MSNBC examines Project 2025, part 1

I closed John Oliver examines 'Trump’s Second Term' by telling my readers, "MSNBC has been all over Project 2025, so stay tuned to see if I follow up with their videos tomorrow for a serious take on the issue." As promised, I return to the topic and begin with MSNBC's most viewed video on the subject, Ruth Ben-Ghiat telling Ali Velshi ‘It’s very well-thought-out’: Authoritarian expert breaks down dangers of Project 2025.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of history and scholar of authoritarianism, speaks to Ali Velshi about Project 2025’s plans to consolidate power if Trump wins the presidency in 2025, including who's on their hypothetical list of pre-screened loyalists to join the Trump administration, and why their plan to abolish federal agencies is so uniquely dangerous to democracy.

That was four months ago. Velshi returned to the topic last month when he called Project 2025 a ‘Blueprint for a soft coup’: Inside the far-right plan that could grant unchecked power to Trump.

Olivia Troye, former advisor to Former Vice President Mike Pence, and Molly Jong Fast, Vanity Fair Correspondent and MSNBC political analyst, join Ali Velshi to discuss the dangerous far-right strategy to overhaul the federal government and give Donald Trump unchecked power over the executive branch.” Imagine an entire federal government that serves as a campaign arm to Donald Trump,” Jong-Fast says.

Listening to Velshi's opening reminded me of what I wrote in Supreme Court unanimously preserves access to Mifepristone.

Leah Litman and Mini Timmaraju both mentioned the possible use of the Comstock Act to restrict abortion access again. I find that alarming enough that I think the parts of Comstock Act that are currently unconstitutional need to be repealed, restricting the ability of anti-choice advocates to reanimate them. I have the same opinion of the Insurrection Act, which is also being touted as a way for the more extreme right-wing activists, including Hoover Cleveland, to suppress dissent. That's a topic for later.

It's later. The Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups have decided to revive zombie laws to consolidate their power given the opportunity.

Speaking of zombie laws and the Heritage Foundation, listening to Olivia Troye's horrified reaction to what it has become reminded me of what I wrote yesterday about the GOP being undead.

I'm recycling what I wrote in National Review ironically reveals another deep truth about the current GOP to begin my reaction.

As I tell my liberal friends who keep thinking that the GOP should be dead by now, the GOP as a traditional party engaged in electoral politics is already dead. What it is now, as described by "EscapefromWisconsin" over at the Hipcrime Vocab, is an authoritarian movement. That makes it an undead party in a democratic system. As Bela Lugosi's Dracula said in the eponymous movie, "There are far worse things awaiting Man than Death." Yeah, and one of them has happened to the GOP.

That was a dozen years ago. Back then, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan weren't the candidates to realize that movement's ambitions; they were still conventional conservative candidates contesting for power in a democracy. The condition of the GOP has become even more obvious since then with the rise of Hoover Cleveland, who is the right candidate to fulfill the current party's dictatorial desires. As I wrote nearly three years ago, "I had no idea how right I was then and now I wish I hadn't been. Break out the garlic."

They're no longer hiding it. Also, Molly Jong-Fast's comments about how these are now mainstream GOP views demonstrates that the far right realized what a missed opportunity Trump's first term was and now they aren't going to miss their second chance. Yikes!

Velshi's show, if not Velshi himself, returned to the topic two weeks ago when guest host Melissa Murray's guest Elie Mystal said ‘It’s a manifesto’: The most terrifying details in Project 2025.

The Nation’s Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal joins Melissa Murray, in for Ali Velshi, to discuss his new article on the dangers of Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a second Trump term that threatens to wreak havoc on the Department of Justice, consolidate federal power, and ultimately “take over the legal structures of our nation.” Mystal also describes why the discussion surrounding Trump’s potential pick for Attorney General is so concerning, including floating names like Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Trump White House veteran Stephen Miller, and Ken Paxton.

Ken Paxton?! Add one more crook to the rogues gallery I featured in Closer looks at Trump's probation interview and Las Vegas rally from Meyers, Colbert, and Fallon.


Jailbirds of a feather flock together.

MSNBC has had more to say about Project 2025 just in the past week, so stay tuned for part 2.