Trump gets his marching orders

Most Americans don't like Project 2025, but that doesn't matter in his kingdom

By Mike Sorrell

A lobbyist once explained to me how Washington works.

I was a dutiful, fair-minded reporter who believed my role in democracy was to provide readers with facts and information. Readers could then decide for themselves which politicians to elect. Then, the politician’s informed constituents could continue to provide grassroots advice to guide the politician’s actions in office.

“You are naïve,” the lobbyist told me. Democracy is a charming myth. Get real. Power in Washington does not move from the bottom up.

Forty years later, I cling to a belief in democracy.

And yet is clear that power brokers hold the keys to President-elect Donald Trump’s kingdom.

Not the American people who elected him for a second time.

And certainly not the nearly 50 percent of voters who did not vote for him Nov. 5.

If the D.C. lobbyist were still around 40 years after our conversation, he would not be surprised by the power dynamic that now exists.

He told me government works this way: (1) An industry, special interest group or partisan “think tank” wants a policy put forward or a law enacted; (2) Their lobbyists look around for a politician (especially one facing re-election) who is either too lazy or not smart enough to propose something on his or her own; (3) Lobbyists then write whatever documents, speeches and press releases the elected politician needs in order carry the ball for them; (4) Lobbyists and other insiders then work to get a sufficient number of other elected officials to side with the windup-toy-politician; and (5) When victory is achieved, the politician appears powerful and effective, the special interest group gets what it wants, and the public, for better or worse, gets whatever that process gives them.

The Heritage Foundation, a far-right, Washington think tank, has played that game for a long time.

At President Ronald Reagan’s first Cabinet meeting in 1981, he passed out copies of the Heritage Foundation’s “Mandate for Leadership.” It was a guidebook for the president.

In 2016, a subsequent version was prepared for President Donald Trump. That one contained 334 suggested policies, regulations and other actions. The Heritage Foundation later issued a news release touting that two-thirds of those were adopted by the Trump administration.

This time around, the Heritage Foundation has produced Project 2025, a 922-page report that came out last summer. Again, it is a road map for the president. Trump is advised to capture more power for himself, eliminate or overhaul federal agencies, deport millions of immigrants and cut regulations pertaining to the environment, including those aimed at addressing climate change.

Donald Trump isn’t waiting to unveil a copy at his first Cabinet meeting. He knows what’s in it, as do some of the Cabinet members he has nominated.

Russ Vought, who Trump has named head of the powerful Office of Management and Budget, wrote a chapter in Project 2025 that advocates more executive power. Among other examples, Brendan Carr wrote a chapter about what he wants the Federal Communication Commission to do; Trump picked him to chair the FCC.

In fact, at least 140 Trump officials from the 2016-2020 years worked on Project 2025, CNN reported last summer. The Nation magazine wrote, “This is not just another policy proposal, it’s a comprehensive attack on American democracy, backed by Trump’s network of MAGA extremists.”

Polls showed during the summer that Project 2025 was overwhelmingly unpopular with voters.

So, Trump claimed ignorance. He said he’d never heard of Project 2025. Later, he said he had nothing to do with the people who wrote the report. He said he did not plan to read it.

Worried that news reports about Project 2025 might turn off voters, Trump’s campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, issued a statement July 30 that said Project 2025 “should not be associated with the campaign in any way.” And, they said, “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed.”

While denying his ties to Project 2025, Trump campaigned to overhaul the federal government, deport 20 million immigrants, “protect women even if they don’t want me to,” and fix the economy so a dozen eggs and other groceries won’t cost so much.

Trump was elected because he promised “cheap eggs,” The Atlantic magazine wrote this week.

Maybe the chickens will come home to roost for Trump, or maybe not.

Meanwhile, Trump won with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Voter remorse will occur if the retread version of Trump makes lives worse instead of better and if people do not like the changes that Project 2025 “mandates” and then get pushed through by Trump and the Republican-dominated Senate and House of Representatives. If that happens, Trump’s popularity could tumble down to 34 percent (or lower), where polls gauged it at when Trump left the presidency in 2020.

If an egg-on-the-face demise does come for Trump, the influential Heritage Foundation’s ideologues might have already succeeded in their efforts to radically change the government. Project 2025 says proposed changes need to come in the Trump administration’s first 180 days. The need for speed is obviated by the fact that Republicans have only a narrow hold on the House of Representatives. If Democrats take the House in 2026, Trump and the Heritage Foundation would find it harder to make radical changes in the government.

Meanwhile, Americans also could soon become disenchanted with billionaire Elon Musk, a lone wolf Trump calls his “first buddy.”

Musk is not, by definition, a lobbyist. He is an oligarch who pushes hard on government to get what he wants. Musk’s power comes from the fact that he gave many millions of dollars to get Trump elected. Trump insider Steve Bannon has said Musk deserves a voice in the Trump administration because Trump would not have defeated Kamala Harris without Musk’s money. Now Musk will advise Trump on where to cut trillions of dollars from the federal budget by eliminating federal agencies, firing federal employees, etc.

That is not how democracy is supposed to work, either.