Yes! Exactly!!! Upon reading the published outline of Project 2029 the other day, I was despondent. Do Democrats not get it, STILL? Thank you for clearly articulating what we should be messaging!!
1. Drop abstractions like "affordability" unless it is backed up by concrete examples: "We will restore the medical insurance subsides Republicans stole to pay for a stupid war none of you wanted." Etc. Etc.
2. Better have a worked out plan any the post-election pre-inauguration period efforts Trump and his MAGA crew may employ to challenge/overthrow the election results. We may end up with a situation much worse than what led up to Jan. 6 the last time around. We better be prepared for anything.
PS
Can we call it something else besides Project 2029? It sounds merely reactive and weakly imitative.
The Project 2029 for America is also headed up (or at least co-founded) by Andrei Cherny, a big Dem donor based in Arizona who was the former CEO of Aspiration bank before the floor fell out.
I'm with you for making accountability a critical fulcrum for the next presidency. It needs to start with "who leads" and at the very least questioning why someone who was CEO of a bank that later had an executive convicted of fraud should be leading these conversations.
Way too many in “Democratic circles” continue to be so completely blind to what is needed if, big IF, they are ever able to win a trifecta.
Yes, thinking through policies is important. Voters want to know what Dems stand for, what the can do for the American people. But, unless there are massive structural changes none of those policies matter.
So unless there is a secret Project 2029 that lays out how Dems can restore a functioning ‘for the people’ government including accountability for bad actors, ridding the entire government of right wing partisans, court reform, election reforms (fair maps, a real VRA, expanding the house…) etc., it will likely be the last Dem trifecta for the foreseeable future.
Are we surprised that corporate centrist democrats and their consultant class have such a bland agenda? Did you think they would dare put up a fight that threatens any of their donors?
It’s past time to have an intra party revolt and overthrow these feckless cowards who are most responsible for Trump.
Think Josh Shapiro is going to be fighting to break up the oligarchy? He’d rather congratulate Trump than stand beside Mamdani.
If I'm not mistaken, the ACTUAL Project 2025 was largely or wholly put together by people who weren't senators or congresspeople. It was a bunch of people on the sidelines (some former officials, some not) who had a deep understanding of reality and a deep desire to accomplish certain goals.
With that in mind, YOU'RE a good writer and someone with good ideas, a deep understanding of reality, and a desire to accomplish certain goals. See my leading clip from The Fifth Element - if you want something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. I'll bet you know other people with a similar point of view, some of whom have some influence. etc etc etc.
Yes we need a plan to deliver economically but first and foremost we need to make electoral reform and strengthening democratic institutions our number one priority by far. The MAGA fever isn’t just magically gonna go away and due to structural electoral reasons (the two party system) and the senate setup (distorted in favor of rural interest(MAGA)), the electorate is only going to have that as a choice or Democrats. Where do they go when they are upset? We just saw that happen in 2024. We need to fix the clock itself so it isn’t Groundhog Day every 4-8 years.
From the beginning the Srarchlight Institute has been a reactionary centrist shop. I would not expect anything better from them especially when they opened with saying the Democrats should try meeting Republicans half way on abortion. The biggest issues I've heard from them is don't say abolish ICE and the usual thing about identity politics are the problem not corruption or disenfranchising citizens.
All that would be fine but the Democrats seem to only listen to them on strategies that don't seem great and assume things are the same.
The democrats who disagree with this are on their own.
why do you suggest "maga republicans " and not just "republicans "? it makes it sound like there is an appreciable non -maga faction that has been resisting these changes. but small number who occasionally did wont be in office in 2027
I’ve been thinking about how a future DOJ could prosecute Trump’s corruption in light of Trump v U.S. and it occurred to me that RICO or other conspiracy charges could work. If the culpable conduct Trump is charged with directly happened while he wasn’t president, that is if he joined a criminal conspiracy either before he took office the second time or after he left, then he could be held liable for any crimes committed by anyone in the conspiracy. So if Erik or Jared for example were soliciting bribes from Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Trump organization in exchange for some official action, none of that would require proof of any action by Trump as president. The crime of bribery is complete once the offer is made, not when the quo part of the quid pro quo kicks in. Plus, even if Trump never spent even a day behind bars, DOJ could potentially get civil penalties against the Trump Organization that would whittle it down to nothing.
The character of people has fundamentally changed. Now that it's apparently okay to brag about shortcuts, law breaking and dirty tricks to consolidate power (it has always been there, but we were once more shy about exposing our intentions) the time calls for a procedural war on our system of government, to claw back some resemblance of a level field.
This is spot on. I don't think any of us should feel confident that "the party" (writ large) is going to find its way; the incentives for it NOT TO are too large. But there are plenty of members of the party who get it. I think if we all sit around and hope for this to happen, rather than draft it ourselves and make their continued employment conditional upon approving this document, we are worse than Charlie Brown with the football at this point. Why don't we just do it ourselves? Brian, you have such a strong handle on this and I think your approach is spot on. We can create a global document, using tools like Pol.is (or other civic organizing apps) to comment/monitor/update. Let's take this Project 2029 m-fer into our own hands FFS. The party's leg (at the very least) is stuck in the same net that has swiped up the R's wholesale.
Im sure you are aware, but just in case you are not this may be worth paying attention too!
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-notes/
Their Project 2029 reads like a “strongly worded letter” from our current favorite Senate minority leader (I wonder who that is?) 😂
Excellent perspective- thanks!
Yes! Exactly!!! Upon reading the published outline of Project 2029 the other day, I was despondent. Do Democrats not get it, STILL? Thank you for clearly articulating what we should be messaging!!
Two thoughts and one comment:
1. Drop abstractions like "affordability" unless it is backed up by concrete examples: "We will restore the medical insurance subsides Republicans stole to pay for a stupid war none of you wanted." Etc. Etc.
2. Better have a worked out plan any the post-election pre-inauguration period efforts Trump and his MAGA crew may employ to challenge/overthrow the election results. We may end up with a situation much worse than what led up to Jan. 6 the last time around. We better be prepared for anything.
PS
Can we call it something else besides Project 2029? It sounds merely reactive and weakly imitative.
The Project 2029 for America is also headed up (or at least co-founded) by Andrei Cherny, a big Dem donor based in Arizona who was the former CEO of Aspiration bank before the floor fell out.
I'm with you for making accountability a critical fulcrum for the next presidency. It needs to start with "who leads" and at the very least questioning why someone who was CEO of a bank that later had an executive convicted of fraud should be leading these conversations.
Stop shrinking the big tent!
Way too many in “Democratic circles” continue to be so completely blind to what is needed if, big IF, they are ever able to win a trifecta.
Yes, thinking through policies is important. Voters want to know what Dems stand for, what the can do for the American people. But, unless there are massive structural changes none of those policies matter.
So unless there is a secret Project 2029 that lays out how Dems can restore a functioning ‘for the people’ government including accountability for bad actors, ridding the entire government of right wing partisans, court reform, election reforms (fair maps, a real VRA, expanding the house…) etc., it will likely be the last Dem trifecta for the foreseeable future.
Are we surprised that corporate centrist democrats and their consultant class have such a bland agenda? Did you think they would dare put up a fight that threatens any of their donors?
It’s past time to have an intra party revolt and overthrow these feckless cowards who are most responsible for Trump.
Think Josh Shapiro is going to be fighting to break up the oligarchy? He’d rather congratulate Trump than stand beside Mamdani.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMvYJsjwT3Y
If I'm not mistaken, the ACTUAL Project 2025 was largely or wholly put together by people who weren't senators or congresspeople. It was a bunch of people on the sidelines (some former officials, some not) who had a deep understanding of reality and a deep desire to accomplish certain goals.
With that in mind, YOU'RE a good writer and someone with good ideas, a deep understanding of reality, and a desire to accomplish certain goals. See my leading clip from The Fifth Element - if you want something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. I'll bet you know other people with a similar point of view, some of whom have some influence. etc etc etc.
Sooooo.....
Yes we need a plan to deliver economically but first and foremost we need to make electoral reform and strengthening democratic institutions our number one priority by far. The MAGA fever isn’t just magically gonna go away and due to structural electoral reasons (the two party system) and the senate setup (distorted in favor of rural interest(MAGA)), the electorate is only going to have that as a choice or Democrats. Where do they go when they are upset? We just saw that happen in 2024. We need to fix the clock itself so it isn’t Groundhog Day every 4-8 years.
From the beginning the Srarchlight Institute has been a reactionary centrist shop. I would not expect anything better from them especially when they opened with saying the Democrats should try meeting Republicans half way on abortion. The biggest issues I've heard from them is don't say abolish ICE and the usual thing about identity politics are the problem not corruption or disenfranchising citizens.
All that would be fine but the Democrats seem to only listen to them on strategies that don't seem great and assume things are the same.
The democrats who disagree with this are on their own.
why do you suggest "maga republicans " and not just "republicans "? it makes it sound like there is an appreciable non -maga faction that has been resisting these changes. but small number who occasionally did wont be in office in 2027
I’ve been thinking about how a future DOJ could prosecute Trump’s corruption in light of Trump v U.S. and it occurred to me that RICO or other conspiracy charges could work. If the culpable conduct Trump is charged with directly happened while he wasn’t president, that is if he joined a criminal conspiracy either before he took office the second time or after he left, then he could be held liable for any crimes committed by anyone in the conspiracy. So if Erik or Jared for example were soliciting bribes from Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Trump organization in exchange for some official action, none of that would require proof of any action by Trump as president. The crime of bribery is complete once the offer is made, not when the quo part of the quid pro quo kicks in. Plus, even if Trump never spent even a day behind bars, DOJ could potentially get civil penalties against the Trump Organization that would whittle it down to nothing.
The character of people has fundamentally changed. Now that it's apparently okay to brag about shortcuts, law breaking and dirty tricks to consolidate power (it has always been there, but we were once more shy about exposing our intentions) the time calls for a procedural war on our system of government, to claw back some resemblance of a level field.
GOPus delendus est.
This is spot on. I don't think any of us should feel confident that "the party" (writ large) is going to find its way; the incentives for it NOT TO are too large. But there are plenty of members of the party who get it. I think if we all sit around and hope for this to happen, rather than draft it ourselves and make their continued employment conditional upon approving this document, we are worse than Charlie Brown with the football at this point. Why don't we just do it ourselves? Brian, you have such a strong handle on this and I think your approach is spot on. We can create a global document, using tools like Pol.is (or other civic organizing apps) to comment/monitor/update. Let's take this Project 2029 m-fer into our own hands FFS. The party's leg (at the very least) is stuck in the same net that has swiped up the R's wholesale.