{"id":1050782,"date":"2025-01-15T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050782"},"modified":"2025-01-15T15:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T20:01:09","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-today-donald-trumps-extreme-project-2025-cabinet-picks-take-center-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-today-donald-trumps-extreme-project-2025-cabinet-picks-take-center-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 TODAY: Donald Trump\u2019s Extreme Project 2025 Cabinet Picks Take Center Stage\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Today, Donald Trump\u2019s extreme Project 2025 Cabinet picks are on Capitol Hill for committee hearings, and Democrats stand ready to fight back against their dangerous and unpopular<\/a> agenda. Trump spent his entire campaign lying to the American people and trying to distance himself from Project 2025. But now, the mask is off \u2014 he\u2019s trying to stack his Cabinet with Project 2025 architects, allies, and contributors who will put blind loyalty to Trump above all else and push his toxic agenda on Day One. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project 2025 chief architect Russ Vought will push to ban abortion nationwide, gut critical programs like Social Security and Medicare, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and more \u2014 just as he\u2019s done his entire career and during Trump\u2019s first term. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>PBS<\/a>: \u201cA chief architect of Project 2025<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cVought has sold many Republicans on the untested premise that the GOP can push to obliterate almost all other major forms of federal spending, especially programs that benefit lower-income Americans<\/strong> …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plan includes $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid<\/strong>, the health program for the poor; more than $600 billion in cuts to the Affordable Care Act<\/strong>; more than $400 billion in cuts to food stamps<\/strong>; hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to educational subsidies; and a halving of the State Department and the Labor Department,<\/strong> among other federal agencies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russ Vought<\/a>: \u201cProposed reforms would also end coverage of disabilities<\/strong> unrelated to military duties and training. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Budget would reduce these disability payments by 30 percent<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cEach of [Trump\u2019s] White House budget proposals included cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cRussell T. Vought, a former senior Trump administration official who ran the Office of Management and Budget, is celebrated by the anti-abortion movement for successfully blocking funds for Planned Parenthood during the Trump administration.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Republic<\/a>: \u201cOn January 20, 2025, conservatives plan to resurrect a 150-year-old defunct law to ban abortion across the nation.<\/strong> This is not a secret plan\u2014far from it. It\u2019s part of the 180-Day Playbook produced by Project 2025, detailing priorities for an incoming conservative president on day one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project 2025 ally Pam Bondi faces major conflict of interest concerns stemming from, among other things, previously dropping an investigation into Trump University after asking for and receiving a $25,000 illegal contribution to a political group backing her campaign from a Trump charity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

America First Policy Institute<\/a>: \u201cPam Bondi is from Tampa, Florida, and serves as the Chair for the Center for Litigation, and Co-Chair of the Center for Law and Justice at AFPI<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cFor the America First Policy Institute, which is helping to implement Project 2025,<\/strong> its grandest ambitions lie in soliciting governors and state attorneys general to the cause, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CREW<\/a>: \u201cIn March 2016, CREW discovered that the Trump Foundation had broken the law by giving an illegal $25,000 contribution to a political group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.<\/strong> Charitable foundations like the Trump Foundation are not allowed to engage in politics. Even more problematic was the fact that the contribution was given as Bondi\u2019s office was deciding whether to take legal action related to Trump University.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cThe donation came<\/strong> from one of Trump\u2019s charities six days after Bondi\u2019s then-spokeswoman told a reporter their office was \u2018currently reviewing the allegations\u2019 against Trump University<\/strong> in a class action lawsuit in New York, according to internal emails that were among more than 8,000 pages of documents originally requested by The Orlando Sentinel and also obtained by CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlorida never pursued any investigation or action against Trump or his university.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vox<\/a>: \u201cThen, four days later, a $25,000 check from Trump to Bondi\u2019s reelection campaign showed up. Bondi ended up not suing Trump after all, even though she had plenty of reason to do so.<\/strong> Florida had received complaints about Trump\u2019s series of real estate seminars, and a class-action lawsuit on behalf of students in the state is currently in progress in federal court in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201ccritics question if Ms. Bondi will bring that same transactional philosophy to the Justice Department.<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMs. Bondi represented a long roster of corporate clients<\/strong>, including Uber and Amazon. Many of these companies have business with the federal government \u2014 and could be subject to scrutiny by a Justice Department run by her, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters<\/a>: \u201cPam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, said Trump had won the battleground state of Pennsylvania as votes were still being counted, and implied fraud was taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018We do have evidence of cheating,\u2019 Bondi said on Fox News, on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the election, citing ballots allegedly being \u2018dumped\u2019 and mailed to dead people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018We are not going anywhere until they declare that we won Pennsylvania,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump would go on to lose the state, and the election. No evidence has emerged to support his claims of widespread fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cIn public appearances in the week after the election, Bondi also made unfounded allegations about \u2018evidence of cheating\u2019 and \u2018fake ballots,\u2019<\/strong> and in private huddles with other campaign advisers she discussed legal strategies to challenge the results in a state Joe Biden ultimately won by 80,000 votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s pick for CIA director, John Ratcliffe, is a Project 2025 contributor and a longtime loyalist with a history of pushing conspiracy theories and politicizing national security.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/a>: \u201cPresident-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that John Ratcliffe<\/strong>, his former director of national intelligence who has been listed as a \u2018contributor\u2019 to Project 2025<\/strong>, is his pick to lead the CIA.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cTrump Picks Loyalist for Job\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Mr. Ratcliffe<\/strong> is confirmed by the Senate, he will offer a starkly different perspective in the Situation Room, one more in line with Mr. Trump\u2019s thinking. Mr. Ratcliffe, a third-term Republican from Texas and a former prosecutor, has embraced Mr. Trump\u2019s theories about the Russia investigation<\/strong> and was among the sharpest questioners of Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel, at last week\u2019s hearings.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother Jones<\/a>: \u201cTrump Rewards Conspiracy Theorist With Key National Security Job\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cWhile the president has long distrusted the intelligence community and displayed frustration with head of the C.I.A. and antipathy toward the F.B.I. director, Mr. Ratcliffe<\/strong> has served as a more supportive figure. He secured influence in part by delivering on the president\u2019s political agenda<\/strong>, chiefly by declassifying documents related to the Russia investigation, moves said to please Mr. Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCritics have attacked Mr. Ratcliffe\u2019s embrace of Mr. Trump, saying Mr. Ratcliffe cannot be trusted to deliver unvarnished facts in this highly polarized election and is focused on politics in what is supposed to be an apolitical role.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Donald Trump\u2019s extreme Project 2025 Cabinet picks are on Capitol Hill for committee hearings, and Democrats stand ready to fight back against their dangerous and unpopular agenda. Trump spent his entire campaign lying to the American people and trying to distance himself from Project 2025. But now, the mask is off \u2014 he\u2019s trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\ud83d\udea8 TODAY: Donald Trump\u2019s Extreme Project 2025 Cabinet Picks Take Center Stage\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/\ud83d\udea8-today-donald-trumps-extreme-project-2025-cabinet-picks-take-center-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T20:01:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-today-donald-trumps-extreme-project-2025-cabinet-picks-take-center-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-today-donald-trumps-extreme-project-2025-cabinet-picks-take-center-stage\/\",\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8 TODAY: Donald Trump\u2019s Extreme Project 2025 Cabinet Picks Take Center Stage\u00a0 - 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