Calling out modern media for systemic, stubborn disregard
Dear reader(s),
Wow, looks like we owe you an apology – not for what we published, but for our response here. We shouldn’t have to write it, and you shouldn’t have to read it. But thanks to our spineless legacy news organizations, we’re all left to draw our own conclusions from their daily deluge of incomplete, contradictory, and deliberately inconclusive reporting. It’s a sorry situation for all of us. 😿
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your source. USA Today is one of our favorite fact-check sites, we quote them all the time in our underground podcast, Fake News Now. We literally talked about this exact item you’ve screenshot, and agree that it’s problematic. USA Today’s “False” rating is more about splitting hairs than illuminating the matter.
It’s weird that their approach to fact checking Trump’s connection to Project 2025 is about clarifying that the plan is NOT from him — a claim no one is trying to make. The original Facebook post that USA Today is referencing, calls Project 2025 a “plan for Trump’s 2nd term.”
Well, is it? USA Today sidesteps this issue by easily dismissing Project 2025’s origins: Nope, it comes from the Heritage Foundation, not Trump. Case closed!
But wait — is there any chance Trump will be using Project 2025 as a roadmap for his administration, if he gets into office?
Cause there’s a lot of messed up stuff in Project 2025, that’s why @TheLiberalCurmudgeon posted about it in the first place. And like 140 people from Trump’s circle were contributors to Project 2025. And the plan specifically mentions Trump’s name over 300 times, so… 🙄🙄🙄
And there’s that video where Trump literally says the Heritage Foundation is “laying the groundwork” and making detailed plans for “exactly what our movement will do.” And another video where he praises Project 2025’s main architect by name, and thanks him for pledging 20,000 loyalists for his transition team.
Project 2025’s website features a big graphic of USA Today’s fact check, but yet its organizers slip all the time, in interviews and hidden cameras. Their leaked training videos are shockingly explicit about their expectations for a Trump presidency. While USA Today’s fact check does bring some of this evidence up, who can blame a reader for stopping at the “False” rating?
Seems super irresponsible to put that optic out there. Other fact check sites like Snopes and PolitiFact don’t make a call either way – which is almost as bad. It’s maddening how squeamish the media is about opposing Trump. They’re so cowed, they take him at his word when he says he “knows nothing” about Project 2025 and has “no idea” who is behind it.
Seriously? Dude told 30,000+ documented lies during his presidency, that’s like 21 lies a day, at least one every waking hour. A ridiculous amount of lying, even for a politician. It’s beyond stupid that major news outlets still quote the man like he’s a trustworthy source.
And why are we not talking about Agenda 47?
The Trump administration’s official policy platform is basically Project 2025 in bullet points. Both plans seek to reshape US government and society in anti-democratic ways that would affect all of us. There are subtle differences, and all kinds of partisan and non-partisan breakdowns available. But let’s look at some similarities.
🧑🏫❓ POP QUIZ: All of these items below are goals from both Project 2025 and Agenda 47 – except one. Can you spot it?
- Cut federal funding for any school that teaches “inappropriate” ideologies
- Enshrine into law that the US only recognizes two genders, assigned at birth
- Prayer and firearms in public schools
- Require teacher certifications for “patriotic values”
- Criminalize pornography
- Fines for universities that permit “Communists and terrorists”
- Eliminate asylum and refugee programs
- Suspend all “non-essential” work visas
- Create a federal center for “extreme vetting” of foreign nationals
- Mass deportations of undocumented immigrants
- Deploy federal troops for law and order as needed
- Expand the death penalty to include drug and trafficking crimes
- Cut federal energy and environmental regulations
- Leave the Paris Climate Agreement
- Force unhoused to accept unspecified treatment or be arrested
- Corporate tax reductions, tariffs on all foreign goods
- Reverse Biden’s price caps on ten life-saving medications
- Executive order to ban any federal department that tries to censor social media platforms
- Prohibit federal funds for anti-misinformation efforts
ANSWER: 🚫🍆🍑🎞️ While Project 2025 is uncompromising about banning porn and punishing its producers, distributors, and audiences, so far, Agenda 47 hasn’t taken an official position here.😈 But there’s arguably a second outlier in the list.
According to a real article by Forbes (a respected Right-Center source), mass deportations are not specifically mentioned in Agenda 47’s immigration plans. And to be fair, it might be true that the exact words “mass deportations” don’t appear in the formal policy language — it’s hard to tell, as a lot of Agenda 47 is explained in video format (which makes keyword searches unreliable).
Not sure however why Forbes’ editors felt the need to make this distinction, it seems to run contrary to what Trump is saying on his own website and the stated GOP platform for this election. See what we mean about splitting hairs? 🤷
🧠🧠🧠 The more you know, people! Media fact checks can be helpful, but they’re just a starting point.
🙏 Please let’s be informed voters in this consequential election. Our current favorite nonpartisan vote guide is guides.vote, which summarizes candidates’ own words and records on key issues in elections across the country. Includes a handy quiz to find out if you’re a Trumper or a Kamalaphile.
🔗 Direct links here to Project 2025 and Agenda 47, where you can read every word for yourself (click here for a handy comparison).
Please leave your questions and comments below, and please vote.
❤️🤍💙🗳️ ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 5th 🗳️❤️🤍💙
Confirm your voting status now at IWILLVOTE.COM/PA where you can register if it turns out you’re not good to go. You can also call PA’s Bureau of Commissions and Elections at 717-787-5280. Need a list of drop box locations and election offices? Go to vote.phila.gov/ballot-drop-off for a current map.
Important dates:
- Last day to register — Monday, October 21st
- Last day to apply for mail-in/absentee ballot — Tuesday, October 29th at 5pm
- Deadline to return mail-in/absentee ballot — Tuesday, November 5th at 8pm (postmarks don’t count)
- Deadline to return mail-in/absentee ballot in person — Tuesday, November 5th at 8pm
Be the first to comment