Do you remember the buzz around Project 2025 throughout the election campaign? I recall it being part of the political background noise and thinking that such an anti-American plan was just an extremist pipe dream. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied he had any interest in P25 during the presidential debate with Vice-President Harris, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it purposely. I’m not going to read it.” Well, Project 2025 is no longer just a plan. It’s this administration’s playbook, and we’re living it!

After attending a webinar to shed light on the reality of Project 2025, featuring Heather Cox Richardson and Representative Jasmine Crockett, I feel I have been living under a rock these past few months! According to the webinar host’s Red Wine and Blue Project 25 tracker, these are just a few examples of how the administration’s actions dovetail with Project 2025 goals (for a complete list go to https://redwine.blue).

• P25 Goal: Take Away our Reproductive Rights: Withheld federal funding for birth control, STD testing, cancer screenings and other reproductive health services; set the stage for instituting a national abortion ban; banned the word “abortion” from government websites and documents.

•P25 Goal: End Public Education: Cut funding and fired 50% of the Department of Education’s (DOE) employees with the goal of eliminating it; blocked funding for Head Start programs; removed funding from schools that have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs; ended DOE guidance related to fighting book bans.

• P25 Goal: Help The Super Rich While Financially Harming Average Americans: Proposed tax changes that will lead to a tax increase for 95% of Americans; announced policy changes/executive orders on tariffs, which will hurt American businesses and increase prices on goods for average Americans; eliminated consumer protections from financial products like mortgages and credit cards; fired hundreds of employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the agency responsible for ensuring the safety and stability of the money Americans have in banks.

• P25 Goal: Encourage Racial Discrimination: Ended all DEI programs in the federal government; rescinded past DEI initiatives; ended DEI programs in the military and Dept. of Homeland Security; placed all federal employees in DEI roles on leave; removed efforts to protect federal job applicants from race or gender discrimination; closed EPA environmental justice offices.

• P25 Goal: Insert Christian Nationalist Political Ideology Into the Mainstream: Established the White House Faith Office led by a conservative evangelical pastor.

• P25 Goal: End Programs That Address Climate Change: Conducted massive EPA layoffs; pulled U.S. from the Paris Agreement and other similar commitments; reversed federal actions and programs that protect environment and fight climate change.

• P25 Goal: Reduce Healthcare Access And Increase Costs: Reversed policies aimed at reducing prescription drug prices; cut grants to National Institutes of Health (NIH) that fund medical research.

• P25 Goal: Give Unchecked Power To The President: Prevented any federal employee or agency from combatting disinformation or misinformation, including the FBI; created a centralized payment system giving unelected employees of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) power to review, approve or reject federal payments — power that the constitution grants to Congress; gave the president control over independent regulatory agencies which oversee product safety, consumer safety, and financial stability in markets and banks; reclassified federal workers making them easier to fire; ordered massive federal layoffs; directed the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review all Career Senior Executive Service officials to make sure they are aligned with the president’s agenda; instructed DOJ and the Attorney General to investigate and punish federal departments for work done under the Biden administration that the president dislikes; investigating and punishing federal employees involved in past investigations into the president himself and the Jan 6th insurrection; instructed cabinet members and departments to inspect voting equipment and investigate voters, among other actions; outlined new requirements for voter registration making it more difficult for tens of millions of Americans to vote. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would make these voting restrictions the law.

Even the DOGE obsession with the closing of USAID — an organization that receives less than 32 cents of every $100 spent by the federal government — has its origins in the P25 playbook.

Not only is this president using his power to further P25 goals, he’s also surrounding himself with major P25 authors and supporters. It’s clear these guys found a power-hungry puppet to do their bidding, got him elected, and are now pulling his strings. The architects of P25 intend to control all aspects of American life at home and abroad.

My grandparents emigrated from countries where kings and royalty told them they and their future generations would be poor farmers all their lives and that they had to live by the rules imposed on them, including practicing the official state religion. They came to the U.S. to escape this system. Now, 125 years later, this administration is working hard to re-create such a system. This is NOT America!

Only 4% of the U.S. voters approve of Project 2025, yet it’s driving federal government actions! For clear and simple tracking of the implementation of Project 2025 by this administration and how to fight back go to: https://redwine.blue . Get informed and spread the word!

Mary Saudade

Addison