Stemming the Tide by Geoff Carter « The Pen in Hand Blog

Illustration by Michael DiMilo

By Geoff Carter

The beat goes on. And on. It just won’t stop. Like the relentless pounding of a jackhammer or the thumping of an overdriven car speaker, the deranged agenda of the Trump administration and its Project 2025 adherents will just… not… stop.

For a while, it seemed as if we had them on the ropes. After the DOGE blitzkrieg of departmental takeovers, mass firings, indiscriminate—and idiotic—budget cuts, and occupations of federal spaces, the American people rose in hundreds of mass demonstrations.

When he pardoned over one thousand January 6^th rioters, we rose up.
When he closed the Department of Education, we rose up.
When he fired veterans, we rose up.
When he fired park rangers, scientists, VA nurses, and prosecutors, we rose up.
When he threatened social security and Medicaid, we rose up.
When he imposed insanely erratic tariffs, we rose up.
When he tanked the economy, we rose up.
When his minions put our soldiers in danger during SIGNALGATE, we rose up.
When he threatened Mexico, Canada, Greenland, and Panama, we rose up.
When he betrayed the Ukrainian people, we rose up.
When he started deporting innocent U.S. citizens to El Salvador, we rose up.
When he threatened universities, we rose up.
When he threatened private law firms, we rose up.
When he kissed Putin’s ass, we rose up.

The people weren’t alone in their righteous anger. Labor unions, the ACLU, and other entities brought lawsuit after lawsuit against Trump’s illegal and draconian policies. The judicial did its part to reign in these overreaches. According to the Labor unions, the ACLU, and other entities brought lawsuit after lawsuit against Trump’s illegal and draconian policies. The judicial did its part to reign in these overreaches. And so did the people.

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has had 225 lawsuits filed against it; of these, 135 judgements filed for unlawful budget freezes, firings, birthright citizenship, immigration, and DOGE have gone against the administration. And there are many more on the docket.

But believe it or not, this is only the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of a list of grievances which is frightening considering this administration has only been in power for a little over one hundred days.

Labor unions, the ACLU, New York, New Jersey, Washington, other various states, non-profits, and other entities have brought lawsuit after lawsuit against Trump’s illegal and draconian policies. The judicial has done its part to reign in these overreaches. And so did the people. Yet it may not be enough. The ugly beat goes on. Trump and the Project 2025 zealots are relentless.

For a while, it seemed as if we—while not winning—were at least holding the fort. We were stemming the tide. The wave of court judgements against Trump seemed to stimy him. His approval ratings, dropping like a rock from a hot air balloon, seemed to give him pause—but not for long.

His Cabinet of henchmen and yes men have pushed on without pause. He has deferred and hedged and stalled (all of which adds to defying) a judicial order from the Supreme Court of the United States. He has continued to issue illegal executive orders. He has gone ahead with his illegal (remember the rules of emolument?) bitcoin scam. He is continuing to harass and deport U.S. citizens without due process. He has refused to return Kilmar Obrega Garcia from the CESCO maximum-security prison in El Salvador to which he was deported. Despite plunging stock market indices, he is refusing to give up his “economic emergency powers” to indiscriminately and recklessly place tariffs on every other country in the world.

As bad as all this is—and we haven’t come near to covering everything—this gutting of the federal government goes deeper than just one man. The roots of the policies of the present administration go back at least as far as 2010 and the advent of the Tea Party. It could be argued that some of today’s Republican strategies go back to the advent of the Christian Nationalists. This is not a man; this is a movement.

The Trump Administration is following the blueprint of Project 2025. According to CBS News, most of President Trump’s executive orders have followed Project 2025 directives almost to the letter. The elimination of the Department of Education, the elimination of DEI programs, NOAA, the gutting of the EPA, the elimination of USAID; the attacks on PBS and public radio, transgender citizens, immigrants, and our universities are all carefully delineated in Project 2025.

In addition, the architects of Project 2025 advocate the cutting Medicare and Social Security and granting special privileges to couples who have children—their somewhat perverted vision of family. Abortion would be illegal under any circumstances. These will be their next steps, and should something happen to President Trump, Vice-President J.D. Vance, who wrote the foreword to Project 2025, will take up the reins and continue this draconian vision.

It’s also no coincidence that the razor-thin Republican majorities in Congress are holding firm. A number of prominent senators, including Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Rick Scott have explicit ties to the project, while many others are beholden to—or frightened of—the president. While many traditional Republicans representatives might still believe in bipartisanship and—well, our Constitution—their silence and refusal to act is damning.

This is far from over. Whether the courts and the American people will stand firm has yet to be seen. The majority of Donald Trump’s executive orders have been overturned in the courts. Nearly all of his policies are deeply unpopular with the American people. His approval ratings are plummeting. For a normal politician, this would anathema—but these are not normal times.

To get a better idea of how closely the objectives of Project 2025 align with the actions of Trump 2.0, check out The Center for Progressive Reform Executive Action Tracker or The Project 2025 Tracker.

To fight for the country and the democratic ideals you grew up with—and which we all took for granted—we must stand and be heard. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders have been barnstorming the country with their “Fighting Oligarchy” campaign, filling stadiums in even deep-red states. Mass demonstrations have been occurring almost non-stop since Inauguration Day, yet this will be an uphill battle. The Republicans have very deep pockets and have proven they will stop at nothing to kill our American democracy. They have broken the law, stripped U.S. citizens of due process, attacked the judiciary, and attempted to co-opt the military.

This is only the beginning of a long and ugly fight.