An AI summary of Project 2025's authoritarian and kleptocratic goals and tactics

This 13 minute video asks ChatGPT to identify and summarize the most important policy goals laid out in Project 2025. I skimmed some of it and concluded the document is genuinely authoritarian and kleptocratic. Project 2025 directly supports and empowers all three strains of modern American radical right authoritarianism, i.e., kleptocratic dictatorship, kleptocratic, unregulated capitalist plutocracy and kleptocratic Christian nationalist theocracy. In my opinion, all three strains of American authoritarianism are kleptocratic by virtue of being anti-transparency in government, which the video briefly mentions. The video does not mention kleptocracy or corruption per se, which I consider to be a major weakness in this particular analysis. And, the narrator has an annoying voice but that is just me.

The AI assessment of Project 2025 identifies and discusses these five topics:

Thanks to Larry Motuz for bringing this video to my attention. 

The tactic of siccing AI on Project 2025 prompted me to ask Perplexity specifically about corruption:

Q: Does Project 2025 inherently establish conditions in government that favor corruption, such as limiting transparency or controlling the independent media?

A: Project 2025 appears to propose several measures that could potentially increase the risk of corruption and reduce government accountability:

1. Firing independent Inspectors General: Project 2025 calls for firing 74 independent Inspectors General who oversee federal operations and detect fraud, waste, and misconduct. It proposes replacing them with politically loyal appointees, which could reduce independent oversight.

2. Replacing civil servants with political appointees: The plan includes creating a new "Schedule F" that would allow firing up to 50,000 civil service employees and replacing them with partisan political operatives. This could reduce the independence and expertise of government agencies.

3. Limiting prosecution of campaign finance violations: Project 2025 proposes directing the Department of Justice to defer decisions on prosecuting campaign finance law violations to the Federal Election Commission, potentially reducing enforcement.

4. Reducing donor transparency: The plan calls for allowing more money in politics while reducing transparency around political donations.

5. Weaponizing the Department of Justice: Project 2025 proposes using the DOJ to target local elected officials and election administrators for partisan reasons.

6. Controlling investigations: It suggests having political appointees review and potentially terminate FBI investigations deemed "contrary to the national interest," which could be used to protect allies and target opponents.

Those measures would seriously reduce government transparency by obliterating independent oversight. Project 2025 proposes a gigantic incentive for corruption by basically making corruption and bribery even more legal than the USSC has made recently done. The document proposes concentrating power in the hands of political appointees loyal to the administration instead of professional career bureaucrats loyal to the public interest and the rule of law. The plan appears designed to give a future administration more control over traditionally independent government functions and reduce checks on executive power. And, there is this follow-up Q&A:

Q: What, if anything, does Project 2025 specifically say about transparency in government operations?

A: Project 2025 does not appear to explicitly address government transparency as a key focus. However, several aspects of the plan could potentially reduce transparency and accountability in government operations:

1. Firing independent Inspectors General: Project 2025 proposes replacing 74 independent Inspectors General, who oversee federal operations and detect fraud and misconduct, with politically loyal appointees. This could reduce independent oversight and transparency of government agencies.

 

2. Etc.

Here, one sees the weakness in AI. AI treats Trump and MAGA elites like normal people. They are nowhere close to normal. They are ruthless, radical right authoritarian kleptocrats. In view of the reality of Trump and MAGA elites, Perplexity unreasonably softens its answer with milquetoast language like “the plan could potentially reduce transparency and accountability.” Could potentially reduce transparency and accountability?? Like hell. With people like Trump and his corrupt thugs in power, implementing Project 2025 absolutely will eliminate essentially all transparency and accountability. 

That is the reasoning that leads me to usually including qualifiers like corrupt, deeply corrupt and especially kleptocratic to describe Trump, MAGA elites and what GOP elites generally stand for. 

In my opinion, most of the GOP rank and file are different with their disinformed, manipulated and betrayed minds. They are being used and will be abused if they get what they want. Unfortunately, we are collateral damage that will get the same or worse treatment.