Project 2025 Wants to 'Flip the Board' of American Government

What Trump's First Criminal Trial Means for Democracy

Have you ever watched a board game like chess, and witnessed someone who is losing flip over the board in frustration? Game pieces fly everywhere. The board topples to the ground. Chaos ensues.

No chess tournament facilitator would stand for it. The player would be immediately disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.

We witnessed Trump flip the board throughout most of his presidency — nay, before it even. But instead of disqualifying him, the conservative right only elevated him further.

Their lord and savior Donald Trump in 2015

So he kept breaking the law.

Trump’s first criminal trial is underway in New York this week. He was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after he made Michael Cohen pay Stormy Daniels $420,000 to keep quiet about their illicit affair. The arrangement was that Cohen would pay Daniels and then Trump would reimburse Cohen, subverting any traceable connection between him and the adult film star.

Trump doesn’t seem to be enjoying his day in court. Entering the courtroom on his first day in a navy blue suit without his MAGA-branded fanfare, Trump was made to sit in a stiff, utilitarian wooden chair not of his choosing for an entire day, listening while told the truth about his actions. He allegedly scowled at potential jurors. Witnesses caught him falling asleep in the courtroom.

Nevermind the immoral. What Trump did was illegal, and this case is quite possibly the strongest one against Trump — and the strongest case you can make against reelection. Why then do only 35 percent of Americans think Trump broke any laws?

Because people don’t understand what the law is. But Trump did. And he knew exactly what he was doing. He lied to become president.

Bragg brought 34 counts of business falsification against Trump. Normally a misdemeanor under New York law, the crime becomes a felony when it’s done with the “intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”

The illegal action wasn’t that Trump paid off Daniels to hide the affair from his wife Melania. He did so to hide it from the American public.

At the time, Trump assumed (as many of us did) that a married man cheating on his postpartum wife with a porn star would be the ultimate dealbreaker for the religious right, the group he most desperately needed to win in 2016. Ahhhh, the halcyon days of thinking evangelicals actually believe what they espouse.

We’ll never make that mistake again.

It’s no surprise then that conservative (supposedly) Christians are the ones rallying around Trump in his hour of need. The Babylon Bee joked that right-wing Christian nationalist Matt Walsh would be the surprise judge in Trump’s trial (Can men be funny?) Pastor, antivaxxer, and possible Lauren Boebert home wrecker Sean Fuecht spends the majority of his twitter feed defending Trump.

Their desperation to clear him of any wrongdoing, despite how obvious it is, parallels their plot to straight up overthrow democracy if they regain control of the executive branch. Project 2025, the dystopian “presidential transition project” dreamed up by the Heritage Foundation, details in 920 excruciating pages how extremists will wipe out entire federal departments, firing all employees and replacing them with sycophants who will do their bidding. They are already vetting candidates over on their website.

And they’ve found the perfect surrogate in Donald Trump, who has made it clear he will not hesitate to cheat and lie to become president, and he will gleefully use violence to stay president. The ultimate board flip was Jan. 6 where Trump worked up a mob to storm the Capitol and endanger the lives of hundreds of Capitol police and lawmakers.

Trump has made it clear: He will flip the board for right-wing extremists.

We cannot let a Trump presidency happen again.

This is where I remind you that your social media feed looks much different than the average American’s. While we’re ingesting nonstop political news and commentary, most people’s algorithms are sports and home decor tips and clothing sales. While other people run out to get the newest Stanley cup (not to be confused with the Stanley Cup) when it becomes available, we wait for the newest edition of The Atlantic. While most people update their fantasy football teams religiously, we click refresh for the freshest bit of news. When people lob words meant as insults at us like “bleeding heart liberal” or “social justice warrior” we see them as badges of pride.

We are made different.

The average American just isn’t there, so you have to find a way to break through the noise and reach them. And by that I mean YOU. The people within your circle of influence believe you, not me or the Rachel Maddow or the pundits you pay attention to. So strike up a conversation.

Project 2025 only works if voters are ignorant, so let’s not let that happen. It’s imperative that instead of letting them flip the board, we flip them the bird.

Tomorrow I’ll post some helpful tips for how to have these conversations.

Onward, Democracy Defenders!

Tiffany

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