MINERAL WELLS—It’s not uncommon for Washington think tanks across the political spectrum to propose policies for administrations-in-waiting.

However, Bridgette Goldstein, a Mineral Wells resident and the Breaking Christian Nationalism founder, says Project 2025 is a manifesto for a government takeover that will gaslight the American people while hijacking their rights, finances, education, healthcare, safety and privacy.

“In my opinion, this is not a Democrat or Republican issue,” Goldstein said at a presentation she gave in Mineral Wells, Aug. 14. “It’s a guide for a presidential government takeover.”

According to credible online sources, Project 2025 is a wide-ranging set of conservative to ultraconservative recommendations regarding U.S. government structure and policy, as well as a plan of action for their immediate implementation, should a conservative administration win the November presidential election.

Essentially, Project 20025 is a kind of extreme right-wing, Christian-based, policy wish list to immensely expand presidential powers and promote an ultra-conservative social vision.

Online sources and portions of the document itself confirm Project 2025 was fostered by the Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank. It also incorporates a massive database of ideologically vetted candidates for political appointment to executive branch positions and a training program, called the Presidential Administration Academy.

Graduates complete video trainings and are expected to operate successfully “from Day One of the next conservative Administration,” according to the Project 2025 website, www.project2025.org.

“I watched one of (the videos),” Goldstein told about 20 attendees at the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce community meeting room. “I was horrified.”

The structure and policy recommendations of Project 2025 were published as “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 2025.” The 887-page document is the latest in a decades-long series by The Heritage Foundation since 1981, when former Republican President Ronald Reagan took office. It can be viewed by clicking here.

“There is something in this country called the separation of church and state,” Goldstein said. “The Heritage Foundation is using Christian nationalism, which is not Christian by the way, as a tool to rile up folks and cause a scenario, in my opinion, of what America should be and Project 2025 is a manifesto.”

Christian nationalism seeks to merge religion and politics. According to the Project 2025 website, some of platform’s proposals call for:

• Mass deportation of illegal immigrants
• Ending DEI protections in government
• Privatizing Medicare
• Shutting down the Department of Education
• Using public, taxpayer money for private religious schools
• Deregulating big business and the oil industry
• Increasing Arctic drilling
• Promoting and expediting capital punishment
• Banning pornography and closing down tech and telecom companies that allow access
• Banning biological males from competing in women’s sports
• Withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market
• Maintaining “a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family” at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

“What they are talking about is new McCarthyism,” Goldstein said. “It is the political repression and persecution of other cultures and religions. This Project 2025 and the people who support it do not want you to think outside the box.”

Project 2025 supporters assert that progressive organizations also create groups to influence those in power.

“As just one example, the far-left Center for American Progress prepares policy recommendations for liberal presidents, including President Obama in 2008,” according to Project 2025 literature. “We will not stop offering ideas to reverse America’s decline. Our aim is to restore American democracy ‘of, by, and for the people,’ not of, by, and for the elites who currently control Washington.”

Carla Schoonover-Porter, Palo Pinto County Democratic Party Chairwoman, doesn’t deny political groups form coalitions to further their interests, but says there’s a difference in what’s being proposed.

 

“I think it would be reasonable to assume there are organizations out there on both sides that advise and write policy,” Schoonover-Porter explained. “I think the difference between what we do and what they do is we’re not taking people’s rights, we’re not restricting your access to healthcare and abortion, we’re not discriminating against the LGBTQ community, nor taking way Medicare.”

Project 2025 states it “is not partisan, nor is it secret.” It also says it does not speak for any candidate or campaign.

More than 100 conservative organizations contributed to the document. But the Republican presidential nominee has distanced himself from Project 2025.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” former President Donald Trump posted on social media. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

“Mandate for Leadership” has not been blessed by Trump nor his campaign, but Goldstein noted many of its authors are closely linked to the 45th president of the United States.

For example, Goldstein pointed out one author, Roger Severino, is Vice President of Domestic Policy and The Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services and was Trump’s HHS Office of Civil Rights director.

Goldstein also noted another chapter author, Gene Hamilton, served in both the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security under Trump. Hamilton wrote the “Mandate for Leadership’s” DOJ chapter.

Project 2025 bills itself as an “open book” with its materials available online. Which may be a good thing for strategy-making in Democratic and left-leaning camps, according to Vickie Butler, Hood County Democratic Party president. Butler attended the Mineral Wells discussion.

“This is the first time they’ve been transparent,” Butler said of Project 2025 supporters. “If someone tells you what they are, believe what they’re telling you.”

Goldstein and Breaking Christian Nationalism will host a panel discussion, 6 – 8 p.m., Sept. 6, at Weatherford College’s Emerging Technologies and Workforce Building. The panel features representatives from Parker County LGBTQ+ Awareness Community and Save It and Fight It.

Goldstein said the upcoming talk will focus on how Christian nationalism intertwines with Project 2025.

The event is free and tickets are available on Eventbrite. For more information, visit the Breaking Christian Nationalism Facebook page or email breakingchristiannationalism@gmail.com.

For more information about Project 2025, visit www.project2025.org.