Simple: since the activities so closely mirror Project 2025's action item list and goals, you have to look at what is the motivation behind Project 2025? Narrow your focus to that.

their version of Democracy is based on a hierarchy atop which sit white men. And everything is a threat to that hierarchy.

"...Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

lack of critical thinking, selfishness, ignorance, greed, sense of privilege, narcissism, racism, lack of sense of self, lack of moral compass, black hole where their heart should be, devoid of any spirit of kindness,................

The reactionary desire to return America to an idealized past that never existed.

It’s an America of conflict and violence, where the strong and powerful are allowed to prey on the weak – indeed, where the weak are believed to be responsible for being vulnerable, and are alone to blame for being preyed upon and victimized.

It’s an America where the rich and powerful can violate the law and norms of society with impunity, where might make right, where the rich and powerful are rewarded and idolized for escaping justice and not being held responsible for their crimes and corruption (sounds like someone we all know...).

And it’s an America where democracy is a façade, where rights are a myth, and where the people are devoid of power – it’s the America subject to the tyranny of Republican minority rule.

where every single thing is ruled by white
religionists with no solution to anything
but prayer and possibly magic.

Then, also, they can blame every bad thing
that happens on women, non-whites, or
just the will of God.

They also want a return to slavery and
forced birth for all white women.

But the big gum in the works... climate change.

And that will be damaging and devastating to
an extreme not even all believers understand yet.

My expectation is that civilization will collapse.

The sheer amount of migration will be
staggering.

And in some regards, a lot of Southern history prior to World War II as well.

They are sadistic narcissistic psychopaths.

All the righteous conservative men left DC. Probably building survival shelters.

they know the multibillionaires can slither away sipping fruity liqueurs on their superyachts to their vacation mansions in New Zealand or wherever until the dust settles and they can buy up and own everything that's left?

coherent plan or ideology that drives what they do, because we understand rational policy and long term planning. We have formed a mental model of the world, however imperfect, that seeks to be informed by fact and aims for the general well-being of society. They do not have that capacity or share that perspective.

They are an excrescence of the worst aspects of modern culture, which is in turn an excrescence of the worst aspects of capitalism. The right is a symptom of the impending collapse of civilization. They are instinctively accelerating that collapse because they know they can profit off it in the near term. Some of them, like the tech bros and the billionaires know this, and rationalize it with absurd pipe dreams about transhumanism. But in the end they just don't care. Entitlement provides an illusory defense against the inevitability of death, and they're addicted to that illusion. For them giving up that entitlement, which is what it would take to save civilization, is tantamount to suicide. I have no doubt they would rather incinerate the world with nuclear weapons than concede their power and privilege.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

equality feels like oppression

And so does the Republican Party and if they have to throw “red meat” to their racist and Christo Fascist,
mouth breathing base that is fine by them.

We are watching the burning America to the ground in real time..

2021 some MAGA red neck Fox Watcher in Kerr County, TX on getting a flood warning
system, “We don’t need it because Joe Biden is a communist.”

plus Putin's puppet, and this scenario supports the Dominionist End Times narrative that so many are brainwashed into - including certain Supreme Court justices

Because as president, the sick fuck CAN. We’ve all seen countless examples of his narcissism, stupidly, and lust for power. And here he is, filling the most powerful role in the United States, displaying his power over all and punishing people when they can’t do much of anything to fight back or protect themselves from him.

The right wing has been working on this for decades. For one thing, it accelerated the growing schism in society between the rich and the poor. Also, it used media propaganda to increase distrust between different segments of society; in particular to convince members of one large segment of society that they are losing status due to the machinations of another segment of society, which looks down on them.

These efforts have led to the opportunity for one man, in whom all the grievances stirred up by this propaganda are concentrated, to use the situation to exercise his hate against all those who have offended him in any way, or who, deep inside, make him feel inferior in comparison. He will destroy everything to gain his revenge, and his followers will go along with it, as they believe they can pick up the pieces of what is left of this country for themselves.

Thanks for the information Thom.

and wont give it up as long as they have it.

In an age of unbelievable wealth inequality, there seems to be competition over who can be most privileged, dominant, on top. It blinds them to any considerations for the common good.

I believe right now they are running out of places to invest/increase their wealth. Too much money chasing fewer and fewer exploitable opportunities. The housing market is saturated, the stock market is perhaps topped out for the short-term, they are competing to throw money at AI and buy out companies.

The next trophy investment is governments and global infrastructure, such as monetary systems. This is where their greed has the potential to easily destroy the world.

The top elites gain more status and power, while they destroy everything around them. There are no natural controls that I can see to curb their desires. It is a global problem that grows worse by the day as more people join the oligarch class.

We will no longer be a democracy but an authoritarian society led by billionaires.

I’ve seen too many dystopian movies and read books to see we are heading in that direction.

to dominate all.

I think he is primarily driven by his narcissism. He wants to be all powerful because of this. However, he is lazy and likes to see people battle each other, so he listens to many voices and chooses the worst so as to generate the largest spectacle. When someone gets too toxic they become a scapegoat. Certainly he wants to profit. His greed and fear also help steer decisions. He does have a knack for assembling the largest collection of amoral greedy racists available today to participate in the spectacle, so, it's not just trump. All republicans got him to where he is. They own this mess and they must never be allowed to forget it.

because of human over population and too large a footprint on the natural world.

Forcing the issues and with goal to favor wealth, privilege and power in the outcome.

Humanity is plagued by predatory and malignant ego.

an absolutely spot on piece.

Yes, as you know, they work on behalf of a wealthy oligarchy, billionaires, corporate elites, and similar influencers, at home and abroad. And their COLLUSION with such entities, including Russian, is all part of the plan to ensure their wealth and power.

And yes, the racial component as well, that Republicans use to incite their masses against a demonized minority, the better to inflame the hate and get their followers looking the other way, while they enact policies that hurt their own bamboozled constituency.

I'd read of a study (done some time ago) that found Republicans reacted negatively and/or changed their positions on key issues at just the sight of a Black face.

Republicans (as you also know) have been breeding that kind of hate for decades. From Reagan's "welfare queen" to George Bush's Willie Horton and beyond, Republicans have been making Black and Brown people, and other minorities as well, out to be the cause of all America's woes. That's nothing new. And I believe the two time election of Barrack Obama "broke something" in them, in a manner of speaking.

But I also think a huge part of it is butt hurt over Trump's LOSS to Biden in 2020. A loss, A REPUDIATION, that occurred in spite of all their attempts to cull the electorate beforehand. By 7 million plus votes. Which (imo) would make it tantamount to a landslide, all considered.

Then came the failed court challenges, the insurrections and attempted overthrow of government... they were outdone: broken, hurt, rejected, demoralized, and out for REVENGE.

And they STILL are.

......my self that seeing it all listed in one place was overwhelming, but then to be informed that "of course" there's more, is heartbreaking.

He said that the republicans were wanting to tear down our government, cause another Great Depression and rebuild it. They wanted to eliminate everything that FDR put in place. That was over 50 years ago. Since then the GOP has removed the protections put in place to make sure that the Great Depression wouldn't happen again.

1) project 2025 clearly explains what they want - https://www.project2025.observer/
2) this is 100% white "christian" nationalists - https://www.statementonchristiannationalism.com/
They wrote it ALL down. Stop asking why.

by and large, the Oligarchs funding this catastrophe are "White Christian Nationalists" do you?
What Project 2025 looks like to me is a 'deal', an alliance between two separate camps -- Greedy, power mad Zillionnaires and the White Christian Nationalist movement, i.e., you give us what we want, we'll give you what you want.

let them get away with it there's not much to be done. Like it or not, the days of whipping out sharpies and making signs are over. These fucks look at videos of that shit and laugh over a 10k dollar glass of Scotch. There's only one thing that matters to them, power and wealth. And they will do whatever they have to to get more and to keep it. Whatever they have to.

Last edited Sat Jul 19, 2025, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)

He has no capacity for caring about the well being of others.

Any money being spent on others is therefore wasted, an opportunity to cash in for something that benefits him.

Since he is a criminal, he has to eliminate laws and agencies that stop criminality. These are the people he identifies with. Most of all, these laws and agencies might come after him.

Evil unhinged governments will attract evil unhinged people. There are a few Republicans who actually agree with Trump and have an opportunity for power never dreamed of before. However, most of them have found themselves in a deal with the devil and are just afraid to stand up to him. Their safety (money, prestige, power) more important than what even they think is right.

Trump is somewhat similar to ‘The Mule’ in Asimov’s “Second Foundation”. The Mule is a mutant, not anticipated in Hari Seldon’s psychohistory, and is therefore able to dominate all the planets in the galaxy through malign manipulation. Trump is similar, as he is a person so horrifically out-of-the-norm evil that the usual constraints within a society have no effect on curbing his limitless greed and destructiveness. Stopping him is even harder due to the many amoral people around him who profit from his onslaught on our country. It is possible, however, that at some point he will do enough damage that even those who are currently profiting will see him as a liability, and something will be done. Otherwise, we will have to wait until nature takes its course on this person.

and there will be a tipping point.

I think our founding fathers anticipated Trump. Almost, anyway. There had been evil kings in history before our democracy. They just didn't anticipate enough people to go along with this level of crazy. Trump could have been stopped many times in his first presidency.
And a few brave Republicans could stop him now.

And he will soon be dead. He thought he was immortal. He doesn’t give a shit what he destroys now that he knows he will soon be gone.

and remote save havens, supplying themselves with resources that become increasingly rare, and their businesses fail because the people don't have money to buy anything their products...They won't have more money. And what does power mean? Putin controls everything in Russia but eats at the end of a long table for fear of assassination if anyone gets close to him. Is that power?

It's an illness because besides being greedy and evil, besides a bottomless hole of never enough, it's just plain illogical.
The business acumen that got them rich goes out the window when dealing with politics.

There’s many players with their own agendas: christo-fascists, misogynists, billionaire tax dodgers, white nativists, and the growing misconception that democracy limits ‘ freedom’. In this case , the freedom to have no regulations, rules, or oversight so the rich can ravage our country. They believe that a few elite tech-bros and billionaires know what is right and that we the people are idiots. Bottom Line = all western democracies must be demolished . Who do you think wins ?

They’re NOT like us.

They want us fearful, poor, and capitulated to the power elites.

about how to control everything are made on a whim without considering consequences or whether it's even possible. If a decision causes harm, so what? He showed us he's in charge. There's very little policy involved, just shows of power coupled with a whole lot of incompetence. Also, although the GOP itself is under his thumb, the party has two different factions - there are the Christofascists who care about bathrooms and abortion and trans people and white supremacy, and there are the libertarian techbros who care about deregulating government and making a lot of money. Sometimes one faction influences him and sometimes it's the other one; usually it's whoever talked to him most recently. There's very little consistency in Trump's underlying philosophy - he really hasn't any. He isn't even a real conservative. So he does whatever he thinks furthers his personal concerns, makes him feel powerful (and inflicting cruelty for no apparent reason is an excellent way to feel powerful) ,and that he got talked into by one or the other of the factions, neither of which has the interests of the people in mind.

never having outgrown the 2-year-old ME consciousness
besides not getting love in childhood so he believes he has to force people into it and can never get enough
besides never having to stick to any kind of budget in his life so he never weighs the cost of what he wants
but underlying this, money is scarce and he is a failure so instead of taking his immense capital and earning profits, he has to steal it
besides he has to remain in power to stay out of jail.

No policy, beliefs, factions, or other people's interests enter into anything he does.

(Another way of saying I agree).

They finally have control of all three branches of government and know it may only last until the next election it is now or never as far as they are concerned to turn the clock back to before the New Deal. So want to get as much done (harm?) while they can.

because they know a real election from here on out won't favor them.

Watch voting systems, Voting rights, left-leaning or non-partisan media, organizations, and institutions being attacked in ways we couldn't imagine. Given what he has done in 6 months, we are in for a wild ride trying to keep a democracy together for another 1 1/2 years.

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Trump talks about he is going to make Hollywood great again.

First, his problem with Hollywood is when South Korean film won the Best Picture Oscar, like Parasite.

Second, some of the A list of actors do not like Trump, like Robert DeNiro.

Third, most film historians believe 1939 was the greatest year in Hollywood.
Many of the great pictures on that list were written or directed or acted by immigrants or first-generation immigrants.
For example, Ninotchka was directed by the German-American Ernst Lubitsch and one of its three writers was the Austrian-American, Billy Wilder and starred Greta Garbo, a Swedish-American.

What Trump does not realize is that immigrants enrich the American experience.

Amazing to have someone with such a narrow understanding of everything attempting to call all the shots.

I have heard that as well but I think it pales compared to any number of years between 1967-1980. The early '70s were loaded, '75 especially.

It feels like the middle class is a ripe fruit they've been waiting to pick, with so much money for them to acquire.

As I understand one theory, it used to be that the middle class was a buffer between the rich and the poor. The middle class was trained to blame the poor, so the wealthy could basically let them do their dirty work of oppression and class warfare.

But now I guess the agenda has changed, because they're attacking the middle class. It's already shrunk below 50% of the country. Everything they're doing pushes down the middle, along with the poor.

Maybe it's not tiny enough for them, because the middle class has just enough money and influence to give them trouble? I'm worried what they're planning, that they don't want a citizenry that can push back, if there's anything to that thought.

It's such a great question you asked, and I'm going to read what everyone else thinks.

The Thom Hartmann Program is such a great show! Cheers Free Speech TV! Freespeech.org

chaos. So there are 2 choices, either everyone involved is so oblivioius that they don't see the potential results of their actions or the devastation and chaos are the intended result.
I firmly believe that the second option is the truth. I believe that the extremely wealth don't deny global warming, don't deny overpopulation, don't deny the problems with over consumption, and endless war. I believe that they have decided that destroying the majority of the rest of us is a better answer than sharing. I think someone at Marvel comics agrees and that is why they presented Thanos as the villian trying to destroy half the universe.
We are at war.

The public no longer wants democracy. The urge to punish those who disagree with them is what’s most important. Without a public that values the necessary steps and limitations of democracy, we can’t sustain it.

Oh, and most of those policies you refer to are in Project 2025.

As for the rich, they hate us. They consider us worthless peons and parasites. They care only about their own wealth and revenge. That doesn’t include all rich people, but it does apply to the ones who would destroy the nation for financial gain.

I do agree with that in general. The rich consider us their pawns, beneath them, disposable.

I don’t agree that the public no longer wants democracy. That is only true of MAGAS. Many millions DO want democracy. This is a test of how much we are willing to fight for it.

and supported this.

edited to add: This is a keeper Thom! Great list.

krasnov is fronting for a team of "investors" who are stripping the country down for and selling parts.

... to burn it to the ground, to destroy it from the inside out, and to erase whatever esteem in which America is still held on the international stage.
Within those parameters, he was free to do whatever the hell he wants, and, because he is a psychotic monster, he's doing exactly that. He thrives on hurting and humiliating people, and he feeds his insatiable desire for constant attention by being more and more outrageous with every passing day. I'd like to think that someone, somewhere, is – or should be – making plans for a concession stand selling tickets for the inestimable pleasure of pissing on Trump's grave.
As for the GOP, history has demonstrated beyond the remotest shadow of a doubt, that Republicans HATE democracy with a raging passion. That's why they're Republicans, for Christ's sake!
In 1933, Republicans plotted a coup d'stat, and asked the nation's most highly decorated Marine general, Smedley Butler, to do the wetwork. Instead, he dropped a dime on 'em, and detailed their scheme in a Congressional hearing. But Congressional cowards did nothing to the conspirators. Nothing.
Congressional cowardice and Republican perfidy have brought us to the point where The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 has become the lawless Law Of The Land. Next stop: The Randian Hellscape that Russell Vought, and every Republican that Satan ever shat out, has dreamed of since the days of the Robber Barons.
It was July 4th, 2018, when a delegation of Republicans visited Moscow and had secret meetings with Putin. On July 4th, America's Independence Day, Republicans donned their knee pads and serviced Putin to seal their fealty to Putin's puppet, and, by extension, to Vlad himself.
In short, there is NO bottom to the conservative cesspool of malice and depravity. And the Pollyanic belief that there is something good in even the vilest Republican is a grotesque disservice to those already suffering at the hands of Trump and his merry band of malignant minions. Just remember what happened to Neville Chamberlain's pitiful slogan "Peace In Our Time", prior to the outbreak of WWII.
There can be NO forgiveness for Trump's – and the GOP's – obscene treachery. None.

Everything Must Go!! (if it puts money in their pockets).

The rest of us, as non-billionaires, are not of the genetically/divinely selected elect, and are here to be drained and discarded.

If you don't believe me, just ask Peter Thiel/Marc Andreesen/Elon Musk.

or becoming serfs for the Haves.

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... because I think Trump's motivations and the GOP's motivations are pretty much entirely different.

For Trump personally, I think his decisions pretty much comes down to one (or more) of these things...

... his own personal financial gain
... retribution
... narcissistic desire to see himself as a king-like ultimate ruler (e.g. his emulating or cozying up to people who rule with an iron hand, past or present)
... longing to be seen by others as a "winner," especially by those he feels have never given him the respect he craves (e.g. his lust for a Nobel)
... and maybe an indebtedness to Russia, e.g. for having saved his financial ass when legitimate banks wanted nothing to do with him, and finding ways to funnel plenty of money toward him over the years (and maybe they still do). And/or as has been speculated, maybe they are indeed holding something over his head ( "kompramat" ).

I think that is pretty much the sum of what he cares about. The rest of the GOP doesn't care about any of those things, their motivations are completely different. And Trump personally doesn't care about anything the GOP cares about, except where it may happen to overlap with those items above. So the Trump agenda and the Republican agenda have virtually nothing in common philosophically; rather they are each using the other to further their own goals.

So if that's all that motivates Trump, what's motivating the rest of the GOP?

For some in the GOP/Conservative movement, I think the motivation may be genuinely philosophical. By way of analogy (while trying to avoid stepping on any religious toes here), the reason so many people have such a fervent belief in their religion is a kind of brain-washing... impressionable children are told by the people they trust most that their religious beliefs are the Truth of the world. As an extension of that, our typical secular education similarly teaches us from a very young age what all the wonderful virtues of America are, e.g. democracy, equality, and the rights declared by the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed to us by the Constitution. I think the Project 2025 "purists" so to speak (as an example) look at the typical citizens' view of these ideals kind of the way an atheist looks at a bible thumper. We're rubes blindly following a dogma we were brainwashed to believe. They simply don't believe that is the society we should be aiming for. As the Orwell line goes, we may all be created equal, but some are more equal than others. The natural order of the world, then, for people as much as for animals, is that the weak get crushed by the strong. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is a feature, not a bug. Survival of the fittest. A kind of eugenics applied not to individual people, but rather to the governing institution itself. Instead of a master race, there is a master way to run society, and democracy/equality ain't it.

For the GOP Congress and other policy-makers, I think there are a variety of reasons, which can vary by the individual/group, and by the particular policy. Some may actually have genuine convictions about something, as discussed in the previous paragraph. Others are bought by lobbyists. Others may feel they're truly representing what the voters of their state want. That also means these may be the policies that will help get them re-elected. So then also, endorsement of these things and aligning with Trump and the rest of these policies can be a way to increase their power, or at least be a way to avoid being primaried out of it.

They, the reich wing rich will be the barons and no law will apply to them and the serfs will be the rest who have little/no education, no social safety net at all, and no healthcare and who will work for pennies because that's all that is available. They will get sick and die with no healthcare and be replaced by a younger cog. Serfs can also be jailed and killed any or no reason by the barons and there is no recourse. That is the ultimate ideal for these asses.

Theses are the wealthiest times in history. That means it’s no time to share. Thus, PROJECT 2025 in which oligarchs making up the new kakistocracy institute a new two-tier system of rule: one set of rules for We the People and another set for the rulers.

King Taco thinks he makes the sun and moon rise and set as his aristocracy of kleptomaniac NAZIs Institute the Turd Reich. Hungry, sickened, tired, ignorant and violently terrorized people have basic survival on the mind for their families, not wondering about electoral remedies for why things are like they are.

NAZIs set the stage on November 22, 1963. Bartcop called them the BFEE. Today they’re the MAGANAZIGOP. Fusing the NAZIs, KKK, Mafia, and Old Conferacy slavemaster mindset, they oppose freedom for everybody, preferring to decide on a case by case method to reward cronies and toadies. These sociopathic greedheads are tied together by shared fear and hate, self-interest and a complete lack of compassion for those they first defeat, then impoverish, enslave and murder.

He's still empty inside. People still hate him for being such a loser personally. No one actually loves him. He's in the permanent tantrum mode of a toddler who never gets what he wants. So the whole world has to pay. The billionaire class wants it ALL for themselves. Me and thee shouldn't have any of 'it'. We're beneath notice.

but the reality is it's all of the above but not by all of the players. Each group that helps them has their own reasons and they really couldn't care less about the others. This is the way it's always been, the problem is that in past we've never had all of those groups come together at the same time under a stupid old man with his own reasons that is able to convince way too many Americans that only he can help them and that they should ignore what they see with their own eyes.

If he goes away a lot of their power and ability to do evil goes away which is the reason they will keep him going until his unhealthy lifestyle finally catches up to him.

The viability of America under the Constitution is fragile and requires people of good will to be in leadership. It’s resilience has been weekend by changes such as Citizens United and Senate rules making passage of just about any legislation requiring 60 votes which are not what the Constitution intended. The GOP exploiting a system that has allowed a critical mass of Maligant Anti-Government Antibodies to attack and overwhelm it.

I have long been a proponent of gradually reducing population by humane means (#1 allow women to control their reproduction), to avoid the horror of the coming societal collapse as the ecosystem humanity relies on fails under the weight of the excessive abuse that humanity is heaping on it.

I know not everyone here agrees with me on the premise that the requirements to sustain human society cannot survive the current state (let alone increasing population to 10+ billion). But bear with me for a moment and take that premise as TRUE, and one that smart but evil people like Elon Musk are WELL aware of.

While the evil smart might be wealthy enough to ride out the cataclysm, there are certainly severe risks even for them.

So, given that the evil smart have NO moral compunctions regarding the suffering of other people - why NOT enact policies that will have the effect of killing off a bunch of people? (Yes, they are also enacting policies that might incrementally bump up the birth rate - but if they are smart they also know that women - especially wealthier women - will "find a way" to still, somewhat, control their reproduction - it just won't be legal. Meaning they get to pick and choose who is allowed to exercise their options, and when punishment will be inflicted).

So yeah, I think many of the wealthy puppeteers of the Trumpist movement, are completely happy with people dying, in service of a) reducing their own future risk and b) creating a controllable servant class.

Sorry if that is too dark, but I've become about 80% confident that this is part of the impetus behind their draconian policies. (No one here has any delusions that the MAGA claim of being "Christian" is even remotely accurate for the people controlling this mess. The only "Christians" in MAGA are the blinded followers.)

He expects a return on his investment, or people will start falling out of windows

Did you see the article in Slate about the research on that?