Resisting Project 2025 in 2025
Government workers are organizing to protect our democracy from MAGA Christofascism
My Fellow Democracy Defenders,
Happy New Year! We will not allow Project 2025 to usher in Chistofascism in America.
Take heart. Government workers like me have been preparing to resist the orange menace. While he and his muskrat owner have been squabbling over the past few weeks, we were getting ready. We will undermine Trump’s agenda every step of the way, just like we did during his first term. Our unions, tactics, and determination are strong. I cannot share more details, but keep an eye for all kinds of lawsuits. Impeachable offenses have already been committed. The MAGAts won’t know what hit them!
REMINDER: I am a government worker writing anonymously because I fear retribution. Your support will give me courage to speak truth to power. If I lose my civil service career because of Trump’s fascism and DOGE, any income from Substack will help me support my partner, our children, and our adorable cats.
Here are all the ways Project 2025 is a threat to our sacred democracy:
1. Centralization of Presidential Power
Project 2025 emphasizes expanding the executive branch's power by reducing the independence of federal agencies. It proposes replacing career civil servants with political appointees who align ideologically with the administration. This would undermine the principle of checks and balances by eroding the separation between the executive and the bureaucracy, allowing the president to wield excessive influence over agencies that are supposed to operate independently.
Risk to Democracy: Federal agencies like the Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Federal Election Commission (FEC) are designed to function with a degree of impartiality. Turning them into tools of partisan politics could lead to abuses of power, including the targeting of political opponents and the dismantling of safeguards that protect minority rights and fair elections.
2. Dismantling Established Institutions
Project 2025 calls for a radical restructuring of federal agencies, including the potential elimination of departments that conservatives view as unnecessary or overreaching. For example, it targets the EPA and the Department of Education for downsizing or elimination. These moves could weaken the government's ability to address key issues like climate change, education equity, and public health.
Risk to Democracy: By dismantling or weakening institutions that provide oversight and public services, the government could lose its capacity to respond effectively to societal needs, disproportionately harming marginalized communities and undermining public trust in democratic institutions.
3. Politicization of the Civil Service
One of the project's primary goals is to overhaul the federal civil service system, making it easier to fire career public servants and replace them with loyalists. This aligns with ideas like the "Schedule F" executive order proposed during the Trump administration, which would reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers as at-will employees.
Risk to Democracy: The civil service is designed to be nonpartisan, ensuring that government functions remain stable and fair regardless of which party is in power. Politicizing it could lead to a purge of experienced professionals and the installation of partisan actors, eroding public confidence in the neutrality and competence of federal agencies.
4. Threats to Free and Fair Elections
Project 2025 includes proposals that could affect voting rights and election administration. It supports tighter voting restrictions, such as voter ID laws and purging voter rolls, which disproportionately harm minority, low-income, and young voters. These measures are often justified as preventing voter fraud, despite evidence that voter fraud is exceedingly rare.
Risk to Democracy: Restrictive voting laws and partisan election oversight could suppress voter turnout and undermine the integrity of elections, skewing results in favor of one party and disenfranchising significant portions of the electorate.
5. Rollback of Environmental Protections
The project explicitly targets environmental regulations, including those designed to combat climate change. By reducing the power of the EPA and other agencies, it seeks to prioritize short-term economic gains over long-term climate goals.
Risk to Democracy: Ignoring or undermining public demand for climate action, especially when a majority of Americans express concern about environmental issues, reflects a disconnect between government policies and the will of the people. This could exacerbate feelings of disenfranchisement and disillusionment with democratic processes.
6. Marginalization of Minority Rights
Project 2025 includes policies that align with socially conservative views, such as restricting LGBTQ+ rights and limiting access to abortion. These policies threaten the civil liberties of marginalized groups by prioritizing the beliefs of a specific ideological faction over individual freedoms.
Risk to Democracy: A healthy democracy protects the rights of all citizens, including minorities. Policies that marginalize specific groups undermine the democratic principle of equality and can create a climate of division and resentment.
7. Potential for Authoritarian Governance
The project's emphasis on consolidating power within the executive branch, weakening independent oversight, and politicizing the civil service paves the way for authoritarian governance if implemented. By concentrating power and undermining institutional safeguards, the plan could erode the democratic norms that prevent abuses of power.
Risk to Democracy: Democratic systems rely on a balance of power and respect for institutional checks. Undermining these norms increases the risk of authoritarianism, where dissent is suppressed, and power is concentrated in the hands of a few.
While Project 2025 is framed as a roadmap for implementing conservative policies, critics argue that its proposals could undermine democratic institutions, weaken the rule of law, and erode trust in government. By concentrating power in the executive branch, politicizing the civil service, and targeting independent agencies, the plan could fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. government, threatening the democratic principles of accountability, equality, and representation.
Andra Watkins is a brave expert on Project 2025:
Alexander Vindman is a hero for whistleblowing treasonous activity and many government workers like me will be seeking to replicate his bravery:
Thank you for reminding me that we (collectively) are not helpless in this and that civil servants have agency. I would venture to guess that there are more of you than of them. You know your jobs, your departments - they don't. I don't think it will be as easy as they believe it will. For our part, those of us supporting democracy must stay vigilant and make ourselves heard. This is no time for complacency.
I am going to keep praying for blessings to come out of all this mess the unworthy 🤡 has created. Prayer works and changes things. I wish you well. God bless you.