One of the biggest surprises since President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory over Vice President Kamala Harris has been the absence of liberals warning voters, without evidence, that “he is a threat to our democracy.” The empty phrase had been a mantra for Democratic politicians and pundits throughout the election cycle, something they felt compelled to say before they could move on.
Once ubiquitous, after Trump was declared the winner, that talking point went the way of the Harris campaign’s joy and good vibes. Even former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who once allegedly told Washington Post writer Bob Woodward that Trump was a “fascist” and “the most dangerous person to this country,” said “America’s going to be okay.”
But the Left always has to vilify Trump for something, and it appears they have found it. Right on cue, here comes their nineteenth nervous breakdown.
The legacy media, in unison, is promoting the narrative that “Trump lied” during his campaign when he distanced himself from Project 2025, an initiative coordinated by The Heritage Foundation (the largest conservative think tank in America).
In a July post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I know nothing about Project 2025. … I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
The creators of Project 2025 describe it as “a historic movement, brought together by over 100 respected organizations from across the conservative movement, to take down the Deep State and return the government to the people. Its Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, published in April 2023, is a product of more than 400 scholars and policy experts from around the country.”
Conversely, the ACLU sees it as a “roadmap for how to replace the rule of law with ring-wing [sic: right-wing] ideals.” The initiative “threatens to erode our civil rights and civil liberties during a second Trump term.”
Several of Trump’s nominees and appointees were indeed involved with Project 2025. But it was Trump’s choice of Russell Vought for Director of the Office of Management and Budget on Friday that had Democrats frothing at the mouth. In Trump’s announcement, he noted that Vought had served in this role during his first term and “he did an excellent job.” Touting Vought’s previous service, Trump said, “We cut four Regulations for every new Regulation.”
But Democrats don’t care that Vought focused on reducing the federal government’s role in U.S. businesses. In fact, they like government oversight.
They are melting down because Vought authored a chapter in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership.” As previously mentioned, more than 400 individuals collaborated on the final product which was 920-pages long. While it may contain some far right-wing rhetoric, the parts of it that the media have focused on, particularly those relating to abortion, have been taken wildly out of context.
At any rate, the press is seeing red over Trump’s choice of Vought for OMB. The headline in Rolling Stone reads, “Trump is stocking his administration with the people behind Project 2025.” The article notes, “The incoming president is pulling appointees and nominations from the pool of conservatives who worked on the draconian policy project.”
The New York Times calls Vought a “key figure in Project 2025” and reports that he “has spent the last four years making plans to rework the American government to enhance presidential power.”
The Times writes: “Among other things, Mr. Vought helped come up with the idea of having Mr. Trump use emergency power to circumvent Congress’s decision about how much to spend on a border wall.” You may recall then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s flat refusal to allocate funds for a wall in early 2019. She didn’t want to hand Trump a win, and besides, a border wall would have made it too difficult for illegals to enter the country.
The article cites Vought’s recent interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in which he said that Trump “’has to move executively as fast and as aggressively as possible, with a radical constitutional perspective, to be able to dismantle’ the power of federal agencies and civil servants.”
Vought added, “The American people currently are not in control of their government, and the president hasn’t been either. We have to solve the woke and the weaponized bureaucracy and have the president take control of the executive branch.”
I would argue that Trump’s pledge to dismantle the deep state was one of the reasons he won the election. He campaigned on this message. And unlike the legacy media, a majority of voters want Trump to eradicate the systemic corruption that has taken root at the highest echelons of our government agencies.
For her part, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) called Vought “one of the chief architects of Project 2025,” said “He [Trump] lied [when he pretended not to know anything about Project 2025],” and that “It’s crystal clear, this is the blueprint for the coming administration.”
These points were repeated by far-Left Fox News co-host Jessica Tarlov and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
On Saturday, Trump announced his nomination of Brooke Rollins for Secretary of Agriculture. She is the current president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute. The Washington Post was quick to report that the AFPI “has put together proposals for a second Trump term. The institute … was launched in 2021 by a group of Trump administration veterans.”
Next, the Post compares the AFPI to Project 2025:
Like the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, AFPI has sought to provide policy recommendations for the next Republican presidential administration to efficiently stand up an executive branch that will swiftly undo President Joe Biden’s legacy. The organization’s work has comparatively flown under the radar and has not been as publicly scrutinized by Democrats as Project 2025.
Democrats can try as they will to gaslight the public. They’ve been demonizing Trump for the past nine years. And after the debacle of what was essentially former President Barack Obama’s third term, the American people just voted to send Trump back to the White House.
In the meantime, the Democratic Party and its communications team, the legacy media, continue to disgrace themselves. And publishing weak tea like this surely will not restore the public’s trust in them.
[Language Warning Below]
[Headline reference: The Rolling Stones, 19th Nervous Breakdown]
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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