A Project 2025 pulse check: Authoritarianism, check . . . . . kleptocracy, check

Slate writes:

Project 2025 Makes Trump’s Goal Chillingly Clear

Donald Trump is a notoriously dishonest man, but one of his oft-used slogans has proved absolutely true: Promises Made, Promises Kept. Unfortunately, this time around, the promises being kept weren’t all made by Trump. They were made by the fanatics who penned Project 2025.

But the mass firings, the power grabs, and the agency shutterings are not just Musk’s doing. They were planned and proposed well before Trump was even elected, right there for everyone to see, in Project 2025.

Trump may have said he had “nothing to do with” the far-right game plan for his presidency—always a dubious claim, given that its architects are either former administration members or people with close ties to it. But now that he’s in office, he’s following their plan almost to the letter.  

And although the details certainly are important, the single message must be this: Trump is trying to be a king or a dictator, and Project 2025 is his monarchical playbook. 

If Trump has done one thing so far, it’s break the federal bureaucracy.

The article goes on to point out that the DJT has been doing closely tracks with the content and strategy that Project 2025 asserts. P2025 strenuously argues that a president has a very short time to implement their policy. Hesitating to sort out policy details wastes that time. Only because P2025 wrote out a very detailed plan, has djt been able to do so much in such a short time. He is not wasting one minute with congress, the courts or anything else. He is in a mode of acting first and fighting against all sources of resistance, including in the federal courts. In federal law enforcement and prosecution, the FIB and DoJ, he will face no resistance at all to essentially anything he does.

djt and MAGA defenders: But it’s just conservatism!

Pro-democracy realists: That is gaslighting, it’s authoritarianism and kleptocracy

State-directed kleptocracy is this century’s brand of authoritarianism, but it is critical to understand that kleptocracy and authoritarianism are mutually supportive and reinforcing activities designed to achieve total control. An authoritarian leader and his or her inner circle can secure state-owned and private assets through kleptocratic means, and kleptocratic means can secure control over key government and democratic institutions.

Source: NED

We constantly hear the MSM, politicians and even Perplexity (artificial intelligence) referring to djt, MAGA elites and Project 2025 as conservatives and conservatism. That is a gigantic, but devastatingly effective lie. Old-fashioned, i.e., pre-MAGA and pre-djt, conservatism is staunchly pro-democracy and pro-rule of law, while grudgingly accepting of inconvenient facts, true truths and sound reasoning. djt and his elite MAGA thugs flatly reject all of that. 

Conservatism is not inherently authoritarian or kleptocratic, even if a policy just happens to be the same for a true conservative and a dictator or kleptocrat. However, conservative rhetoric has been appropriated by djt and MAGA demagogues. They do that to pursue centralized power and personal enrichment while pretending they are doing the opposite. That reality, i.e., fact, not opinion, directly contradicts the foundational principles of conservatism. The current MAGA agenda reflects a blend of populist authoritarianism and kleptocracy, not authentic conservatism rooted in tradition, limited, honest government, transparent fiscal responsibility and loyalty to the Constitution and rule of law.

djt’s and MAGA elites’ (i) centralizing authority via loyalty tests for civil servants, and (ii) attacking and undermining independent institutions, both contradict the conservative principle of limited government. People who want a high-level government job have to spout djt’s whopper lie about the 2020 election being stolen. djt’s and MAGA’s cronyism, misuse of public funds, and deregulation favoring elites all undermine fiscal responsibility and accountability, both of which are core tenets of actual American conservatism.

Bits: MAGA protects rogue cops; MAGA attacks the rule of law in the US military; MAGA attacks the IRS

Our rogue president and rogue DoJ have given blanket protection to rogue cops. Justice Department deletes database tracking federal police misconduct -- Trump executive order ends National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, which he proposed creating in 2020. The first nationwide database tracking misconduct by federal police officers has been shut down by President Donald Trump, the Justice Department confirmed, deleting a resource that experts said improved public safety by helping to prevent bad officers from jumping to new agencies and starting over with clean records.

Nice work shoes, very sensible

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

A NYT opinion says we have a rogue president. the author, Frank Kendall, was the secretary of the Air Force in the Biden administration. Germaine says we had a rogue president from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021 and again from Jan. 2025 until now. America Has a Rogue President (not paywalled) -- President Trump’s decision to fire senior military leaders without cause is foolish and a disgrace. It politicizes our professional military in a dangerous and debilitating way. What frightens me even more is the removal of three judge advocates general, the most senior uniformed legal authorities in the Defense Department. Their removal is one more element of this administration’s attack on the rule of law, and an especially disturbing part.

Kendall's opinion goes on to assert that the three people djt fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Gen. James Slife and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, were extremely capable apolitical professional officers who served for decades with honor and distinction over multiple administrations. He says that the three were treated unfairly and fired without cause. 

Kendall says he is worried about political loyalty becoming a criterion to hold high military positions. He points to “the utter lack of respect for legal constraints” by djt and MAGA elites now in power. Well Sir, that horse ran out of the barn the day djt was re-elected in Nov. 2024. Unfairness is  literally nothing to djt and MAGA in pursuit of unrestrained power and wealth. The law is something they still have to be somewhat concerned about. Can the US military's vaunted professionalism and loyalty to the rule of law stand up to djt and elite MAGA thugs in power? Time will tell.

I'm NOT a rogue president,

and . . . . Fani, you're fired!!

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

That is not going to happen to MAGA elites 

and most rich people who are not enemies of djt

Another fun-filled NYT opinion (not paywalled) by a slew of former IRS Commissioners since the Reagan administration say that djt and MAGA are attacking the IRS. No surprise there. That's in Project 2025's plans. The Commissioners write:

Trump Just Fired 6,700 I.R.S. Workers in the Middle of Tax Season. 

That’s a Huge Mistake.

If you were to ask the top chief executives in the world to name the best strategy to attack waste in their organizations and balance the books, there is one answer you would be very, very unlikely to hear: Take an ax to accounts receivable, the part of an organization responsible for collecting revenue.

Yet the private sector leaders advising President Trump on ways to increase government efficiency are deploying this exact approach by targeting the Internal Revenue Service, which collects virtually all the receipts of the U.S. government — our nation’s accounts receivable division. Last week, the Trump administration started laying off about 6,700 I.R.S. employees, many if not most of whom are directly involved in collecting unpaid taxes.

Sigh. Here we have yet another, sincere, heart-felt warning from experienced experts acting in good will who can clearly see what is going on but still just cannot bring themselves to call a freaking spade a spade. They just can't do it. It's too hard (cognitively dissonant) to come out and say it. djt and MAGA are setting up federal infrastructure needed to implement and support dictatorship and kleptocracy.

Crud.

Anyway, the commissioners point out that reducing IRS resources will make government less effective in collecting the taxes. Sigh. Of course. That's the whole freaking point Commissioners, you boobs. The plan is brain-dead simple, honest people will pay their taxes and tax cheats won't. This effort will also kill the IRS effort to simplify tax filings, also a very popular item among the public ( /s). The Commissioners end their opinion with this quaint plea: "But whatever the future size and priorities of the IRS, our country needs a fully functioning tax system."

Geez, the last thing that MAGA kleptocracy needs is a fully functioning tax system. These people still don't get it. Firing IRS employees isn't a mistake. It is part of the plan, you hopeless boobs. 

Q: Are those Commissioners dense, naive or what, or is Germaine off his anti-insanity and anti-hallucination meds as usual? 

My 2024 estimate: Tax evasion is running at about $1.1 trillion

My recollection of the IRS 2023 estimate (until djt hides the data): ~$700 billion

My 2025 estimate: ~$1.5 trillion

The transition of MAGA dictatorship from legitimacy seeking to power consolidation

CONTEXT

My Perplexity AI account has 5 search options, three of which are deep research and reasoning options, two are research-lite. AI has taught me how to ask more complex and precise questions. It is actually pretty easy now. Posing sophisticated, complex questions allows me to see what a deep analysis by an expert might look like. It's the closest thing to asking a true expert to draw on lots of information and synthesize answers. Sure, sometimes it makes a mistake and draws a clearly flawed or unsupported conclusion from the info sources it selects. AI isn't human and doesn't have human judgment. But in my opinion and experience, it's surprisingly good, usually equal or better than what I can do on my own. where it falls down is lack of human judgment and understanding of nuance (shades of gray) inherent in human cognitive biology and social behavior.

IS MAGA'S DICTATORSHIP AND 

DEMAGOGUERY LEGITIMATE?

Yesterday, I posted this Q&A in a post that was TL/DR for most people to go through. Here is the 3rd of the 4 Q&As that were asked in one of Perplexity's deep research and reasoning modes (Grok 2, not DeepSeek). It strikes me as an important bit of analysis to be aware of.

Q3: You assert that "the argument that widespread violence is inevitable under MAGA rule reflects genuine despair over institutional failures but risks legitimizing the very authoritarianism it seeks to oppose", but that authoritarianism (and corruption) has already been normalized by the 2024 elections that returned Trump and the GOP to power. What more legitimacy do they need? They have all the power.

A3: .... long analysis ....

Beyond Legitimacy: The Naked Power Reality
The Endgame of Post-Legitimacy Authoritarianism MAGA’s trajectory reveals a shift from legitimacy-seeking to raw power consolidation. Key indicators:

1. Personalist Rule: Trump’s installation of family members (Donald Jr. as Senior Adviser, Ivanka as UN Ambassador) and loyalists (Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist) bypasses traditional accountability structures 9.

2. Information Control: FCC revocation of broadcast licenses for CNN and MSNBC (March 2025) under “national security” pretexts completes media capture 15.

3. Paramilitary Integration: Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members now comprise 12% of DHS staff under the “Patriot Recruitment Initiative” 2.

These moves reflect what scholar Juan Linz termed “sultanistic regimes”—systems where personal loyalty replaces ideological or institutional legitimacy.

The Illusion of Inevitability
MAGA’s greatest strength lies in fostering belief in its invincibility. Yet history shows no regime is permanent. The 1986 People Power Revolution (Philippines) and 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution prove even militarized autocracies can fall to sustained nonviolent resistance.

Current mutual aid networks—feeding 17 million Americans through church basements and community centers—demonstrate grassroots resilience 15. Legal scholars note that 132 sanctuary cities still defy federal immigration orders, while Texas’ Supreme Court rebellion against Trump’s EPA overreach shows federalism’s lingering power 13.

Conclusion: Legitimacy as Theater in the Autocratic Play
MAGA’s post-2024 legitimacy is performative—a stage play where democratic rituals mask authoritarian reality. Like Putin’s Russia or Orbán’s Hungary, the regime requires constant legitimacy theater: staged elections, co-opted courts, and propagandized crises.

Yet as the 2026 midterms approach—with GOP plans to eliminate mail-in voting in 19 states—the façade grows thinner. The true battle lies not in debating MAGA’s legitimacy but in exposing its fictional nature while rebuilding democratic power from below. For in the end, no amount of institutional capture can withstand a populace that withdraws its complicity and reclaims the courage to imagine—and fight for—a different future.

In my opinion, djt and MAGA elites relied very heavily on demagoguery or dark free speech to regain power. Because they created false realities and beliefs in the minds of tens of millions of Americans, one can argue that djt and MAGA are both illegitimate. As I argued a few weeks ago, the will of the demagogues subverted and overpowered the will of the people.

Here, one can see a plausible, logical extension of my earlier argument that the will of the people was an illusion in the 2024 elections. What AI analysis convinces me is true is this: 

MAGA’s trajectory reveals a shift from legitimacy-seeking to raw power consolidation. 

In other words, djt and MAGA are in a mode that transitions from seeking legitimacy to simply consolidating power. I believe that analysis is true. djt and MAGA elites are not stupid. They hear people complaining. But they could not care less about that. Now they are making their run at unrestrained power and wealth, the consequences be damned. And given how subverted and weak our federal rule of law, law enforcement and courts are, the chances of significant consequences for breaking laws and large-scale corruption are quite low in my opinion.

Golf update

Pennlive reports:

One government expense that Elon Musk and DOGE have not addressed yet is the amount of money President Donald Trump spends golfing.

But, if Musk and DOGE do look at that, well … Trump is reportedly on pace to put an incredible amount of taxpayer money into perfecting his game this year. And that is because, according to HuffPost, Trump has spent an estimated $10.7 million playing golf in the first month of his return to office.

The site said it calculated the cost based off of a 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office that broke down the cost of Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago. That report, HuffPost said, said it cost taxpayers $3,383,250 for each trip.

The site said that Trump has golfed every weekend since taking office on Jan. 20 and played golf at his own properties on nine of his first 30 days in office. The site noted that because that report was based on costs in 2017, the costs is likely higher in today’s dollars. It puts Trump on pace to spend well over $100 million golfing in 2025. HuffPost reported that he spent an estimated $152 million, golfing 293 days at his own resorts, during his first term.

Well, guess we know who is running the executive branch day-to-day. It’s not djt. He’s busy golfing. 

Pssst, have I got a deal for you . . . . bend over