The MAGA Movement Has Become a Problem for Trump

The New York Times ^ | Sept. 22, 2024 | Ezra Klein

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In 2024, the deep state that defeats Donald Trump might be his own.

That, after all, is what Project 2025 was actually meant to be. The 900-page tome that Democrats hoist in front of the cameras is a festival of policy options, detailed down to the sub-agency level. But options for whom? Not for Trump himself. Even the most wonkish of presidents can only engage on a small fraction of what the executive branch does. And Donald Trump was not the most wonkish of presidents. When he said, during his debate with Kamala Harris, that he hadn’t read Project 2025 and has no intention of doing so, I believed him.

But Project 2025 — and much else like it that has gotten less press — is more than a compendium of policy proposals: It is an effort to build a deep state of Trump’s own. The presidency is not one man, Diet Coke in hand, Fox & Friends on TV, barking orders. It’s 4,000-or-so political appointees — nearer to 50,000 if Trump again uses Schedule F powers to strip civil-service protections from vast swaths of the federal government — trying to do what they think the president wants them to do or what they think needs to be done. They do that by setting policy for the more than two million civilian employees of the federal government and by writing regulations that the rest of society must follow.

Veterans of Trump’s administration believe personnel was their biggest problem. They could not act ambitiously or swiftly enough because they were at constant war with the government they, in theory, controlled.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Haitian pet and wildlife eaters have become a problem for Jammie Kammy, right Ezra?

[rlmorel]

I should say-one of my major irritations with it is the fact that it cannot be easily summarized by section (at least with the tools I was using)

You can see in my lengthy post above, I struggled to get even those excerpts into a readable format, and even then, I am not sure it was good enough.

If I had been organizing this, I would have demanded a format, written in a common way, that users could have easily extracted and pulled out. As it was, I gave up.

That said...one Freeper had an excellent idea: Running it through Chat GPT and asking it to summarize it...haven’t tried that yet.

[escapefromboston]

Not only does Kamala have no platform she’s not even running against Trump’s platform.
It’s sad that some Americans will still vote for her

[PCPOET7]

I love how the left thinks there is central planning to anything having to do with conservative politics. all that project 2025 is some small groups wish list. some of it good some of it bad. nothing that there is any consensus within the Maga movement that would mean enacting it.

[desertfreedom765]

When someone hates you and is your enemy, it is probably safe to ignore their advice.

[teeman8r]

MAGA will only remain with Trump if he continues doing the right things... so far so good.

[Fledermaus]

No one even knows what it is.

Basically it says cut departments or eliminate them. Stop spending so much. Most is wasted or grifted off.

Every conservative has backed that for decades.

[Fledermaus]

Ooooooh, so “controversial”

[hal ogen]

When will the nyt go out of business? That would be an indicator that America is becoming GREAT again.

[jdt1138]

NYT: The official fish wrapper of the flip-flopping obama 4.0 campaign.

[rlmorel]

It is for them. It was easy for me to see why they want to demonize it...

[Republican Wildcat]

Ezra Klein

Nope...

[Fledermaus]

Because it’s their gravy train.

[rlmorel]

Exactly.

[MV=PY]

Trump’s campaign should tie her to Mao’s little red book, and repeat it endlessly.

[simpson96]

This well-poisoner again, Ezra Klein.

[thepoodlebites]

NYT is beating the Project 2025 dead horse because that’s all they got.
—
Also, abortion in the eighth and ninth month, even after the moment of birth. They are the extreme position.

A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings.
Saul Alinski, Rules for Radicals, Rule #7
__
The most insidious power of the media is the power to ignore. Chris Plante

Project 2025 contains recommendations from the Heritage Foundation:

De-Weaponize the Federal Government and Dismantle the Deep State,
Project 2025’s policy reforms would restore self-governance to the American people by:

Firing supposedly “un-fireable” federal bureaucrats.
Closing wasteful and corrupt bureaus and offices.
Eliminating woke propaganda at every level of government.
Restoring the American people’s Constitutional authority over the administrative state.
Returning governing power to the Congress and President instead of unelected bureaucrats. [1]

1. https://www.project2025.org/truth/

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Just about every single feral alphabet agency is unconstitutional.

Get rid of them all and force their employees to get real jobs.

[RetiredTexasVet]

It’s the New York Time ... not a reliable news source.

[cross_bearer_02]

NYT: “Project 2025”

“There you go again.”