Project 2025: Christian Soldiers Marching Off to Land Wars
Pentagon Plan: More toys for more manly men
A YouGov poll taken a week ago holds that 80% of respondents knew very little or nothing about Project 2025, the project facilitated by the Heritage Foundation aiming at increasing presidential authority and imprinting the right’s social agenda on Americans.
I’d dare say things have changed over the past week. Now this roadmap for an authoritarian government is getting some serious attention. Almost all the major media outlets have published articles breaking down the broad strokes of the document. Project 2025 surpassed Taylor Swift and American football in Google search ranking.
More to the point, there’s some serious backpedaling going in progress on the right. “Hatemonger” Stephen Millier has asked for his organization to be removed from the Project 2025 advisory board.
Trump-leaning media are publishing (mostly misleading) debunking claims about the project’s worst aspects; while other media are scrambling to put distance between the GOP presidential candidate and the specifics in the handbook.
And the Heritage Foundation started “adjusting” page numbers on their document to thwart efforts to pinpoint its extremist agenda.
Suffice it to say, Project 2025’s reception outside the MAGA bubble has been less than satisfactory. It’s my observation that, as far as regular Democrats are concerned, it has been a godsend, allowing them to focus on something other than the viability of Joe Biden.
In my first two deep dives I tackled the overall thrust of the report, along with its point of view about organization in the White House, followed by Project 2025 plans for the rest of the federal civilian workforce.
I should note here that my essays are following along in the same order as chapters of this document; more detail on policy is revealed further on in the document. In some instances (like trade) competing ideas were simply listed for the convenience of Dear Leader.
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Today: Section 2, The Common Defense. Starting with the Department of Defense and each of the military services by Christopher Miller*
This section starts with the premise that the Department of Defense is a “troubled” organization. I’d agree with saying things are fucked up from the Pentagon on down, but the term “troubled” implies a sense of self awareness at the top that simply does not exist.
You’ve heard of Too Big to Fail (or Jail) in the corporate world; with DOD, it’s Too Big to Care (or Dare).
During Trump’s early days, military leaders were the favored management team. Then he found out they weren’t automatically amenable to his direction. Out they went, and Project 2025 promises to keep sending much of the military’s top brass into retirement.
To hear Christopher Miller tell it, the Biden Administration’s profoundly unserious equity agenda and vaccine mandates have taken a serious toll on military discipline. Fixing this requires establishing a culture of command accountability, transforming the military into a real fighting machine, having uniformed personnel involved in immigration and narcotics enforcement, and financial transparency.
Then the document moves on to what in military parlance is called an Order of Battle, naming and ranking perceptions of national security threats, along with suggested courses of action.
Therefore, a heavily armored line must be drawn between China and the “first island chain in the Pacific.” This means Taiwan, according to this document. I’m not sure this was cleared with Dear Leader, as the 2024 Republican Platform lacks any mention of Taiwan for the first time in half a century. Perhaps this is an example of the kind of mixed messages blamed in this document for dysfunction at the Pentagon.
As for the rest of the world’s problem areas, ranging from Russia in Europe, Iran, the Middle East, and North Korea, it's time for other countries to step up and take the lead. US support for NATO would be centered on nuclear deterrence; the Gulf states are there to protect Israel, and South Korea’s mostly on their own.
Nukes are the backbone of our defense, according to this document, and we need to be building a lot more of them. (The part about resuming nuclear testing in Nevada is further on in the document.)
As to trans-national terrorism other countries are again expected to do more. We’ll be too busy pointing our arsenal at China.
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One of the bigger problems with our military defense services concerns acquisitions of new weapons and systems. The document rightly calls out that lead times in development are at odds with the pace of technological advances.
A future administration, according to Project 2025, should support legislation or other means of providing funding for fast track weapons development. Military branches would be required to operate “Night Courts” to terminate programs deemed ineffective. (Wait ‘till some bulbous Senate old boy gets this news, LOL.)
Some acquisition programs would be decentralized, others could be opened up to private contractors. And the military is supposed to fight espionage in these areas.
Also, the United States is to once again resume its position as the “Arsenal of Democracy.” One part of getting more guns to more governments would be to end the State Department’s policy of previewing foreign arms sales with Congress.
DOD Personnel
The recruiting difficulties encountered by branches of the armed forces could be solved, according to the plan, by disconnecting from the system providing the military with access to civilian medical records prior to induction. (It seems as though recruits often lie about mental illness histories.)
Here’s a real stinker in the proposed system: Require completion of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery—the military entrance examination—by all students in schools that receive federal funding. In other words, if your parents are rich enough to send you to private schools, no test is required.
(The military entrance exam is sometimes –unlawfully– mandated for students in right-leaning school districts.)
However, service members who are already “predisposed to require medical treatment (for example, HIV positive or suffering from gender dysphoria) should be removed, and those with gender dysphoria should be expelled from military service.”
Servicemembers dismissed for not receiving the COVID vaccine would have their rank restored and provided back pay.
Expanded White House review of military promotions will ensure promoted officers aren’t too focused on “climate change” or “manufactured extremism” (that is, domestic right-wing extremism).
Programs considered by the right to be Marxist indoctrination/divisive critical race theory along with established diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and staff would be terminated. So-called Marxist indoctrination and tenured faculty positions at the service academies would also be on the chopping block.
Intelligence programs functioning under the direction of military forces would be prioritized, with data funneled through the newly elevated (in the scenario envisioned in Project 2025) Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (More on this in a later posting)
There is some vague language about accountability and public trust, which sounds like an invitation for serious purges of intelligence-related personnel. “Flawed Russia–Ukraine assessments” are among the sins mentioned.
Next up, Project 2025 tackles individual branches of the military and those organizations outside the normal chain of command. For purposes of brevity, I’m going to condense these sections, and make it a given that Marxists, DEI, and CRT programs are to be rooted out in each group.
I should also point out the obvious conflict between Donald Trump’s lobes when it comes to the military. The advice given focuses on more toys for the boys; Dear Leader wants a pullback from US presence in most parts of the world. I’m sure they’ll work something out that includes keeping the revolving door between contractors and the Pentagon open.
Lest readers think I’m anti-military because of my snark throughout this post, let me say I do understand the need for a military. Just not the military we have. I’d opt for smarter, leaner, better for the people it employs, and true civilian control. We need to be honest about the US military being the nation’s largest social welfare program and capable of being instrumental in addressing climate change.
Army - The main point made in this section is that the Army needs to upgrade to fight future land wars. In fact, it says an additional 50,000 soldiers will be needed to sustain combat in two theaters.
Navy - Again, more is better. An additional sixty or so manned ships are needed to maintain equilibrium with China. The Navy is to continue being a platform-based entity (manned ships) and to work more closely with other service branches. (OMG. Have any of these authors been to the straits of Yemen? Platforms are simply targets these days, of aerial and submersible drones.)
Air Force - All the other services fly piloted warplanes these days. More money is needed to fix this. Aircraft like the F35, B21, EC-37B are needed pronto. Interestingly, what doesn’t merit mention here are the successes, like the ULTRA drone, which can take on 80 hour missions.
Marines - Big changes would be ahead for the Marines. Gone would be the tanks, most of the tube artillery batteries, and even the monster amphibious landing vessels used in the past. Corporals would be replaced with Master Sergeants, Law enforcement battalions would cease to exist.
US Space Force – Offensive capabilities are to be added. Control needs to be established out to the moon. Stop lying about UFOs. And start working on a Space Academy.
US Cyber Command – Eliminate participation in federal efforts to “fortify” U.S. elections; end overlap with NSA.
Special Operations Forces – Redefine and make irregular warfare a cornerstone of security strategy. This would include economic disruptions aimed at China, cyber attacks against adversarial businesses, personnel, and governments.
Nuclear Deterrence - Build, baby, build. Under Project 2025, nuclear production would be bulked up. Among other things, this would involve accelerating the “development and production of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile”.
Missile Defense – Apparently these guys missed the memo on building an Iron Dome to protect the US. (It’s a silly idea, given the size of the country, the borders we have with non-hostile nations, and the costs.)
(*) Author Christopher Miller was acting secretary of Defense for the final days of the Trump administration. He was accused of deliberate acts to sabotage the transition to the Biden administration and for being the reason national guard troops were delayed in responding the the assault on the capitol on January 6, 2021
Foreign policy ideas and directions run throughout Project 2025, but many of the details are contradictory. It’s important to remember this document is about two things: the means to rule the country and ideas about what to do with this power.
Tomorrow, I’ll jump into their guidance on the Department of Homeland Security, a topic Republicans can be touchy about, since legislators keep getting nabbed by TSA for bringing guns on to planes.
Lookie here:
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Monday News You Should Read
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Support for Project 2025 Surging On Proud Boys and White Supremacist Forums via GPAHE (Global Project Against Hate And Extremism)
There’s a lot for white supremacists to like in Project 2025. It calls the “left” “subversive” and “deviant” and will eliminate LGBTQ+ and transgender rights, institute punishing immigration policies including draconian roundups and tent cities, militarize the border and end refugee programs, abolish DEI efforts and fire those who supported them, and purge the government of “deep state” and “woke” civil servants, replacing them with “a database of personnel vetted for conservative values and loyalty.” It’s supported by more than 100 conservative organizations, many of which are explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ or anti-immigrant and/or rooted in Christian Nationalism.
So it’s not surprising that white supremacists, who are generally opposed to things like civil rights, like the Proud Boys, are supporting Project 2025, becoming more vocal, especially now that it’s hit the mainstream.
Far-right actors have been using Telegram, a fringe social media platform known for its unmoderated forums, to support Project 2025. But interest has now skyrocketed. There was a 1,425 percent increase in mentions of Project 2025 on channels GPAHE monitors between June 30, the day of the BET Awards, and July 5, when Donald Trump publicly distanced himself from the plan. Several Proud Boys chapters took to Telegram to voice their opinions. Proud Boys of Columbus called Project 2025 “child’s play,” suggesting Project 2025 isn’t all that extreme, a sentiment shared by Proud Boys Ohio and the Ohio Active Club.
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In the South, Sea Level Rise Accelerates at Some of the Most Extreme Rates on Earth via Inside Climate News
Worldwide sea levels have climbed since 1900 by some 1.5 millimeters a year, a pace that is unprecedented in at least 3,000 years and generally attributable to melting ice sheets and glaciers and also the expansion of the oceans as their temperatures warm. Since the middle of the 20th century the rate has gained speed, exceeding 3 millimeters a year since 1992.
In the South the pace has quickened further, jumping from about 1.7 millimeters a year at the turn of the 20th century to at least 8.4 millimeters by 2021, according to a 2023 study published in Nature Communications based on tidal gauge records from throughout the region. In Pensacola, a beachy community on the western side of the Florida Panhandle, the rate soared to roughly 11 millimeters a year by the end of 2021.
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Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon that could be used to shelter future explorers via The Associated Press
Most of the pits seem to be located in the moon’s ancient lava plains, according to the scientists. There also could be some at the moon’s south pole, the planned location of NASA’s astronaut landings later this decade. Permanently shadowed craters there are believed to hold frozen water that could provide drinking water and rocket fuel.
During NASA’s Apollo program, 12 astronauts landed on the moon, beginning with Armstrong and Aldrin on July 20, 1969.
The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits on the moon and thousands of lava tubes. Such places could serve as a natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays and solar radiation as well as from micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even when factoring in the potential need of reinforcing the cave walls to prevent a collapse, the team said.
