by Ken Abramczyk
Democrats gathered last week at the Democratic National Convention to share their messages of community, hope, unity, and promise. They highlighted President Joe Biden and Vice President and presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ efforts and victories for American families, such as cutting Medicare drug costs, facilitating vibrant job growth, and enabling a strong stock market.
The highlight of the week, of course, was when Harris officially accepted the nomination on Thursday night. In her acceptance speech, Harris described her childhood growing up in a working-class neighborhood as a child of immigrants. After discussing her family and neighbors who helped raise her, Harris highlighted her prosecutorial career, during which she confronted drug cartels and negotiated with big banks to secure a $20 billion settlement for homeowners. As president, she vowed she will not only protect abortion rights, Social Security, and Medicare but also provide a middle-class tax cut.
Harris took aim at former president Trump and Project 2025, the far-right policy agenda outlined for Trump; created by the Heritage Foundation, this agenda calls for an entire overhaul—and elimination of some—governmental agencies.
“We know what a second Trump term would look like,” Harris said. “It’s all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisors, and it’s sum total to pull our country back to the past.
“But, America, we are not going back.”
Harris proclaims America is not going back to when Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare, to when he tried to abolish the Affordable Care Act, and to when insurance companies could deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. “We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools. We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide preschool and childcare for our children.
“America, we are not going back.” [1]
As Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted his vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday night, he emphasized that Project 2025 will “make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives” and added that Trump and Vance claim they “know nothing” about Project 2025. Ridiculing that claim, Walz recollected his experiences as a high school football coach, saying, “When somebody draws up a playbook, they’re going to use it.” [2]
“It’s an agenda nobody asked for, it’s an agenda that serves nobody except the richest and the most extreme amongst us, and it’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need.
“Is it weird? Absolutely. Absolutely. But it’s also wrong, and it’s dangerous.”
Bernie Sanders called Trump’s Project 2025 a “radical agenda.”
“In a time of massive wealth and income inequality, giving more tax breaks to billionaires is radical,” Sanders said. “Putting forth budgets that cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is radical. Letting polluters destroy our planet is radical; and, my friends, we won’t let that happen.” [3]
South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn said Trump “falsely pled ignorance of Project 2025”—an agenda Clyburn called “Jim Crow 2.0.” Clyburn also highlighted that unlike her opponents, “Kamala has been offering the American people enlightened proposals and visionary leadership.” [4]
On the convention’s opening night, Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow carried a large book of Project 2025 onto the stage, calling the agenda a Republican blueprint for a Trump second term.
“We read it, and whatever you think it might be, it is so much worse,” McMorrow said.
McMorrow read a section calling for a reissue of Trump Schedule F to permit discharge of nonperforming employees. “It actually means he is going to fire civil servants like intelligence officers, engineers, and even federal prosecutors if he decides that they don’t serve his personal agenda,” McMorrow said. “They’re talking about replacing the entire federal government with an army of loyalists who answer only to Donald Trump.”
McMorrow also cited another section that indicates conservatives believe in ending law enforcement activities of independent agencies or ending their independent statuses. “What it means is Donald Trump will be able to weaponize the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents. He could even turn the FBI into his own personal police force. That’s not how it works in America. That’s how it works in a dictatorship.”
McMorrow continued, saying that Project 2025 expands presidential powers “like no president has ever had or should ever have” because the Supreme Court granted Trump immunity even if he breaks the law. [5]
While Harris, Walz, and the other speakers certainly related to Americans with their positive messages of community, hope, and optimism, Democrats must maintain their efforts to encourage all Americans to support the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket.
The Cherokee County Democrats appreciate all of our volunteers’ efforts, but there is much more work to be completed before the November 5 election day. Please ensure your friends and family members are registered to vote. Please help with signing postcards. Talk with neighbors and acquaintances about the election and how critical it is for our future.
We aren’t going back.
Ken Abramczyk serves as a volunteer writer. The opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Cherokee County Democratic Committee (CCDC). The CCDC has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this article.
