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Project 1925? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-20

Of all the terrible things that the Trump administration is doing, the most puzzling to me has been the defunding of scientific and health research. Not only are the dollar amounts relatively small, but the return on investment is considerable and undeniable. I think that I have discovered the answer.

I called Trump’s first administration a rolling dumpster fire, a clown doing what damage he could within the confines of the Constitution and the governmental system. Our current disaster is more disastrous and much more complicated. Donald Trump is its vacuous and smarmy face. Surrounding him is a gang of incompetent sycophants, and I include Elon Musk in that group. But behind them are some very competent and very evil people. Stephen Miller is the most public of these, but the real evil genius is Russell Vought.

McKay Coppins has just published an article about Vought in the Atlantic. He describes Vought:

Behind all the DOGE pyrotechnics, Vought — who serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget — is working methodically to advance a sophisticated ideological project decades in the making. If Musk is moving fast and breaking things, as the Silicon Valley dictum goes, Vought is taking the shattered pieces of the federal government and reassembling them into a radically new constitutional order.

The remarkable thing is that Vought and his supporters have a manual to follow. That manual, labelled ‘Project 2025’ was published before the 2024 election. Now, commentators are bringing up Project 2025 more and more often, as it becomes clear that the Trump administration is implementing the goals of Project 2025. During the presidential campaign, Project 2025 polled poorly and Trump denied all knowledge. Approximately zero people believed him, so it wasn’t a surprise when the actions of the new administration closely followed the plan outlined in Project 2025.

I have not read Project 2025. I have no desire to plow through 900 pages of racism and misogyny. But I have read excerpts and summaries, so I have a good idea of what it says. The goal of Project 2025 is to roll back the progress of the last century in human rights. This means eliminating the provisions of the New Deal of the 1930’s and ‘40’s and of the voting and civil rights acts of the ‘50’s and 60’s. It also means reversing the social change that inspired and accompanied those government policies.

In 1925, none of those government policies existed and the social change that is so troubling to many of our fellow citizens was barely under way. The provisions of Project 2025 are designed to bring back the United States of 1925. Back then, women were moving into the workplace, but all but a few were in subservient positions such as secretary or telephone operator. Most women were housewives, like it or not. Black and brown people knew their place. The country was ruled by a wealthy elite who knew what was best for everyone. If something needed doing, the free market would get it done. This is the vision of the document and philosophy driving our government today.

So the answer to my opening question is found in Project 1925: anything that the government did not do in 1925, the government should not be doing today. If something is worth doing, the private sector will do it. If the private sector — or private philanthropy — won’t do it, then it doesn’t need to be done, and this includes scientific and medical research. The federal government was not proactive in 1925. Mostly people survived on their own, with some limited state and local support, such as free education and the land grant universities. That is the future that Russel Vought and Donald Trump are preparing for us. Enjoy.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/20/2323515/-Project-1925?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=community_spotlight&pm_medium=web

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