Project 2025 Implementation: Executive Orders 1 - 5

This is going to be a series dedicated to Trump's executive orders and how each one lines up with goals set forth in Project 2025. Project 2025 is a 180-day guide to transitioning to government towards what they call conservatism, and what many political experts would call tyranny. I'm about 30 days behind, so I'm just going to jump right in at day 1 of Trump's second term.

*Page numbers noted will be the page number at the bottom of the page, not the page number on the PDF which includes over 30 un-numbered pages at the beginning of the book.

EO#1: Ending the weaponization of the federal government - This order directs agencies to find "politically motivated conduct" in the Department of Justice, the Securities Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission and make recommendations on how to hold the perpetrators of that conduct accountable.

• Project 2025 calls out weaponization of the Department of Justice on page 285. "Hamilton writes that the department’s 'unprecedented politicization and weaponization' under Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, resulting in 'politically motivated and viewpoint-based prosecutions' of political enemies and indifference to the crimes of political allies, has made the department 'a threat to the Republic.' The most important thing for the next attorney general to do is to refocus the department on its core functions of 'protecting public safety and defending the rule of law,' while restoring its 'values of independence, impartiality, honesty, integrity, respect, and excellence.'"
  This sounds reasonable until you learn that the prosecutions they're referencing were politically independent, not ordered by President Biden, served to hold Trump accountable for crimes he committed, and that Democrats were held accountable for crimes as well during the same time period. So this EO directs agencies to investigate and hold accountable anyone who participated in "politically motivated" investigations of Trump, despite there being no evidence that any of the charges were politically motivated at all. People who worked in the DOJ on cases pertaining the January 6th 2021 or the classified documents Trump stole from the White House are being fired for doing their jobs. Many of these newly-vacant positions will not be filled since the government is scaling itself down, and those that are filled will be given to Trump supporters.

EO#2: Rescissions of harmful executive orders and actions - This order essentially deletes approximately 70 Biden Administration orders. Most of what was rescinded here pertains to race and gender equity and addressing discrimination, but the topics range widely and also include climate change, immigration, and healthcare among others. I'll address DEI later on, so below is a point about climate change, which has the second-highest number of Biden EOs Trump rescinded with this one.

• Climate change: Project 2025 repeatedly rails against Biden Administration efforts to take action on climate change. As just one example, on page 257 it says "The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policies from its foreign aid programs (specifically USAID’s Climate Strategy 2022–20307 )". 
  This EO revokes at least 9 executive orders from the Biden Administration which pertained to mitigating climate change. It demonstrated a shift in priorities and a lack of commitment to American leadership on climate change. We are already seeing detrimental effects of climate change, and the determination to do even less about it will cause global harm and many more Americans will die in natural disasters caused by climate change.

EO#3: Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship - This order suggests that Biden impeded American free speech by pressuring social media companies to censor their users in efforts to combat misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. "No more!" says Trump. The EO also states that the AG should look into government activities over the last 4 years which don't align with this order and recommend appropriate actions based on her findings.

• Project 2025 has mentions of free speech peppered throughout the text, including in both the forward and conclusion. It repeatedly misconstrues attempts to regulate and address the spread of false information online. One example is on page 546. "The FBI tasked agents with monitoring social media and flagging content they deemed to be 'misinformation' or 'disinformation' (not associated with any plausible criminal conspiracy to deprive anyone of any rights) for platforms to remove." 
  Now, social media companies have terms and conditions which each user agreed to (though presumably very few people actually read them) when signing up for an account. Content is removed from a platform if it is in violation of such terms. For example, hate speech may be restricted on a social media platform and may legally be removed as enforcement of the company's terms and conditions. A lot of posts which conservatives claim were "censored" weren't censored at all - they just included a blurb at the bottom letting the reader know that the information provided was either false or misleading. This EO gives a green light to anyone who wants to spread lies and hate speech on social media. The government won't stop them.

EO#4: America First Policy Directive to the Secretary of State - This order just says American foreign policy will always put Americans first. 

• On page 614 of Project 2025 says "Conservatives share a belief in protecting and promoting American workers and their families and orienting international policies with Americans’ interests first. Some conservatives believe that the best way to put America first is by making America more attractive. In addition to restrictions imposed on other countries, removing existing barriers to American manufacturing, employment, and commerce can help American workers, entrepreneurs, and families."
  So, here's the rub with "America First": it ignores global context. The United States having a positive influence elsewhere in the world promotes diplomacy and allyship with other nations. It's good to have allies; you still need allies when you have the biggest military in the world. We also have a responsibility as the richest nation in the world and one of the biggest contributors to climate change, to spread our medical and technological advancements to places that need and would benefit from them, and to aid in mitigating climate impacts across the world. It IS in the interest of Americans to stop Putin's invasion of Ukraine and prevent him from expanding further. It IS in the interest of Americans to help solve issues and poverty conditions in Central America which are causing mass-migration events. As a world leader, we must consider both direct AND indirect benefits to our citizens, and a positive influence on the world stage has both direct and indirect benefits. Should we do more to take care of our own citizens? Absolutely. But here's the great thing about being one of the richest, most powerful countries in the world: we can do both. Trump wants you to think it's one or the other, and that's an outright lie. American isolationism is a dangerous foreign policy.

EO#5: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing - pretty straightforward. When signing this one, Trump said something like "our government is going to be based on merit again. Can you believe it?" And honestly, no, I can't believe it. Because when you take away DEI initiatives, you take away the ability for women and people of color to receive credit and earn positions based on merit. When you only seek out white men, you lose out on so many women and people of color who have BETTER qualifications and MORE merit.

• On page 561 Project 2025 says "Even though numerous federal laws prohibit discrimination based on notable immutable characteristics such as race and sex, the Biden Administration— through the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and other federal entities—has enshrined affirmative discrimination in all aspects of its operations under the guise of 'equity.' Federal agencies and their components have established so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination, and all departments and agencies have created 'equity' plans to carry out these invidious schemes."
  Of course, DEI is not a vehicle for discrimination, but a direct effort to enshrine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a given organization or government body. It can't be overstated how positive a diverse makeup of employees can be for an organization. The writers of Project 2025 suggest DEI implements discriminatory practices because it opens up jobs that may have otherwise been assigned to white men and instead assigns them to well-qualified women and minorities. Rescinding the government's DEI initiatives has thrown a wealth of uncertainty on many jobs in the government, as well as what can be published on government websites. Many federal workers have lost their jobs as a direct result of this EO.