Good morning, peepsend. Welcome to WIKP Daily with me your girl, Danny Almody recording from a nondisclosed location because I'm actually not in the home bunker. Dear friend, I am excited for today's conversation that I'm bringing to you today, which is with Will Ragland, who is the vice president for
research at the Center for American Progress Action. And we get into a conversation today about Project twenty twenty five, the plans that are in store for America if in folks five days, Donald Trump is re elected President of the United States, and Will and I kind of go through the ways that Project twenty twenty five will up end democracy, will up end our social safety nefts, will up end American life as we know it. And you think you know to yourself, well, it's five days until
the election. Fifty million people have already voted. A lot of folks still vote on election day, so there is still time for this conversation, still time to alert those in your life to how important and consequential this election and this moment is. We need everyone engaged, we need everyone educated. And this conversation with Will provides us with a little more in depth plans of what the future of America will look like. And I'll tell you what.
If you've listened to Elon musk recent comments about America needing to face hardship in the short term in order for there to be prosperity in the long term. That coming from an effing billionaire who's not going to give up a damn thing, but tells the rest of us that we are going to need to sacrifice under the Trump regime and get rid of social safety nets, get rid of entitlement programs, get rid of all of the things that allow for the most vulnerable among us to
be able to thrive in this society. Yeah, the future under Donald Trump and Elon Musk looks dark. The future under twenty twenty five looks star five days, friends, and we're either moving forward or we're going back to the nineteenth century. Take a listen to this interview with Will Ragland,
vice president of Research at the Centate for American Progress. Folks, I am very happy to welcome to WOKF Daily, the vice president for Research at the Cene for American Progress action, Will Ragland, to talk to us today about Project twenty twenty five, Donald Trump and how he wants to go even further than what has been out lined in this over nine hundred page manifest So will welcome talk to us about what it means to go further. Being as how I thought this was the cliff.
Well, yeah, no, I think broad the twenty twenty five's outline and move toward an authoritarian state is what people should take away from this nine hundred page play. There's a whole host of policies in there, but at its core is a roadmap, a manual to eliminate any hurdles, any person anything, any policy that would be able to restrict or tell the president no on a particular policy they want to enact. Probably twenty twenty five. That's their
first priority. That's exactly what they try to lay out. Donald Trump laid that out in the first administration and wasn't able to get it done because of the people that were able to tell them no or pump the breaks. And a lot of those folks were career officials, career federal employees, climate scientists, attorneys, doctors, Department general counsels who basically said, you can't do this because it's against the law.
The number one priority that he has made clear in his administration, and that probably twenty twenty five in the other plants have outlied is a way to eliminate any of those physicians that can tell them nough and replace
them with loyalists. They're planning right now to replace up two fifty thousand career staff experts and folks that could be a hurdle to him and were in the first administration, to make sure he can start implementing some of the policies that you may have heard about, whether it's weaponizing the Department of Justice or a mass deportation plan, or eliminating the Department of Education, eliminating public sector unions and being able to spend appropriated dollars in a much freer
way than Congress and Ted's. So they lay that out and he takes it a step further. We have seen him talk repeatedly about his plan for the judiciary and his appointments and court shopping. So he has worked and it had actually made a lot of progress, and that during his first term. His second term will take it even further. And we saw the Supreme Court with their immunity decision basically get rid of any accountability for the president as long as he can figure out a way
to defend his actions in his official capacity. That is the overarching thing that's in Project twenty twenty five. It's what he tried in his first administration and what he's outlining again. We saw it last night at Madison Square Garden.
We've seen it with this top policy folks, whether it be Russ Boat, who is his omb director, or Steven Miller really laying this out and admitting that they are working to craft work arounds, loopholes to make sure that there is no friction between what a President Trump wants to do and what rules of regulations will allow him to.
So talk to me about this, because these are things that we've been talking about on WOLLKF for well over a year, right, talking about the dangers of Project twenty twenty five, talking about Steven Miller, talking about Steve Benn and talking about the construction of a dictatorship that can move outside of the bounds of the Constitution in order to give the executive branch aka Donald Trump, full and complete power. You remove fifty thousand civil servants from their post,
you institute an entire regime shift and change. How do you upend the constitution? Or do they just not even care, Like, basically, who's going to stop them. They're going to go before a bunch of there'll be a bunch of lawsuits that will run them up. They'll be put in front of federal judges that will just what Rubbert Stamp, Donald Trump kick it up to the Supreme Court. They'll say it's presidential and keep it moving. What does pushback then actually look like?
That's a great question. So, I mean, at its core, democracy, democratic governance requires trust in our institutions, trust in general things that are factual. This requires a baseline of trust in our election systems, in our courts, in our media, in our churches to some extent, and what we've seen over the last several decades is an increase of distrust in a lot of these bedrock institutions that help us
live a normal and orderly life. To make sure we're driving on the right side of the road, to making sure that school lunches are made, all the way up to making sure whether something's constitutional or not. There are a lot of facets to this that could come to play, but at its core, people us have to have a baseline trust in those institutions. And while that had been declining up until twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, really when Trump came on the scene, he tried to light that on fire.
He tried to destroy any sort of trust in institutions that we rely on that give us the constructs, the balaries that you will to live our normal lives. So addictatorship relies on terra. He moved to a fear based narrative, a fear based way of governing, and tried to take everything that was not going well in people's lives and place that blame on others, immigrants, the media, LGBTQ Committee, tres community, you name it, any other thing they said last night. I mean, I think this was a direct
quote from one of the speakers. We have to slaughter these other people, right, So step one is tearing down that trust to a place where there isn't this sort of social contract that binds us anymore. And at step two, it's to scare the daylights out of people and offer what that he thinks will be the only alternative, which is a strong hand. And if people get out of line, we have the military to put them back in line. We have a doj that would be the president's personal attack.
Do that's creating lists of people to monitor and watch? Are we going to pull certain news outlets license this FORFCC licenses? Are we going to threaten reporters for daring to tell the truth and investigate certain things? Create this level of disorientation and distrusting of the way we choose our leaders and how we're represented with the election system. We saw it in twenty sixteen, it was even more in twenty twenty, and they're doing it again in twenty twenty four.
So let me ask you this, because these are things that were made very clear at the hate rally at Medicine Square Garden. It's something that the media, corporate media has been ignoring for roughly nine years and doing a piss poor job of highlighting the dangers that Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans pose on our normal way of
life in America. And you know, I have said it that the reason for this fifty thousand group of loyalists on their right wing LinkedIn is so that they can institute these changes within the first one hundred days of a Trump administration, because people love to believe that they have more time than they do. So can you talk to us about this timeline that we're working on. If in fact, the worst comes to fruition and Donald Trump is able to become president again, which will be the
last presidency this country we'll ever see. What does the timeline for you look like? What do folks at CAP what do you think about how quickly things will shift?
I think there are a number of factors. It depends on what the setate in the House look like. Ay, But you know, I do think that as you know, part of Project twenty twenty five. You've got your nine hundred page policy volume, you've got your conservative LinkedIn. But then there's this secret playbook, this one hundred and eighty day playbook, which is essentially what we know about it a set of draft executive orders that will allow them to create goopholes and get as much done via executive
fiat instead of having to work with Congress. So I think the timing depends on what Congress looks like. But I think they're looking to move at a very fast speed, and they're trying to put the personnel in place to make that go as quickly as possible. Are they going to be able to get all that und pages done on the first hundred days. I seriously doubt it, but there is a lot in there that they're going to move on, and I think probably one of the first
orders of business will be best deportation. Of what that looks like. We're hearing everything from going after folks that are here legally under whatever visas, going after undocumented folks who may be part of a family and removing that entire family. They're talking about getting rid of a lot of the naturalization processes, and they're talking about, you know, if you're born here, whether you should be a citizen.
They're talking about all of this, and one of their biggest proponents of this is Elon Musk, who we found out over the weekend was here initially illegally as well under a student visa, and started his first business as an adocumented immigrant. I don't think they care too much about that. I think they're probably looking for a certain type of immergrant. But I don't think they understand either,
just how impactfulness will be on our economy. And you know how much folks rely on people who are coming here to work and take care of jobs that a lot of Americans know.
So you know, the funny thing is, well, I don't think they give a damn. The fact is is that this has everything to do with racism, It has everything to do with xenophobia, It has everything to do with hate. And so I don't think that they care how the economy works for everyone else. They care about how the
economy will work for the top one percent. And so I think that you have nobel economists that have come out and have said that Donald Trump's economic plans will cause probably the steepest recession, if not just a full blown depression that we have seen since like the twentieth century, and the biggest crash that this country experienced. I wonder, then,
what does the recourse look like here. Let's now pivot and present the other worldview, which is that of Kamala Harris, the Center for American Progress and all of us who
actually believe in democracy if she manages to win. And I come to you today as ballot boxes were just set on fire in Washington and Oregon that we are seeing all over the news today in another act of domestic terrorism, that we have officials like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who Donald Trump says he has a little secret with that they will reveal after the election, because I don't believe that he's going to go ahead
and certify the election. If in fact, Kamala Harris wins, what does recourse look like, because these people and their plans for this country don't just go away with one election. And if she is elected and somehow is able to get sworn in in January, I don't even know if we can call what is needed a rebuild because there is so much friction and Donald Trump is priming his audience right now for violence. So you know, in your mind, like, how does this play if in fact we quote unquote win.
No, that's an excellent question. I think we all have to be ready for this to be an ever present fight. You know, especially in the next decade. This is not going to go away. If Vice President Harris wins. There's going to be a number of a large number of people in this country that are going to continue to be distrustful of institutions. There have been people talk about the death of deliverism, right the fact that inflation reduction I've really delivered for a lot of red areas in
the country. The fact that our job's numbers an unemployment are as good as they are and yes, the one challenge with inflation. It's up everywhere, but you know we've handled that better than any other developed country. So it's going to be hard, and this is going to have to be something that we face square in the face. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. We have to be honest and transparent with the other side,
and we have to hold that actor accountable. And I think that's really the best path we're going to do. It's going to be a long, hard battle even if we win, but I think we have to show them that show everyone in the country that this job can be done, and we're better as a nation when we come together. But there's no neat trick that we're going to be able to do on the first day, let alone the first six months or of those four years.
I think we really have to think about laying the foundation of transparency, accountability and walk in the wall.
What do you think that the role is then for organizations like yours, for the Center for American Progress either way, frankly, so, to tell me first what you think the role is of CAP if there is in fact a Trump regime. Where do you see your organization.
First and foremost, I think we're working really hard to make sure that it's progressive vision and values that we have will have a possibility and that X administration. But if there is a Trump administration, I think what you'll see from places like the Center for American Progress is working like the Dickens to make sure that there's transparency, that we're calling a spade a spade and making sure that we have real accountability, that we're showing people what's
going on. And it will be tougher, it will be harder if things roll out the way he says they
could roll out. But I think that is going to be a critical rule for places like us to look at the policies that are happening, to paint a picture of their impacts, to tell the stories of people who are workers who are no longer able to join a union, or are no longer able to get school meals for their children, or tell the story of the people who's liger are being impacted day in and day out, people who are being monitored and threatened for trying to create
environments where there's more access to reproductive health, creating environments where you know there's more help for people that need it the most creating environments where there is high quality education for everybody. You know, one of the things you mentioned in this paper that trumps moving further, that doesn't get talked a whole lot about, is with the elimination of the Department of Education, comes elimination of big primary
funding sources for special education for low income kids. And there's no real plan or anything in place to replace that.
There because they don't want to replace it, right, because those children with special needs, low income children don't matter in the grand scheme of things, right, so they want to basically eliminate the progress that was made in the twentieth century and take us all the way back to the nineteenth. My last question for you is what do you think the role is of cap If Kamala is able to win. And again, like we said, this problem right,
these people, this agenda is not going away. So where do you see your role?
Then our role will be to fight first and foremost to ensure that women have access to reproductive healthcare. Again our number one priorities, you know, give it away. Congress is going to be made up. We're going to have to work with states, We're gonna have to work with attorneys General to make sure that these rights are put back in place, and that's going to be a process
as well, But that's one of our biggest priorities. The second is going to be making sure that we put economic supports in place, and economic opportunity and jed that in place for people to thrive, for people to continue to thrive, to continue to tamp down in place, to get to make it so people can afford the things they need, especially healthcare. I think there's a lot left to do there. We've made a lot of progress since ACA, but there's a lot more to do.
And I really love Vice President Harris's proposal for the Sandwich generation, these individuals who are taking care of their kids and their parents and working to make sure that the care that their parents need and the education that their kids need is accept and affordable.
She's got a clear cut, an awesome play there. I think speaks to a lot of people. And you know, I've said this before and in other interviews. I really think that's one of the sleeper issues that people should pay attention to and really resonates with a lot of folks. Meanwhile, the other side, I just do want to mention this touse. You brought it up earlier. It really takes a lot of effort for them to figure out a way to cut taxes and still increase the taxes on the middle
class while giving massive cuts to the top end. So what do I mean by that? What he says he wants to get rid of income taxes, He's going to replace that revenue with tariffs, which are sales taxes, they're consumption taxes. And the people that's going to hurt the most are the middle class, the bottom eighty percent. Who is that going to help the most? The richest okay, the richest in corporations. Even some of the proposals he's
put forward that don't go as far as that. For instance, cutting the corporate ratedown to fifteen percent would mean a fifty billion dollar able tax cut for just one hundred largest corporations. So to me, that is something that I
think is resonating with a lot of voters. I think if you look at issue polls Bloomberg have recently, Vice President Harris has really closed the gap on middle class economics, the cost of goods, And to me, that is where I'd like us to continue to focus on in the next administration and ensuring debt workers have a voice, a collective voice, primarily three unions, to make sure that they can collectively bargain for safe work places and adequate pay and benefits.
Well, we'll leave it there today. Thank you so much for the work that you are doing over at cap Action and cap in general. Really appreciate it. Do you want to say the name of the report?
Yeah, absolutely so. My co author is Kelly McCoy and the report that is being released is called five Ways Donald Trump's plans are even more extreme than Project twenty twenty five.
Amazing. All right, thank you so much, and we will see you on the other side of this election.
Thank you.
That is it for me today. Dear friends, on wo gay up as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke. As FA