project 2025 that will take away our freedoms, ban abortion, contraception and IVF, and destroy our planet. Fight back! Register at Voterizer.org and elect Democrats, who are the only party standing between us and this unAmerican future."
Hi Paula,
That's an impressive website got set up. very cool.
Public interest in Project 2025 is rising.
Turns out my above described ham-handed series did produce one post of value. While reading the plan I made a glossary of acronyms after being overwhelmed in the first 80 pages. I had to publish it as a post to get a URL to hyperlink to it for my posts, to let a non-subscriber use it. I'm an educator, of course this is a tool for learning, I could have myself a lot of time.
When I posted it April 6, it up it went to 13 people. Through the substack community restacking it 16 times, now I have subscribers in 31 states who are using it to read the plan for themselves. It has been viewed over 900 times in 3 days.
The professional journalists and legal analysts have undertaken series.
here's a couple of links to circulate, if you'd like. Share them with Field Team 6, let them know things are working.
https://ki6mnk.substack.com/p/project-2025-glossary-of-acronyms
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/project-2025-heritage-foundation-trump
Hi Sharon,
my original response to your question is below.
Now 3 days later, I have a better answer for you.
Hat's off to the folks who produced this.
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/project-2025-heritage-foundation-trump
Concerning mass-education, I can give you an update. This is part of a response somewhere farther down thread:
The problem with such condensing P2025 into smaller pieces is its complexity.
I found it easy, but tedious, to eliminate the grievances which form the basis of the need for change argument. However in so doing one eliminates any context which may be needed to understand a given change.
The sheer volume of text even without the grievances is daunting. I struggled over what was necessary to illustrate the extreme nature of the change .
Quite frankly it simply is too extensive. Every proposed change included in the plan is significant enough to sound an alarm.
I am not a professional editor. I wanted to produce what you describe but found it much more difficult than imagined. Looking back, the idea I had of producing a summary, was not something of which was capable. So I changed course.
What I tried to do was extract ideas from the plan then edit those ideas with an eye to retaining their meaning., and not provide any opinion. I wanted the plan's words to be give folks the freedom to form their opinion.
The result was a ham-handed attempt in pursuit of a noble goal.
Except for this one post:
I made a glossary of acronyms used in Project 2025.
When I posted it April 6, it up it went out to 13 people. Through the substack community restacking it 16 times, It has been viewed over 900 times in the last three days in at least 31 states. It's helping people read it themselves in 31 states that I know of. Here's a link to share if you'd like.
https://ki6mnk.substack.com/p/project-2025-glossary-of-acronyms
Go to David PepperтАЩs Substack, тАЬPepperspectivesтАЭ (I think thatтАЩs correct). HeтАЩs writing a novel about P2025, and has so far released 4 chapters, all absolutely chilling! Read and then share each one separately, so as not to overwhelm those you share with. IтАЩm finding this to be quite effective.
I just mention 1) womenтАЩs rights to healthcare, 2) they want to abolish Medicare and Medicaid, 3) they want to get rid of the CDC and the NIH. Those 3 usually wind up in what else does the GOP want to get rid of. Conversation ensues!
I think we need Billboard rather than post cards that just get the circular file.
This is an intersting idea. I am trying to get my congressman to write a summary to put into each newspaper within his constituency . I like it referred to as a document of terror. Nice ring LinMarie.
Thanks, Anne; just describing the first wave of my response when reading any portion of the MAGA Manifesto.
I've also been thinking about Project 2025 postcards. Besides mailing them, I'd like to have a postcard reminder of the bullet points to reference in conversation. This person has made a list that would fit on a postcard--or half the list on different cards. Anyone able to make it happen? If so, I have a few avenues of amplification, and you can email me at heathersherd@gmail.com.
https://www.threads.net/@ericbadofsky/post/C9QRwU2yz48/?xmt=AQGzeXqvTKcQw_v3FodaLmVsQ7n3AtizutHM18W9u8xeKA
Project 2025 is just the structure.
Consider just one group:. people on SSI, their friends, family, caregivers, social workers, and especially their lawyers. As of 2023, 67,076,966 Americans received SSI. IтАЩm sure more do now. As president, Trump tried and failed to cut benefits drastically. Some Republicans wanted to replace the entire system. See. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Trump, House Republican Cuts to SSI Would Harm Children With Disabilities, Sept. 18, 2017, Kathleen Romig and Guillermo Herrera. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/trump-house-republican-cuts-to-ssi-would-harm-children-with-disabilities
тАЬThe Trump proposal would cut SSI by more than $8 billion over the next decade, shrinking benefits for roughly a quarter of a million children with disabilities by between 38 and 66 percent. It would also increase SSIтАЩs administrative costs and improper paymentsтАЭ.
Some Republicans have threatened to kill it. Demean beneficiaries as тАЬtakers.тАЭ
Yet some SSI recipients are registered Republican!
It's ironic that some on SSI slit their own throats.
Every dime an SSI beneficiary gets is spent and proves that John Maynard Keynes was right -- causing a positive ripple effect. тАЬDemand creates its own supply.тАЭ
Those benefits go into the hands of practically every business.
I've been asking DNC data to identify MAGATs on SSI and their caregivers to alert them that they are committing suicide.
Any good t-shirts out there re Project 2025?
I looked this morning for Project 2025 tshirts and didnтАЩt find any. How about a shirt with the Civil Discourse logo and Something like Vote for Democracy. Stop Project 2025.
It needs to have chickens, too.
Thank you Ellie for this vital link. I may have an opportunity to share tomorrow.
Does Project 2025 also propose cuts to SSI?
Oh, yeah.
Or billboards.
I think that's a great idea. I'm writing what feels like an endless stream of postcards to encourage people in Georgia to vote -- I think the 2025 info mailing is a great idea.
Not Postcards! One of the Most Dangerous confrontations I had with MAGA Violence followed a handwritten Dem postcard (postmark in CA) to my (GA) mailbox about standing up for women, in early 2017. MAGA's "Biblical Patriarchy" (like Bannon fancies himself) intercepts mail; in regard to mail they don't like, e.g. voting, they make sure injuries are severe enough that we miss voting. (This Danger is common; the African American community has warned us since the Voting Rights Act(s), a *legal right* is not a *right in reality*; and since the 1970s, has impacted those of us who continue to nonviolently stand for human & civil rights. FYI: Project 2025's "Mandate" was actually written in 1981 for Reagan; GOP started institutionalizing it (I saw it, I & Others have been injured repeatedly under its "authority" operating here in GA). It was only "Updated" in 2023 for 2025. Take it seriously. And No Postcards. "Relationship influence" ("pay-it-forward" with ideas, is the most effective organizing method; despite the Biblical Patriarchy, we turned GA purple, even blue in some previously stronghold-red suburbs).
seriously?? This is really scary. This implies corruption within the PO. Good god almighty.
This is so frightening, and I never knew about it. Thank you!
It sure as heck wouldnтАЩt hurt! Getting the word out any way you can is what must happen. Every store I go into in my small town, I ask if everyone is registered to vote and if not, I have a bunch of registration forms from our Board of Elections to hand out and even leave a few in the event someone wants to get their spouse or older (eligible!) son or daughter. ItтАЩs surprising how many folks arenтАЩt registered! I also have a sheet printed with how to find Project 2025 from those who havenтАЩt a clue about it!
It canтАЩt hurt!
PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT TO Nancy Pelosi, loud and clear. She is gumming up he works and needs to stand SOLIDLY behind Joe Biden.
What the hellis going on??
Unerstand?!??!
I think it is more the mediaтАЩs deliberate misinterpretation of PelosiтАЩs words that is gumming up the works right now. As is their fashion of late. Do they not understand that Project 2025 is coming for them too.
The corporate media barons are unashamedly pro MAGA. The promise of further deregulation and lower taxes translates into higher personal profits for them. They are not in the media business to inform people but to fleece them. Most of their employees are freelance and their livelihoods depend upon following the company line. Their greed obsessed higher management do not care what happens to their serfs under Project 2025 and have neither the historical education or the imagination to enable them to understand what is in store for them and their families under a Christo fascist Trump led autocracy.
I don't agree that the Times and the Post are pro MAGA -- can you please give specific examples?
The substacks of Jeff Tiedrich, Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson and TC in LA and their well informed commenters are a few folk that are highly recommended for you to fulfil your request for immaculately sourced specific examples.
Thank you. I read all of those. I will read more closely for specific examples.
I am saddened by her lukewarm comments about Biden this morning. It may well be that he withdraws, but if so, he should go out in glory,--not pushed out.
Watch Heather Cox Richardson on Monday, July 15, at 7:00 pm. This is sponsored by Red, Wine and Blue. Sign up on the website. Be informed about what we face as a country if Trump is elected. There is no doubt that this Republican platform goes against everything we stand for in this country. Think about how this could impact you and members of your family personally.
Another opportunity to listen to HCR is Al Franken's podcast of july 7th. https://www.alfranken.com/listen She's very interesting on the "debate" too.
THANK YOU! I just did. I'll be there listening with my glass of wine and my knitting.
I wonтАЩt have knitting, but I
WILL have my wine! Thanks, Alicia!
Then itтАЩs people who must organize- bottom up, strategically, and with concrete actions. We canтАЩs expect the media to do this.
If trump and Project 2025 win, NO ONE, and I do mean NO ONE will be safe. They will turn America into scorched earth. Remember how well fascism and Hitler worked out for Germany and the world?
This is LIFE of our Democracy or DEATH. Pretty black and white as I see it. Too bad more people don't.
I can't recall how I first heard of Project 2025, but I knew I had to read the whole thing to understand it in context. Skipping content in math, inevitably demands that one read the missed content.
Honestly, I didn't want to fill my head with the garbage I suspected it would contain. Recognizing my reluctance, I was compelled to read the entire plan. I spent a lot of time reading Thoreau to rehab my brain afterwards.
It's easy to describe in broad strokes: The plan will destroy our government. This doesn't convey its severity, or the urgency of action needed to reject it.
The detailed nature of the plan is perhaps something one can use to convince others to investigate.
If I had to select one thing that would capture the attention of someone it would be the preparation and execution of the plan.
With the experience of 2020 upon which to draw, Project 2025 has been designed for rapid deployment. When the plan refers to Day one implementation, the natural question is: What can be changed in a day? My answer: The complete, systematic elimination of anything that could stultify their coup.
With executive orders in hand, replacements can enter the offices of all key positions, and within minutes be installed in that position. The plan will allow positions to be filled with replacements holding "Acting" status immediately and furthermore imbues them with all the authority of that position.
This solves two problems viz. Avoiding the possibility of delays by senate confirmation requirements or any vetting process of the replacements. and, The replacements will have complete authority over that positions policy decisions.
They could literally control all government policy so quickly, that by the time you realize what's happening, it's already in place..
The entire government is gone and executive orders have been issued to make what they've done legal. Hitler did this in his rise to power.
Is that scary enough? If not, read the plan.
We could wake up to a new, and very different, reality on Day 2.
I don't usually present this doomsday aspect. Subscribers here, however, who need incentive, may be spurred to action with this approach..
I am heartened to see the elevation of Project 2025, by sources with a wider reach than mine.
Exactly. This isnтАЩt a popularity contest or game show.
N Johnson: This is about the most concise and incisive statements yet on the reality of America and the world today!
Thank you, N. Johnson!