Project 2025 Implementation: Executive orders 6-10

We're still looking at day 1. Trump signed 36 Executive Orders in his first week, and we're up to 73 total so far. 10 down, 63 (and counting) to go. So far, every single executive order I've researched has lined up with specific policies or goals outlined in Project 2025. Despite what your neighborhood Trump supporter might suggest, Project 2025 IS Trump's agenda, and it is tyranny.

EO#6: Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information - This order revoked the security clearance of 51 former intelligence officers. These high level officers had signed an open letter during the 2020 election cycle about the Hunter Biden laptop story. The letter stated that they believed it was possible that the scandal had been part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The letter was stated as if this position was an opinion, and specified that they were not certain and had no evidence but were deeply suspicious based on their experience.

• On page 213 and 214 of Project 2025, it states "The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any former Directors, Deputy Directors, or other senior intelligence officials who discuss their work in the press or on social media without prior clearance from the current Director. IC agencies, including the CIA, should minimize their public presence and vigorously investigate any and all leaks The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any former Directors, Deputy Directors, or other senior intelligence officials who discuss their work in the press or on social media without prior clearance from the current Director. IC agencies, including the CIA, should minimize their public presence and vigorously investigate any and all leaks of information, classified or otherwise..."
  I spent some time pondering the phrase "classified or otherwise". I don't know much about how classification of government intelligence works, but I would think that if someone is not classified it would be okay to discuss publicly. Otherwise, wouldn't it have some level of classification? What this executive order did was tell government officials, especially those in intelligence, that if they voice an opinion on opposition to Trump there will be consequences.

EO#7: Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential - This executive order covered controversial land-use issues in Alaska. It authorized new leases for natural gas pipelines, specific roads which were previously blocked, and a development plan for a national petroleum reserve in Alaska. Much of Alaska is considered public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. These are areas like national parks and conservation areas.

• Project 2025 lays this plan out in detail on pages 529 - 531 in a section titled "IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REGARDING ALASKA". In this section it describes a history of land-use regulation in the state, and how the state and its Indigenous people were cheated out of millions of acres of land selection. It says that Public Land Orders have prevented both the state and its Indigenous people from claiming their full land entitlement and that all public land orders should be lifted. "For example, revocation of PLO 515057 will provide the state of Alaska 1.3 million acres of its remaining state entitlement. This revocation should be a top priority. BLM recommended this revocation in the 2006 report to Congress based on the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act, and the Interior Secretary has authority to revoke based on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act under section d(1).58 All other remaining BLM PLOs—all of which are more than 50 years old—should be revoked immediately."
  The context that Project 2025 leaves out of the story on these pages is that Alaska's Indigenous population has advocated against these types of actions. This EO is a complete overhaul of environmental regulations in the state and will exploit Alaska's natural resources at the expense of the environment and Alaskan Indigenous communities. It's also egregious, in my opinion, to use Alaskan Indigenous people to push a narrative they oppose. It adds insult to injury knowing that the Alaskan Indigenous community will likely still not get what's owed to them. It is more likely that they'll be poisoned by harmful resource mining practices. I challenge the Trump Administration to prove me wrong on that. 

EO#8: Unleashing American Energy - This order removes regulatory barriers to oil and gas production, opens federal lands up to be exploited for energy exploitation, cuts down on the environmental permitting process, and revokes even more climate-related EOs and policies incentivizing renewable energy and electric vehicles. 

• On page 286 of Project 2025 it says "Under the next President, the Department of Energy should end the Biden Administration’s unprovoked war on fossil fuels, restore America’s energy independence, oppose eyesore windmills built at taxpayer expense, and respect the right of Americans to buy and drive cars of their own choosing, rather than trying to force them into electric vehicles and eventually out of the driver’s seat altogether in favor of self-driving robots"
  The "war on fossil fuels" is very well provoked. The US has been exporting more energy than it imports since 2019 for the first time since 1957, though we do still import crude oil and then export petroleum after refining it. Windmills generate hundreds of billions of kilowatt-hours of energy in the United States annually, which contributes to our energy independence. And the US government hasn't forced anyone to buy EVs but have been encouraged and incentivized people to do so. This order has honored Trump's promise to toss environmental and climate regulation out the window, and will have grave consequences for decades in the form of environmental degradation and unmitigated climate change.

EO#9: Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization - This order re-states US intention to withdraw from the WHO after Biden rescinded Trump's stated intentions to do so in his first term. It directs the National Security Council to safeguard public health in place of the WHO and the Secretary of State to initiate the process of official withdrawal from the organization in funding and communication capacities. 

• Project 2025 does not explicitly call for withdrawal from the WHO, from what I could find. It does, however, celebrate Trump's "'tough love' approach to international organizations" in his first term. On page 191 it says "Serious consideration should also be given to withdrawal from organizations that no longer have value, quietly undermine U.S. interests or goals, or disproportionately rely on U.S. financial contributions to survive." as it discusses WHO, UN Human Rights Council, and other international organizations which Trump regarded poorly during his first term. 
  The United States contributed between 12 and 18% of the WHO budget in recent years, depending on the year. We have been the biggest financial contributor to this organization by a significant margin. We should keep in mind, though, that we have the single largest economy in the world and the vast majority of our contributions have been voluntary. In 2022 - 2023 the United states was only required to pay around 200 million dollars into WHO, but we contributed 1.02 billion voluntarily. This is because despite its flaws (thinking specifically about global COVID response and origin tracking), it is a crucial organization when it comes to global public health. The US has been investing in global health as a means of investing in our own health by-proxy. Illnesses don't care about borders.

EO#10: Declaring a National Energy Emergency - This order states that because the US is not energy-independent, we are facing an energy emergency. It authorized heads of agencies to use emergency powers to exploit federal lands for energy resources, expedites pending permits for pipelines and other energy extraction projects, and undermines environmental regulatory processes for those projects and federal lands.

• On page 363 Project 2025 claims that "The new energy crisis is caused not by a lack of resources, but by extreme “green” policies." Page 365 contains a list of action items in response to this crisis which includes, among others, the below calls to action:
• "Unleash private-sector energy innovation by ending government interference in energy decisions" 
• "Stop the war on oil and natural gas."
• "Promote U.S. energy resources as a means to assist our allies and diminish our strategic adversaries"
• This EO fabricates a national emergency as a means to an end, which is to dismantle government regulation of our energy resources and exploit our lands and waters to suck them dry for every bit of profit we can muster. At the same time that this so-called emergency is taking place, the United States is the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. As mentioned earlier, we export more energy resources than we import. Meanwhile, we're seeing more and more extreme weather events due to climate change which will be further exacerbated by our refusal to trust our own scientists and our determination to put profits over people. We could join other countries leading the world in climate mitigation efforts. We could challenge China on renewable energy production. Instead, we're faking an emergency so we can make more money with fossil fuels. People will become sick due to environmental permit corner-cutting. And more people will die as a result of extreme weather events caused by our ongoing refusal to address climate change.