Fascism: Loud And Out In The Open
Texas and the far-right agenda.
Last week, the Texas Public Policy Foundation held its annual summit. Several panels included Republicans from the Legislature and various right-wing influencers. They had a panel regarding disenfranchising people, which they called “Election Integrity,” featuring prominent election deniers. In another panel, a group of elderly white people had an hour-long discussion about how Texas was “winning the war on woke.” However, throughout the entire panel, not once did they define “woke” or even hint at what they mean by it, but one of the last audience questions mentioned that all of this wokeness in America didn’t start until the 1960s. (He meant the 1965 Civil Rights Act.)
I’ve spent the last week mulling through these panels (because somebody has to), and one of them perked up my ears. The panel is called “Texas vs. DC.” Brian Phillips, the Chief Communications Officer at TPPF, moderated the panel, which included Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, Senator Bryan Hughes, Phil Wegman from RealClearPolitics, and Paul Dan, the Executive Director of Project 2025.
Yes, THAT Project 2025:
Everyone should know about Project 2025; you should warn others and encourage your friends and loved ones to investigate it. If a Conservative, any Conservative (not just Donald Trump), wins the White House, Project 2025 is the roadmap to fundamentally change America within three months of the President’s inauguration. It’s more than just a bureaucratic takeover. Project 2025 targets women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community with a vicious approach that will have devastating effects on millions of people throughout the country.
If you want to know more about Project 2025, here is some further reading:
Salon: “Project 2025 is more than a playbook for Trumpism; it’s the Christian Nationalist manifesto.”
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: “The January 6th, 2025, Project: Fascist Politics and the Rising Threats to American Democracy.”
The New Republic: “Conservatives Plan to Ban Abortion and Cut LGBT Rights Starting Next January.”
People’s World: “Trump hammers out a second-term fascist vision for America.”
There is a lot of information out there about Project 2025. Get educated about it now.
This article isn’t about Project 2025, though. It’s about how several high-level Texas Republicans sat on stage with the Executive Director of Project 2025, how deep those relationships go, and how we need to wake a lot of Texans up soon because it’s about to get a lot worse.
The Heritage Foundation orchestrated Project 2025.
I don’t think it’s often enough talked about how the Heritage Foundation has been behind much of the far-right policies all across America. Mainstream media sure doesn’t talk about it. But if we’re “See It, Name It, Fight It,” it’s long past time that all the suits on TV and the leftists with large audiences on social media ensure that fingers are being pointed in the right direction.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often races above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Project 2025, created by the Heritage Foundation, is:
✅A political philosophy and a movement.
✅ “America First.”
✅A white supremacist, heteronormative roadmap.
✅Planning for a centralized autocratic government.
✅Want the government to be headed by a dictatorial leader (Donald Trump).
✅Planning for a severe economic and social regimentation.
✅Will forcibly suppress opposition.
Here in Texas, we have a saying: “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” This saying means that appearances are indicative of reality; if something seems to be a certain way based on observable characteristics, it likely is that way.
Project 2025 is a fascist plan. The Heritage Foundation is a fascist organization. They check every single box.
Here’s the thing: The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) has had a complementary relationship with the Heritage Foundation this whole time. Both organizations collaborate on research and events that promote “conservative principles.” I’ve seen Senator Bettencourt at events hosted by both organizations.
They share resources to strengthen their mission, influencing state and national policy in a conservative direction.
Texas Republicans, especially Senate Republicans, are deeply intertwined with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
TPPF Board of Directors is the right-wing who’s-who of Texas Politics, including West Texas billionaire Tim Dunn, Republican Activist Doug Deason, and Christian activist Dr. James Leininger.
Just like the abortion ban, Republicans use Texas as their testing grounds for far-right ideology. All of the terrible things the Heritage Foundation wants to bring to America have, at the very least, been tried in Texas first. Unlike America, Texas has no checks and balances; they’ve been eroded after 30 years of Republican rule.
While we finally see more prominent platforms and mainstream media discussing Project 2025, it’s driven by their fear of what the Heritage Foundation wants to turn America into. In Texas, it’s already here. We saw that in the 87th and 88th Legislatures. They brought us:
An abortion ban.
A ban on Black history.
A prohibition to gender-affirming care.
A prohibition on Drag Shows.
A ban on books.
A loosening of gun laws.
A prohibition on diversity on college campuses.
A “Show Me Your Papers” bill.
As bad as Republicans want to destroy this state, you have to believe it can be worse.
To show you how callous they are, here is the panel, “Texas vs DC:”
At the 4:05 mark, the Texas Land Commissioner nonchalantly talks about how the Land Commission is coming up with creative poolings to circumvent the Endanger Species Act. She casually mentions how the EPA could shut oil and gas down because of the earthquakes they are causing, and she personally blocks the cables to wind farms.
That’s basically how the entire conversation went.
All of the panelists talked about how Texas was a victim of the Federal Government because it was Conservative. At one point, Senator Bryan Hughes spoke about how Texas works because it only has part-time legislators. That made me chuckle because I wrote about that earlier this week and said, “Republicans would never go for it.”
If you missed it:
They talked about border security and big tech, normal Conservative topics, but they also discussed Project 2025 and how it aimed at “reforming the federal bureaucracy to restore constitutional governance.” Paul Dan, Project 2025’s Executive Director, addressed the need to recruit and train conservatives to take on federal government roles to counteract the “deep state’s influence.”
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has posted these panels to its YouTube. What really stood out to me is that almost every panel featured elected Texas Republicans alongside mostly millionaires as they talked about how they controlled the lives of the people of this state. They discuss these things so casually in their $5,000 suits as if they were discussing the weather or something like that.
From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: “The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and quickly began trying to control all aspects of society. This internal consolidation of power to remake Germany as a Nazi state was known as Gleichschaltung. The term is a German word that means “coordination” or “synchronization.” Under Gleichschaltung, German political, social, and cultural life were rearranged to serve Nazi goals.”
Project 2025 is literally using the Nazi Playbook, and the people who created it are deeply intertwined with Texas Republicans.
We can stop this, but we must get out to vote. We have to vote, we have to get everyone we know to vote, and we have to get involved.
Important 2024 primary RUNOFF election days:
April 29, 2024: Last day to register to vote.
May 17, 2024: Last day to apply by mail
May 20, 2024: First day of early voting.
May 24, 2024: Last day of early voting.
May 28, 2024: Last day to receive a ballot by mail.
May 28, 2024: Election day.
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more proof......headed towards munich*
*site of Hitler's beer hall putch
from TT: "Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine is facing new questions about his impartiality after a clip went viral this week in which he implied that Democrats plan to cheat against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the 2024 election."
and
from TT: "Former Texas House speaker says GOP megadonor Tim Dunn told him only Christians should hold leadership positions"
or from FW Weekly; The Fort Worth school district has adopted a sex ed curriculum that excludes Spanish-speaking families — and uses COVID relief funds inappropriately.
This is another instance of board trustees and the administration placing the concerns of non-stakeholders, particularly Christian Nationalists, above the needs of the student population, likely out of fear and from being reactive rather than responsive."
Another excellent, well-researched article!