Analysis: Recently, The NYT published a story detailing Trump’s plans if he is re-elected: “Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025.” The plans include a sinister expansion of presidential powers with a focus on tearing down independent agencies 1/x
such as the FTC, the FCC as well as “scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified”
“What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them” 2/x
These independent agencies, that Trump (and Charles Koch and Bob Mercer etc.) want to destroy are the agencies fundamental to upholding democracy.
Also noted in the NYT’s article is “Project 2025,” constructed by the Heritage Foundation (Charles Koch, Robert Mercer.) 3/x
Project 2025 This is a 180 day plan which will be implemented by EVERY elected Republican, “the scale of which is unprecedented.” This should terrify everyone. Let me explain: In ‘Democracy in Chains,’ Nancy MacLean laid out the Koch plan for the stealth destruction of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Libertarian James Buchanan was a political economist who greatly influenced Charles Koch’s ideas. Nancy Maclean had stumbled across Buchanan’s letters and documents in a deserted clapboard house on the campus of George Mason University in Virginia in 2013. 5/x
^^^ (The Guardian. 2017)
Buchanan and Koch had a megalomaniacal vision of a government which was unable to respond to the will of the majority, unless the wealthiest Americans all agreed.
6/x
Koch and Buchanan recognized that anyone who wasn’t extravagantly wealthy would oppose their plan.
Nancy MacLean on Buchanan (Slate, 2017):
7/x
One of Buchanon’s proposals that Koch was especially fond of was to make such a flurry of changes all at once, that the public had a hard time opposing them (Project 2025… 180 days.)
8/x
They even addressed how to manipulate voters to support their cause, in spite of it being against the voter’s best interest and getting voters to “unwittingly enable an ‘unpopular’ agenda.”
9/x
And this is why Koch Network organizations design and fund so many fake grassroots movements. The point of fake grassroots movements such as ‘Mom’s for Liberty,’ is to exhaust public school resources and drive teachers away, so that private schools become the only option. 10/x
Mom’s for Liberty is funded by the Heritage Foundation and The Leadership Institute - two critical members of the Council for National Policy.
This is only one example of fake grassroots campaigns Koch network supported or contrived. 11/x
Other fake grassroots Koch Network campaigns include anti-mask campaigns (including opposition to school mask mandates,) the Critical Race theory nonsense (Koch network published 79 articles in one year on CRT.) And let’s not forget the tens of millions of dollars Koch and Mercer… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
These orchestrated grassroots campaigns are all designed to lure in voters to believe that Republicans are all about personal freedom. It couldn’t be further from the truth. 13/x
At a secretly recorded Heritage Foundation meeting they discussed their $22 million dollar plan ‘Project 2025.’ The 180 day plan. They have model legislation ready to go with “a grass roots vibe.” 14/x
“Iowa was the first state to work it. And we did it quickly and we did it quietly. And we got Governor Reynolds to sign the bill.” The female Heritage Foundation speaker brags about getting Republican Governor Reynolds to sign a bill on March 8th (2021) to shorten early and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
“Little fanfare. Honestly, nobody noticed… It can’t be that easy.” She goes on to say how she sat down with Governor Kemp to ensure he signed an election package. Kemp signed the bill March 25, 2021, a bill restricting overall voting in the state. 16/x
Buchanan talked about the importance of creating a “gravy train” to “bring men into the fold.” Money talks.
17/x
And money talking is why Bob Mercer spent $3.6 million between 2012-2014 to ensure Citizen’s United passed, allowing corporations and special interest groups to have an outsized influence in elections. And let’s not forget that Mercer spent an estimated $52 million to get Trump… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
In 2018, the Heritage Foundation published a list of all the model legislation, regulatory changes that they expected Trump to do. At that point, he had completed 64% of their agenda.
In a leaked audiotape in 2014, Sen. Mitch McConnell admits the significant control the Kochs have over the Republican Party:
“And I want to start by thanking you, Charles and David (Koch) for the important work you’re doing. I don’t know where we’d be without you”… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Sen. Bernie Sanders on David Koch:
So what do Koch and Mercer want? They tout ‘Economic Freedom.’ The power for corporations to act without accountability. Ultimately their goal would be the removal of labor laws and worker protections and to remove unions.
22/x
Koch and Mercer want the removal of governmental checks and balances. The removal of all social programs including Medicare and Social Security. Privatize schools. Eliminate the Federal Department of Education: 23/x
(From Project 2025:)
Gut HUD. Privatize highways. Destroy the USPS (Charles Koch has been working to destroy USPS for 50 years.) Stop government action on climate change. Make it more difficult to vote and at some point, make voting pointless.
24/x
Make a super majority requirement to raise taxes: 25/x
(From Project, 2025)
Transform the legal and judicial system and ultimately to amend the Constitution so that these changes can be locked in place.
Their ‘economic freedom’ will absolutely take away the personal freedom of every American. 26/x
Don’t be fooled by the garbage science put out by the Heritage Foundation claiming “Economic Freedom” is good for the economy. It’s only good personally for billionaires. Don’t be fooled by the garbage science put out by the Heritage Foundation claiming “Economic Freedom” is good… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Under no circumstances can Trump (and Koch and Mercer and other Libertarian billionaires) be allowed to win this upcoming presidential election.
Democracy is on the ballot.
-End
28/x
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Where are we on knowledge about COVID (and why you should get vaccinated and mask in appropriate situations.) 😊
1/x
The virulence (deadliness)of Delta is much higher compared to other Covid variants.
‘Increases with Delta variant were more pronounced: 120% (93-153%) for hospitalization; 287% (198-399%) for ICU admission; and 137% (50-230%) for death’
Masks work and unmasking in indoor spaces is only safe once there is no longer *uncontrolled* spread in the community. This thread is a heroic review of some of the research on masks:
‘Trump's defense secretary (Miller) confirms he didn't approve plan to deploy National Guard until after Pence called him — over 3 hours after the Capitol riot began’
Two miles away waited 40 quick response National Guard members, who could not be deployed without Miller and McCarthy’s approval.
The commander of the D.C. Nat. Guard, Walker, said that had he not been recently restricted, he could have deployed sooner washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
Miller today said 1.5 hours of delay was caused by Gen. Walker creating a "concept of operations" plan to send troops to clear the building.
Walker (Jan 26) in regards to time to deploy quick response troops: “With all deliberate speed — I mean, they’re right down the street.”
‘phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did’
‘McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump's supporters and begged Trump to call them off’
‘A furious McCarthy told the President the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows, and asked Trump, "Who the f--k do you think you are talking to?"’
‘The Republican members of Congress said the exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters’
‘It's unclear to what extent these new details were known by the House Democratic impeachment managers or whether the team considered calling McCarthy as a witness’
I am reading the letter by Acting Sec Defense Miller Jan 4 that essentially broke the normal response chain to deploy the Nat. Guard on Jan 6. It is also astonishingly specific, including not using Intel assets.
Miller was installed after Trump lost the election, which was considered somewhat unusual.
Now the story gets stranger. Miller reports he met with Trump Jan 5, the night before the riot.
Let’s piece together what happened to Ambassador Yovanovitch. She testified that Guilliani and a ‘corrupt foreign prosecutor general’ had plans to ‘do things to her.’ She was told this by Ukraine officials.
So this discussion between Lutsenko and Parvas should be looked at through the lens of Ambassador Yovanovitch’s fear that they were going to ‘do something to me’
‘Expressing that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Russian Federation interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential election and deliberately spread false information to implicate the Republic of Ukraine’