Donald Trump says he doesn't know anything about Project 2025. Would you be surprised to find out that Trump is lying? I didn't think so. In fact, most of P25's 30-odd authors worked on either Trumps campaign(s) or under Trump in the White House before Trump himself was finally, blessedly, fired by the voters on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.

And then we all breathed a sigh of relief.

And then January 6th happened, and we knew the nightmare wasn't over. Project 2025 is a manifestation of that scary dream.

Produced under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, Project 2025 is a 900-page plan for remaking the United States government along the lines of an authoritarian theocracy. To achieve that goal, the plan outlines in detail how to replace knowledgeable government experts with right-wing political hacks who will not question any order no matter how unethical or illegal. The lackeys will literally have to pass an ideological loyalty test before consideration for key jobs in the federal government. Once in those posts their main job will be to serve Trump; all other considerations will be secondary.

Where the document discusses specific policies, those proposals are right out of the MAGA fever dream: militarize the southern border; round up non-citizens and place them in concentration camps; outlaw the sale of abortion drugs through the mail; eliminate the Department of Education (to facilitate the teaching of Christian dogmas with public funds); place the Department of Justice under direct control of the president (to facilitate the persecution of political rivals); do away with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (to facilitate the predatory lending of Trump's rich cronies); defund NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (because those pesky scientists keep mentioning climate change, as if it was something real);...the list goes on.

Trump says, "I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it."

This is, of course, a bald lie. The drafting of Project 2025 was led by former Trump administration officials Paul Dans and Spencer Chretien. Dans, who is Project 2025's Director, was chief of staff the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration; and Chretien, now Project 2025 Deputy Director, is a former White House special assistant to Trump.

John McEntee, former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office under Trump, is a senior advisor to the Heritage Foundation.

Over 80% of Project 2025's authors (there are over 30) are former Trump administration and/or Trump Campaign officials.

It's no wonder that Trump is trying to distance himself from Project 2025; the more we learn about the plan, the more clear it is that it means to end Democracy in America.

Trump routinely denies that he knows people or things when public awareness of that knowledge is politically or legally damaging to him.

For instance, Trump denied knowing the author E. Jean Carroll (he also said she was not his "type" ). Yet we have photographic evidence of the two together (and Trump mistook Carroll in the picture for his ex-wife). Trump was judged to have raped Carroll in a department store fitting room; he currently owes her around $100 million in fines and interest for defamation.

Trump says he doesn't know much about QAnon, despite the fact he himself is the central character of the conspiracy theory. According to the "theory," Trump is a sort of demigod, a magical being with an aura of invincibility, supposedly engaged in a cosmic battle of good against evil. The villain? A cabal of Democrat child-sex predators who drink children's blood. If there was a lurid conspiracy theory with international fame and YOU were its central character, don't you think you would know about it?

Trump partied with Jeffrey Epstein for years. In a 2002 New York magazine article, Trump was quoted describing Epstein as a "terrific guy." The magazine also quoted Trump as saying that Epstein "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Then, when Epstein came under scrutiny for child sex trafficking, Trump said he was "not a fan." Trump's Secretary of Labor, Alex Acosta, had previously been a US Attorney in Florida and was the one who brokered the secret, sweetheart deal that, for a while, kept Epstein out of jail. Coincidence?

Trump claims he knew nothing of the persistent pattern of financial fraud that went on for decades inside his own company, The Trump Organization. The company's CFO and Trump's right-hand man, Alan Weisselberg, was recently convicted of felony fraud and did time in Rikers Island. (Alan is currently doing a second bit at Rikers for perjury.) Company insiders have testified under oath that Donald Trump is a micro-manager who keeps a close eye on all operations. Even CFO Weisselberg is not allowed to cut a check for more than ten thousand dollars without the Donald's OK. The idea that Trump didn't knows is laughable. Trump has been barred from doing business in the state of New York, and a Manhattan court has levied penalties and interest of almost half a billion dollars against him.

Theses are only a few examples of Trump's lies concerning who or what he knows. There are many, many more.

Not only is Trump intimately familiar with the provisions of Project 2025, he began implementing some of them while still in office. All that shuffling and re-shuffling of Trump administration personnel? That was Trumpty Dumpty's half-assed attempt to do what Project 2025 is designed to do much more efficiently: install yes-men into all the top positions.

In one term, Trump had 3 FBI Directors (James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Christopher Wray);

5 Attorneys General (Sally Yates, Matthew Whitaker, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, Jeffrey Rosen);

3 Chiefs of Staff (John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney, Mark Meadows);

4 Secretaries of Defense (James Mattis, Patrick Shanahan, Mark Esper Christopher Miller);

5 National Security Advisors (Michael Flynn, Keith Kellogg, H.R. McMaster, John Bolton, Charlie Kupperman).

Why so much turnover? Well, in some cases Trump tried to install people who, for different reasons, couldn't serve. For instance, when Trump's first National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was found to have been illegally acting as an agent of a foreign power, he had to go. In other cases, Trump followed convention and hired experts and professionals. And when they balked at his extreme, inane, and or illegal orders, Trump either fired them, or they quit.

If given another bite at the apple, would-be dictator Trump will hit the ground running with extremist toadies ready to grovel from day one. Thousands of minions have already been vetted and are, like the Proud Boys on January 5, standing by. If Trump takes office, there will be no one to say "no" when Trump orders deployment of United States troops against United States citizens.

And the Supreme Court just gave blanket immunity from criminal prosecution for all official and quasi-official presidential acts.

Trump has demonstrated over and over that he does not possess the character or temperament to be safely entrusted with any kind of power, much less the awesome power of the United States presidency. So let's not give it to this cheap crook, this malignant narcissist.

[thehill.com]

[npr.org]

[cbsnews.com]

[time.com]

[popular.info]

[reuters.com]

[abcnews.go.com]

[politifact.com]