The News Not Noise Letter: Project 2025’s Radical Roadmap
The far-right’s wishlist for a second Trump term goes farther than you might know. Plus: UK voters oust the Tories, and Biden campaigns to keep campaigning.
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Happy Friday. Hope you had a good holiday and are managing to keep your consumption of panic-inducing news to a minimum. Today we cover Conservatives’ big loss in the UK and Biden’s battle against the seemingly-inevitable.
We are going deep on another topic: Project 2025. It’s a 900-page policy proposal written by the Heritage Foundation and put forward as their plan for remaking government in a second Trump term. Democrats have been sounding the alarm over it (Rachel Maddow described Project 2025 as a way to “get rid of the American system of government.”). Today Trump distanced himself, posting, “I know nothing about Project 2025… some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.” We get into the details below.
Here are your headlines:
UK Election Results: After a dramatic election in the UK, 14 years of Conservative Party power have come to an end. Britain’s new Prime Minister, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer, took the helm today after his party swept the elections.
Left Surge? Not So Much: Labour won a stunning two-thirds of Parliamentary seats – but just one-third of the popular vote, only a slight increase from their result in the last general election in 2019. The results are less to do with Labour and more about voters rejecting the Conservatives. Disillusioned former Tory-voters split the right-wing vote, and because the UK’s electoral system doesn’t require an outright majority for a party to win, Labour gained many seats with less than half the vote.
Far-Right Stealth Wins: The real surprise winner of Thursday’s election was Nigel Farage, the far-right, anti-immigrant Brexiteer who just won a seat in Parliament for the first time. His Reform UK Party claimed 5 seats overall – and 14% of the popular vote.
Green Victory: The Green Party also won 4 seats, a record high. In all, Britain’s small parties won 40% of the vote.
Biden Updates: The next few days will decide the future of Joe Biden’s presidency. He’s on a blitz to show voters, donors, and power brokers he has the energy and good health to serve again. Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin Friday he declared, “I am staying in the race.” He has another stop in Pennsylvania and an interview today with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. But the bottom is falling out for Joe Biden in three ways:
Press Pressure: The political press, now focused on questions around Biden’s health, is turning out stories about his evident frailty, alleging a “conspiracy of silence” to hide “mental decline,” and calling for a cognitive test. To be clear, I don’t think the media is creating a false panic about his health (though endless incremental updates can become noise). As long as he stays in the race and continues to show frailty while denying health challenges, the media will rightly keep the issue alive.
Donors Drying Up: Some donors are turning off the spigot for Biden, and openly saying so. Among them, superdonor Barry Diller and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings who said it’s time for Biden to step aside. This has the effect of turning off other donors, likely making major fundraising all but impossible.
Polling Pains: Though the post-debate polls didn’t plummet as much as many feared, the numbers are not good for Biden. He can’t point to them as justification to stay in the race.
Now, even the people publicly standing by the president are strategizing in private about who might take over and how. Some want Biden to resign from the presidency so VP Harris can run as the incumbent president. Others want him to remain president for now but withdraw his candidacy and give his blessing to a Harris-led ticket. Still, others – including party elder Rep Jim Clyburn – are advocating for a “mini-primary.” All of these options have different risks for the Democrats. The Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago on August 19 – this is a tight timeframe and a lot has to happen before then. This makes it all the more urgent for Biden to make a decision ASAP.
Unpacking Project 2025:
Today, at your request, we are delving into Project 2025, the far-right’s “presidential transition project.” It contains proposals that, if implemented, would radically consolidate presidential power, overhaul the FBI, pack agencies with trained Trump loyalists, and strip women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and people of color of basic rights and protections. The effort is intended to “lay the groundwork” to give a second Trump Administration a running start on implementing a radical new agenda.
