A storm is brewing. If Trump and the Republicans win in November our Democracy will be swept away. Every day a different freedom will be rationalized away, an existing norm will be dispatched, a new grift will appear, or another friend or relative will be marginalized (or worse). Every day, we’ll think the storm will calm, but it will only intensify. All aspects of life in America, and the world, will fundamentally and permanently change for the worse – even for those who voted for Trump and the Republicans. Nobody will be safe.

Creating widespread awareness of the hellscape that will come with a Trump win is critical if we are to protect Democracy. Democrats and mainstream media have made it clear we cannot rely on them to do this for us, so it’s up to us. We must talk to our friends and family – we owe it to them. Talking politics can no longer be taboo. We must push back against those who say “I don’t talk politics” – we’re well past that.

It’s critically important that we understand these threats and communicate them to everyone and anyone we know. We need to start talking. Focus your energy on all the disengaged, third-party, young adult, and protest voters in your life. Also, talk with reliable Democratic voters so they can help spread the word.  You could talk with some Trump and Republican voters, but this would not be the best use of your time. Regardless of who you talk with, prioritize those who live in purple/swing areas – this will make the biggest difference. 

Below are some things we all need to be talking about. Social media should certainly be used, but that tends to be an echo chamber so don’t rely on it – we must also talk with each other. These conversations can take some time so start now…

The Threats

Project 2025 – The scariest thing everyone needs to know about is Project 2025. It’s a detailed, nearly 1000-page plan for a “government in waiting” created by the Heritage Foundation and other far-right conservative “think tanks” and political organizations. The authors, many from Trump’s first administration, understand what Trump is willing to do to America and they have a to-do list for him. He’s well aware of the plan and will implement what they’ve been working toward for years – the shitcanning of our Democracy. Here are some of the basics of Project 2025:

• It replaces our Constitutional government with a vice that will squeeze us with the ideologies and agendas of authoritarians, corporate America, and Christian nationalists.
• It turns the President into a king with direct control over Congress, the courts, and agencies such as the Dept. of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the  Federal Communication Commission.
• It replaces tens of thousands of experienced non-partisan government employees with extremist loyalists (they’re already accepting applications)
• It further deregulates corporate America so they can take more of our money, poison more of our food, and make our planet burn faster. 
• It privatizes government services, making them for-profit, not for people, so you can pay more and get less and lose things altogether (including public education and environmental protection)
• Most of the language of Project 2025 is wrapped openly and brazenly with Christian Nationalist ideology…

Throughout Project 2025 are policies and words that would please MAGA: mass deportations, concentration camps, anti-LGBTQ, marginalizing religious and racial minorities, etc. The foreword alone attacks “woke” (a fictitious concept) sixteen times.

On the other hand, there are plenty of elements that will make life miserable for everyone, including MAGA supporters, such as the evisceration of veterans’ benefits, Social Security, and contraception options.

Anyone with kids or grandkids would want to know that Project 2025 calls for mandatory military testing for students in publicly funded high schools, giving an out to wealthy private school kids (Section 2-4 page 102).

Women and all those who care about them should know that Project 2025 does away with “no-fault” divorce, specifies a national total ban on abortion, and reduces sex discrimination laws. As an indication of the mindset of the folks behind Project 2025, here is a Tweet from the Heritage Foundation preparing us to be a “breeder nation”:

Conservatives have to lead the way in restoring sex to its true purpose, & ending recreational sex & senseless use of birth control pills. 

If you plan on never being sick then you don’t need to worry that “faith” is mentioned ten times in their plans for the Department of Health and Human Services (that should scare the crap of all but the most religious of us). 

On page 13 of the Project 2025 Foreword we see Christian Nationalists twisting the constitution into a Christian mandate of how we “ought” to behave – are you Christian enough for them? 

“When the Founders spoke of “pursuit of Happiness,” what they meant might be understood today as in essence “pursuit of Blessedness.” That is, an individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained—to flourish. Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought. This pursuit of the good life is found primarily in family—marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners, and the like. “

If you’re not worried about climate change then don’t worry about Section 2-9 page 263 which reframes climate science as the “woke idea” of “climate extremism” – as if woke is a thing and climate change is not.

While much of what they want to do is unconstitutional, we have already seen how little regard Republicans and, more importantly, SCOTUS have for the Constitution – both of whom were put in place by the very folks who funded and authored Project 2025. Trump will give them what they want and when he’s gone, MAGA and everyone else will be stuck with whatever’s left.

These “think tanks” and political organizations are much more powerful than we realize and they have a long history of quietly ruining the lives of Americans and weakening democracy. A short list includes trickle-down economics, the health benefits of tobacco, climate change, climate denial, enabling corruption, rigging the courts to favor industry, and deregulation (think the 2008 housing crisis for one example).

Their goal isn’t just to transform our government at the top, they are right now actively attacking local governments in our backyards.

The Supreme Court – Conservative members of SCOTUS have gone rogue and they’re not hiding it. They are taking away our rights while giving more rights to billionaires, corporate America, and religious interests. They wrap their malicious decisions with feigned serious debates that invent legal doctrine and ignore precedence and laws. 

Their consistent shifting of legislative lawmaking from the federal to the state level (think abortion and gun control) actually allows religious extremists and corporatists to make their desires national. This is because it’s easier to convince, bribe, and extort state officials one state at a time – it just takes a little longer.

This year alone SCOTUS allowed industries to sidestep the expertise and regulatory power of federal agencies (EPA, OSHA, etc.), created even more corruption by legalizing the “tipping” of government officials to show gratitude, and have given presidents immunity, making them kings. 

SCOTUS has been a long play for corporatists since the early 1970s and they have been quietly grooming and guiding their Justices into position. Justices Roberts, Thomas, and Alito were in place well before Trump showed up, yet they’re more than happy to hand our country over to our plutocrats. Each of the conservative justices, and in some cases their spouses as well, are taking massive bribes, favors,  gifts, or are otherwise profiting from their SCOTUS connections.

Thanks to conservative Supreme Court justices, Project 2025 is already well underway.

Religion – Autocrats, plutocrats, and theocrats make strange bedfellows but they’re working flawlessly together as they hijack Christianity, not to help us find salvation, but to cultivate our approval of their destruction of Democracy.

Theocrats don’t care about Trump’s behavior – he’s their path to toss the Constitution and create a society where laws and policies are based on their interpretation of Christian doctrine. Trump and his autocrats don’t respect theocrats but they’re happy to use them to regain power. Plutocrats don’t care (though some do) about either as long as we are herded to where corporations and the wealthy control our government and lives.

Christianity is complicated stuff and it is quite easy for religious extremists to capture us by twisting the word of God. They’re rewriting American history, especially the separation of church and state, and claiming a historical mandate to rule society with non-negotiable Christian dogma.

Religion can have a deep psychological influence over many of us, giving us a sense of belonging, a feeling of being part of something bigger than us, and even giving us eternal life. When evildoers can reframe their agenda as a holy crusade while convincing the faithful that their religion (and therefore their salvation) is under attack many of us will start accepting the atrocities that some of us will be committing.

All Americans, especially those who aren’t Christian or “Christian enough”, need to understand the very real danger these groups represent:

• Christian Nationalists
• Evangelicals
• The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and their Seven Mountains Mandate

Putin’s puppets – Trump’s relationship with Russia is deep and goes back further than he probably even knows, with the KGB spending the last forty years grooming him as an asset – time and money well spent.  There are countless ties between Vladimir Putin and Trump, his family, his businesses, and his thugs Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, and others.

Control rolls downhill and Trump’s control over the GOP allows Putin’s influence to extend deep into the Republican party. Even without Trump, there are plenty of  financial ties between Russia and elected Republicans  – even the guy who’s second in line to the White House.

Putin’s control over Trump and the GOP could not be clearer as they continue to repeat his propaganda (even after warnings from the DOJ), based Biden’s impeachment on statements from a Russian asset, and bent over backward to delay Ukraine funding by months.

Putin also owns many of us. He, with plenty of help from conservative media, has been waging psychological warfare on us for years while simultaneously exploiting Trump’s ego, high-tech greed, and conservatives’ power lust. Putin is winning and the “Law and Order” is helping him. If he gets his way again, we’ll soon be putting a national security threat back in the White House.

Smart money is on the former KGB agent.

The bottom line is that Trump and most Republicans have sold out to Putin and the plutocrats.

Climate Change

Folks need to be reminded that while humanity is going insane the planet is still melting. Any progress that is being made to slow climate change will be stopped by Trump and the GOP. Project 2025 goes hard against the EPA and NOAA and any efforts to slow climate change efforts, which they call “climate fanaticism“. Trump himself is working out a deal with Big Oil to sell out the planet and humanity, by promising to gut climate regulations and give them additional tax breaks in exchange for a paltry one billion dollars.

Climate change is more than hot summers, massive fires, and extreme weather. It’s fundamentally changing the underlying systems that make this planet livable. The spread of bacteria, viruses, pests, and diseases due to warmer air will not mix well with a Trump government that replaces science and experts with grifting and loyalists. 

Meanwhile, Conservative media continues to mislead their audience, attacking science and climate policies, creating doubt about climate change and renewable energy, and benefitting billionaires. The steady flow of disinformation is expected from conservative media, but lying about the survivability of the planet goes too far. Maybe it’s time we all stop tolerating conservative lies. 

Folks need to be reminded that climate change is real and it’s nowhere near being cyclical and it is accelerating as many are led to believe. Voting for the Democrats is the only way to save the planet.

The Bottom Line

If you aren’t in the 0.1% then you aren’t Christian enough, male enough, wealthy enough, healthy enough, or, most importantly, MAGA enough to escape Project 2025 and everything else that comes with a Trump win in November.