— —
What happens when a non-stop lying Bully can bulldoze a true patriot and statesman on the national stage, without so much as a retort, from the event’s moderators?
Apparently, heckling from the cheap-seats, now passes for civilized behavior. But I digress ...
My goal here today is to deconstruction the lying Bully’s latest LIES — since it will no doubt go unexamined — and accepted by default, at face value — by our drama-obsessed, thumb on the scales, reporters purveyors of gossip.
Donald Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration, days after the head of the think tank responsible for the program suggested there would be a second American Revolution.
“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
The 922-page plan outlines a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a plan to fire as many as 50,000 government workers to replace them with Trump loyalists. [...]
APnews.com — July 6, 2024
Oh really? The non-stop lying Bully doest protest too much. His own history betrays his politically expedient denials. Here Trump gushed profusely about the nobility of the Heritage Foundations goals and causes — on location. Yet he says: He has “nothing to do with them.” Oh really?
And even more note-worthy damning, he implemented, as a poison-pill, one of HF’s most insidious policies on the way out of the White House door — based on the guidance of HF staffers … Helllo!
May 19, 2023 — semafor.com; [ Listed here: Project 2025 — In the News ]
[...]
Heritage’s efforts also tie into ongoing conservative allegations of “weaponization” of government officials against their priorities (which are fiercely disputed by Democrats.) This is perhaps the most organized effort thus far to respond by trying to pack the executive branch with staff of their choosing.
Prior to this, the most aggressive attempt came from Trump, who issued an executive order dubbed “Schedule F” late in his term, with guidance from former Heritage staffers. The proposal — reversed by President Biden — sought to allow the White House to get rid of huge numbers of civil servants, who are typically protected against the whims of a new president. It’s now a key part of his plans for a second term.
[...]
Unfortunately, that link “former Heritage staffers” above, leads to a WaPo paywall. If anyone know how to get a ‘public domain’ copy of this, I sure would like to know who it was from the Heritage Foundation convincing Trump to sign this draconian Executive Order.
BTW, “Schedule F” is straight out of the Project 2025 Playbook (below). Its intent is to replace lifelong non-partisan Federal Employees, with HF-vetted and approved Trump loyalists:
— Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise — Page 524
[...]
• Rescind the Biden rules and reinstate the Trump rules regarding:
1. BLM waste prevention;
2. The Endangered Species Act rules defining Critical Habitat and Critical
Habitat Exclusions;[41]
3. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act;[42] and
4. CEQ reforms to NEPA.[43]
• Reinstate President Trump’s plan for opening most of the National
Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development.
Personnel Changes. The new Administration should be able to draw on the enormous expertise of state agency personnel throughout the country who are capable and knowledgeable about land management and prove it daily. States are better resource managers than the federal government because they must live with the results. President Trump’s Schedule F proposal[44] regarding accountability in hiring must be reinstituted to bring success to these reforms. [...]
That Trump rushed E.O. — given to him by Heritage Foundation insiders — created quite a stir at the time, from those who care about our nation’s laws, and a well-function government, staffed by dedicated civil servants.
Little-noticed Executive Order would undermine the Pendleton Act, allowing punishment or firing of federal workers for perceived political disloyalty to the President
Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on President Trump’s Executive Order attempting to weaken reforms established under the 137-year-old Pendleton Act, which ended the spoils system and established a new federal workforce built on merit and service rather than political loyalty to the President:
“The President’s Executive Order is an attempt to redefine the civil service as a political arm of the presidency rather than public servants who work for the American people.
“The stated goal in the text of the order itself weakening union protections and making it easier to fire senior federal employees is to make the federal workforce more loyal to the President. Such open cronyism does not benefit the country, it benefits the President.
[...]
October 31, 2020, NPR, Week-end Edition
The Trump administration has issued an executive order that would fundamentally restructure the federal workforce, making it easier for the government to fire thousands of federal workers, while also allowing political and other considerations to affect hiring.
The executive order, issued last week, would affect the professional employees in policymaking positions at the very top of the civil service — people like lawyers and scientists who are are not political appointees and serve from administration to administration regardless of which party controls the White House.
The president's order changes that, creating a new category for them — "Schedule F" — and taking away their civil service protections. In a statement that accompanied the order, the White House took aim at those protections, [...] Without the protections, the employees can be more easily replaced.
Rachel Greszler, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, which supports the order, says it's "a common-sense change" to address a lack of accountability in the federal government. [...]
How good of the Heritage Foundation to provide a talking-head/expert to defend their Order.
— —
Fortunately for the nation, the Biden Administration — once they got the defiant Trump out the door — quickly reversed this Trump-Heritage reorg plan, in waiting:
January 22, 2021 — www.govexec.com
[...]
The Trump administration was aggressive in its approach to the federal workforce, and labor groups in particular. In 2018, Trump signed a series of executive orders seeking to make it easier to fire federal workers, streamline labor-management negotiations and restrict the scope of collective bargaining, and severely restricting the use of official time.
And last fall, Trump signed an executive order establishing a new job classification within the government’s career civil service called Schedule F for “employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating positions,” and calling on agencies to identify and convert eligible employees to the new classification.
Employees converted to Schedule F would lose virtually all of their civil service protections and could be fired without cause. [...]
The reorg plan: … fire 50,000+ employees without cause, so they can be replaced with Heritage Foundation-vetted and approved Trump loyalists:
Please fill out the questionnaire below and upload your resume for inclusion in the Presidential Personnel Database if you would like to be considered for positions in a presidential Administration.
Project 2025 is the effort of a massive coalition of conservative organizations that have come together to ensure a successful Administration begins in January 2025. With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government. Project 2025 is being organized by The Heritage Foundation.
[...]
To learn more about positions in the Executive Branch, please refer to the 2020 Plum Book.
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION NOW
That “revolutionary” Presidential Personnel Database plan is still very much in the works however — being vetted and filled, as we dither. Or in the coded language of their anticipated strongman leader, they are “standing back, and standing by” … from the podium of The War-Room:
As our compliant doorman, corporate media takes Trump’s every lying denial, as if they were ‘written on stone tablets’, to be posted in every school classroom of Trump’s Not-so-Great America.
Nevermind that, “Thou shall not bear False Witness” — was one of the original “guidelines” … that they have long since forgotten.
— —
But ... What does that have to do with “Journalism”?
How quaint, eh? “Revolving Door” is about to take on an entirely different / Authoritarian meaning.
