Suffering through Project 2025 training videos (Part 3)

Transcript Transcribed by Laura M.

Courtney: Hello everyone and welcome back to our series: suffering through the Project 2025 training videos. I regret to inform you that we are in fact still at it. These videos just keep going. We’re gonna see if we can knock out the rest of them today. If not, it might have to be a four-parter, but we’ll see where we end up.

Courtney: The 2024 election date is rapidly approaching, so we are going to continue this coverage until it is done. Because I think it’s important. And then we can get back to a few more ace and queer-specific things. But just a reminder that even when we are not talking about specific anti-queer legislation here, so many of these broad sweeping policies they’re talking about will negatively affect our communities. So it is vitally important that we pay attention. And since we have already done the first two parts of this, hopefully some of these patterns have started to emerge and become abundantly transparent to you. But a couple things I also just want to point out, that I think is important to keep in mind as we go through the remainder of this playlist, is the additional rhetoric from the Heritage Foundation and those in its vicinity, outside of the actual Project 2025 playbook. It’s important context to keep in mind.

Courtney: And also just recent events in our political landscape, so just a couple to put in perspective here, is that they have made it no secret that they are actively trying to overhaul our entire government from the inside out. And, with that in mind, I think it’s important to remind you all that the leader of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts himself, just a couple of months ago, was quoted as saying that we are in the midst of a, quote, “Second American revolution that will be bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Obviously, that was the subject of many horrifying headlines a couple months ago, but I think it’s good to remember that this– this is the revolution they’re talking about. Project 2025, these training videos. Every single time they say they’re intentionally trying to sabotage Congress. Every single time they’re trying to say they’re expanding the President’s powers. Every single time they say they want to shut down an entire Agency. This is their bloodless revolution and it’s all very chilling.

Courtney: And, in addition to this, every time they say the President’s agenda, every time they are talking about expanding the powers or abusing the powers of the Executive branch, we need to keep in mind the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Which, Justice Sotomayor said in her dissent, “Grants former Presidents criminal immunity and reshapes the institution of the presidency.” It is of the minority opinion in this decision that, “It makes a mockery of the principle foundational to our Constitution and system of government that no man is above the law.” She signed the dissent with: Fear for our democracy. And even gave some obviously very extreme examples of what a Supreme Court decision like this could protect, which includes a President ordering Navy SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival. And as long as they can state that this was part of their core duties, then there’s a very limited amount that they can even investigate in an attempt to prosecute such a thing.

Courtney: So for those of you who may not be as familiar with that actual ruling, I’ll put a few additional resources in the show notes if you want to explore that further. But I kept thinking about Supreme Court decisions just like this, as I made it into like the second half of these training videos. Because another theme I started seeing over and over again is just expanding the Executive branch, the President’s rights, all of his appointees, trying to circumvent traditional legislative process whenever possible. So, on that note, let’s start back up on video 10, Appointees and Policymaking.

Courtney: One of the women speaking here was very clearly a white woman who is the Senior Fellow of National Affairs at their Asian Studies Center, which is… Shocker, I know. Go listen to our episodes with Yilin about the British Museum and how often the work of white academics are prioritized over Asian academics or even those with lived experience, and keep in mind that it’s happening in politics too.

Courtney: And the guy who is also speaking in this video, he was the director for the Office of Civil Rights at Health and Human Services under Trump and he was formerly a Career, which I was very shocked to hear. Because I have been told that all the Careers are liberals who hate conservatives. And he was talking about how he got into the Office for Civil Rights and Health and Human Services and how he didn’t really have any experience there, but that when you become a political appointee, you never know what you’re going to end up in charge in. “And you never know when you’ll have life-saving impact.” And he gives two very vague examples of what he states his department accomplished during the pandemic. The two things he states both sound really, really good on the surface. It even– If you just took it at face value, even I would be like, “Man, I’m glad this guy was there and made that decision.” But he keeps it vague and you’ve got to kind of do your additional research.

Courtney: Because one thing he stated was he told the States that they can’t discriminate against people with disabilities when determining who gets ventilators when there is a shortage in the hospitals. All right, anti discrimination, we like that. Not discriminating against people with disabilities, we like that. The second thing he stated was that he authorized telehealth so that people could see their doctors virtually, which could make things faster and more efficient and safer, and that also sounds like a very good thing. I have also utilized telehealth since the start of the pandemic.

Courtney: However, as soon as I heard that, I was like, “I’m going to need to look up exactly what regulations he’s talking about and did this in fact come from his department? And– and what was the conversation there?” Because, for as positive as those two things are, we also know that the entirety of the pandemic response in this country was absolutely bungled. It was absolutely awful. There were so many needless deaths and we’re still facing the ramifications in this, the year 2024 as a result of it.

Courtney: And, Royce, this is where I want some input from you. Because I love telehealth, I wanted it to be even more readily available. Because I found after like a year or two of doing telehealth, I started having individual doctors that are like, “Yeah, we still really want you to come in to the office at least once a year.” And trying to pressure me to come in, and in some cases even, like, threatening to withhold medication from me, despite not needing any physical exam to continue a pretty low risk prescription at the time. So I was like, yeah, what was the regulation that made telehealth more accessible? But you know more about computer programming and tech companies, and even just general, like, privacy things. You know a lot more about those than I do. So, turns out, when I looked it up, the reason why telehealth all of a sudden got more accessible is because this office, the Office of Civil Rights, basically said that “OCR is exercising its enforcement discretion to not impose penalties for HIPAA violations against healthcare providers.”

Royce: [sighs] I saw that coming, okay. I had not heard about this. I’m surprised the story didn’t break.

Courtney: I was shocked that this was news to me, because I was like, “Telehealth is great. I still love it. I still want it to be more accessible.” Turns out this is why. Is because the Office for Civil Rights was like, “Hey, we’re not going to come after you for HIPAA violations.” And that’s not the route I wanted to get to that outcome.

Royce: So I have worked at places that handled information that was classified under HIPAA, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. That’s the HIPAA law.

Courtney: Yes.

Royce: I was not in charge of the areas that were affected, so some of the things that I heard were sort of word of mouth. And one technical aspect of that is that a HIPAA compliant database has cost restrictions on it that normal databases do not. And that could be true. I don’t entirely know the extent of it for things like server architecture and possibly even I don’t know how deep it goes. I don’t know how far the regulations goes, if there are, you know, regulations around where the data can even be stored, like what kind of– what the security is around the data warehouse. I don’t know. I just know that in talking with someone who was doing database design, they had to do a cost analysis of how much of our system can we put in a HIPAA specific database and lock down, and how much can we put in a different database. So what they’re saying is telehealth couldn’t happen previously because the technological companies were not enforcing security and privacy at a level required for HIPAA regulations. So they reduced the level of security and privacy protections during a pandemic, which potentially could have exposed the medical records of everyone–

Courtney: Yes.

Royce: –who was using this.

Courtney: Yes. And I imagine– Well, maybe you can tell me, just based on your knowledge in this arena, but is part of this also not only the health companies themselves, but could part of it also be the fact that they were using third party companies, like Zoom? And subject to whatever their terms and agreements are?

Royce: My guess is, at this point in time, all of the companies that saw the pandemic, and specifically the early lockdown area of the pandemic, as a room for growth were not in a position to be able to implement HIPAA compliant software in the time period that they needed, and so that’s why that was waived. So, yeah, a lot of particularly medical places are not going to have salaried development staff. Most of their technology is going to be through third party vendors.

Courtney: So, yeah, that was [sighs] That was kind of a shock to hear, because you know HIPAA is a good thing. Medical privacy is nice. The fact that we got this very beneficial service just because they’re like, “Eh, we’re gonna look the other way if you aren’t doing this right,” is to me, as a disabled woman, even more frightening. Because those of us with extensive medical histories disabilities, even those of us who take prescriptions, like there are a number of things that we could be disproportionately affected by if our medical histories get out. And under the wrong government, with the repeal of the wrong regulations, could affect our future ability to get health insurance or life insurance. Under an increasingly fascist government, there are a million reasons why you wouldn’t want a number of entities knowing your medical history. So that was fascinating to also just see the way they explain these wins. Because he was like, “I authorized telehealth.” But what you’re saying is that telehealth was never not allowed, there were just tech companies that weren’t taking the time and money to get up to code.

Royce: Yes, a more accurate description of what he authorized makes a lot more sense, considering the video that you’re watching, is he repealed government regulations.

Courtney: Yes.

Royce: Specifically ones that protect medical privacy and the security that is required to enforce that.

Courtney: Correct. So then I was very curious about his other claim, because the one example he cited, he was like, “For example, someone with Down syndrome. It was my agency who determined that you couldn’t discriminate against someone with a disability when determining how to ration ventilators during a shortage.” Which, again, maybe there wouldn’t have been as much of a ventilator shortage if they did their jobs better, faster, earlier. But I also, just existing in many disability circles and being privy to a lot of these conversations, I knew that whatever this regulation supposedly was, whatever this declaration that came from his agency, did not quell the fears of those of us in the disability community. Because there were frequently conversations about how it’s highly likely that if you do have a disability or another pre-existing condition, and it’s between you and an otherwise traditionally able-bodied person, a lot of doctors are going to pick the other person over you.

Courtney: And I think I’ve mentioned before that even things like whether or not you have kids, if they aren’t married, are things that doctors have admitted to using as criteria, if not in practice at least in their thought experiments, for who they’d pick over another. And many disabled people have gotten fake wedding rings to wear even if they are not married, just because they essentially don’t want to have two checks against them if they wind up in a hospital and can’t advocate for themselves. And so, I was like, mh [sucks teeth] it sounds good what you did, but it definitely didn’t quell anybody’s fears. So what actually was that? So I was trying to find what this was that he did. And this wasn’t a regulation. It wasn’t even an enforcement discretion like the other one. This one was just a bulletin, which is basically just a reminder.

Courtney: [reading] “March 28 of 2020. Today, the Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Health and Human Services is issuing a bulletin to ensure that entities covered by civil rights authorities keep in mind their obligations under laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, and exercise of conscience and religion in HHS-funded programs. Including in the provision of healthcare services during COVID-19.” So that was just a reminder. They didn’t change anything. They didn’t decide to handle the way they enforce things differently. They’re just like, “Hey, everyone.”

Royce: Public service announcement.

Courtney: Public service announcement! But then, when I continued on the actual section that they’re quoting, they referenced the Americans with Disability Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. And I went, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you taking credit for Section 504?” Because Section 504 was one of the most groundbreaking pieces of disability legislation in this country, which was a direct result of what has now become known as the 504 Sit-In, which was a disability rights protest in 1977. And that sort of built the foundation for what the modern, like, Americans with Disability Act has become. It became the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in US history.

Courtney: So there were disability activists in the 70s who took a look at the Rehabilitation Act, sort of a predecessor to the ADA, and said, “No, this is not good enough.” They sat in that federal building for 25 days in San Francisco.

Courtney: So when I read that, what did you actually do? You’re citing section 504 and telling people, “Hey, just a reminder, you can’t discriminate.” That’s nothing, that’s bare minimum shit right there. And it’s such a far cry from him saying, “I told States that they can’t discriminate against people with disabilities,” when really you’re just saying like, “No, this legislation has been in place since the 70s.” And it was a result of not only disability activists, but Black activists, because the Black Panther Party was integral to the 504 Sit-In, because, as I said, it took 25 days. So the Black Panthers brought food, other necessities, issued press release endorsements of the protests. And so it just seems pretty gross that he’s like taking credit for… the 2020 pandemic and making sure that people with disabilities didn’t get denied ventilators. Because I also found, published in May 2020 on the Yale Law Journal – and I’ll link this in the show notes as well for further reading – entitled, “Who Gets the Ventilator? Disability Discrimination in COVID-19 Medical Rationing Protocols.”

Courtney: And right in part one, when they start discussing the history of discrimination because of disability, they immediately go to Section 504. And if I didn’t happen to already know the history of the 504 Sit-In– Which, let’s be honest, most people don’t unless you are already so steeped in, like, disability activism, and not only just modern activism, but the history of disability rights in this country, so many people would never know. The people with actual lived experiences who he is just erasing over by taking credit for doing nothing. So, in addition to articles in the show notes, I’m going to recommend everyone read Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk, if you are interested. There is a chapter in there that does talk more about not only the 504 Sit-In, but the Black Panther’s involvement in helping make it a success.

Courtney: So put a pin in this guy for now, because he shows up in a later video, but that’s as much as I want to rant about him right now.

Courtney: But even if– even if you didn’t go out of your way to research what did this department he’s citing actually do, what was the timeline, what did they say. Even if you weren’t able to connect the dots in your head about what the true history of these regulations are. Just think about, at face value, in this series of training videos where they have said you don’t need any experience, you don’t need to know anything about the agency you’re going in, you don’t need a degree, you don’t need x, y and z. All you need to do is be loyal to the president. Then, to hear a guy sit here and be like, “Yes, during this global pandemic, here are two very big, important things that I made the call on and I did, and my department did this.” Isn’t it just at a very surface level frightening to imagine how many decisions like these are getting determined by people with potentially no qualifications whatsoever?

Courtney: And they even kind of say that too, they’re like, “You know, before I started in my department I didn’t know anything about this.” So they say when you start working for the government, you never know where that’ll take you or what department you end up becoming an expert for. But then they also give, like, a little wink, wink, nudge, nudge with, “Also, you never know what higher up person will just ask your advice because you happen to be in the room and they just might take it.” And then they leave off by saying you also need to build a network of people, because you’ll encounter challenges that you’re way over your head in. So that’s when you go to your network of people, that’s when you can come to the Heritage Foundation. They actually say that. They’re like, “The Heritage Foundation can be a part of your network. When you find yourself in an agency you know nothing about, with no experience in, and you’re in over your head, just come to the Heritage Foundation, we’ll help you out. Or if you don’t come to us, you can come to one of our 45 partner organizations.”

Courtney: Need I remind you about the freaking letter to Mitch McConnell warning against the Respect for Marriage Act, though signed by 83 organizations that condemned platonic marriage? That was, what? Two years ago now? That’s the Heritage Foundation and their partner organizations, and others who are aligned with them. They all know each other, they all talk. They’re trying to get all of their goons into every branch of government. This is their bloodless revolution.

Courtney: Although, I’d argue, even if they succeed at doing what they’re setting out to do, it is not going to be bloodless. The regulations they intend to roll back. The departments they intend to completely kneecap, if not outright behead. There are vulnerable Americans who are going to be affected by it. It’s going to affect our medical care. It’s going to affect our insurance. It’s going to affect absolutely everything. Housing, basic necessities.

Royce: But those are all things that the current conservative party doesn’t consider important.

Courtney: No. So then [sighs] video 11. The video sort of flipped back and forth. Sometimes it’s a dialogue between two or more people and sometimes it’s just like one guy reading a teleprompter. And so this one was another, like, fully scripted monologue about what conservatism is. And it was just, in my opinion, a wildly skewed view of its history in America. And it’s– it’s just too long, it’s too frustrating. I don’t want to waste my time. I care so much more about what they’re planning to do with these ideologies today.

Courtney: But to give you just a little tiny taste of, like, what the tone of this was, they were trashing FDR and the New Deal. Which is, like, I’m pretty sure, the most popular piece of legislation in all of American history. If not the most, it is up there. Absolutely just trashing Roosevelt, trashing the New Deal, and the alphabet soup of agencies that were created as a result of it. Which I just thought was funny because they also call the LGBTQIA+ community the alphabet soup of genders.

Royce: This group cares neither for soups nor alphabets. It’s why they’re banning all the books.

Courtney: It’s why they’re banning the books. And they clearly do have an anti-soup bias, so we’re gonna need to watch out for harmful legislation that affects that.

Courtney: Video 12 was another one that was just pretty dry, not as– not as specific and therefore not as horrifying as some of the others. It was just a pretty standard explanation of congressional spending authorizations and limits. So there are occasional things that are just like, “Here is how the government works. Here’s what you need to know, because there are processes.” And okay, fine, like I don’t need to relay that all to you.

Royce: Was this all animated by the evil twin of the Bill from Schoolhouse Rock, or something?

Courtney: [laughs] Oh, I wish! It would have made it so much tolerable if it was. Yeah, so much more tolerable. So, yeah, the thing is, it was dry, it was boring, but so much of it– you can tell, their audience is people who don’t know much of anything about how the government works, which is [sighs] Part– part of me, I was trying to weigh how I felt about this, because some of the things they were going over was like, yeah, this should have been in just like a basic high school government course. But I also know that not everyone has a government course, and people who do might have bad ones. Education isn’t consistent across this country at all. And then it occurred to me they don’t actually like education. They don’t like public education. They want more people raising their kids in private– private religious education, if not outright homeschool. They want to cut the Department of Education. They want to cut funding for education. And so… They really do just want people to come in completely ignorant so that they can indoctrinate them to do exactly what they need to do. All they want is worker bees.

Royce: That’s what I was about to say about the adults coming in, because they’re framing all of this as: “Don’t worry about qualifications, don’t feel like you can’t do this job. I didn’t know what I was doing and look at me now,” kind of a thing. Just come in and, when you need help, ask for help and they’ll tell you what to do.

Courtney: Yup, that’s the vibe! That’s the vibe. And especially as you slog along the hours and hours and hours of these videos, like I did, you hear some of the same talking points over and over again. They very clearly have, like– I don’t want to say brainwashing because they say brainwashing so often, but like, “Oh, the liberals are brainwashing people.” But they reiterate points over and over and over again across multiple videos, across multiple hours. So to give another example of that, coming up on video 13, Appointee Survival Guide, a lot of it was reminiscent of that very first video that we covered. And in fact, the woman hosting it was one of those original two women too. And it’s here that they claim that 96% of career staffers vote and donate to Democrats. Of course, the study that they cite was published by the Heritage Foundation. But I– that’s such a huge number.

Royce: Like they could have gotten their point across and lowered it. It’s like when you look at the rigged elections run by dictators. It’s like you could have won by 65%, but you had to make it like 98.

Courtney: [chuckles] It’s– it’s such a bafflingly high number. Which is also so funny because they’re constantly saying, like, “Well, the conservative president– The– the quiet conservative majority in this country. And the conservative president will be elected by the people because this is the will of the people.” And yet then they go on to say, like, “No, actually most people are Democrats and we’re– we’re– we’re the persecuted minority here, but actually we’re the majority of people.” It’s like they’re all over the place. So they give us here the top 10 tips to survive the persecution that many conservative appointees experience. And before they give us our nice neat numbered list, this woman who’s just– She’s so angry. And she’s just glowering into the camera. And she says, “Even before I arrived, the Careers already had it out for me. They tried to keep me from being hired. Two weeks after I started, BuzzFeed did a hit piece on me.” And I was like, BuzzFeed…? BuzzFeed did the hit piece?

Royce: BuzzFeed famously ran by liberal Careers in the White House.

Courtney: And so then I was like, “Well, now I’ve got to look up this BuzzFeed hit piece.” And the headline that I found, from 2017, is: Trump administration appoints anti-transgender activist to gender equality post. So… [sighs] shocker, shocker. I’ll put a link to that if you want to read the whole BuzzFeed hit piece. But it does end with a quote of hers: “To put it simply, a boy claiming gender confusion must now be allowed in the same shower, bathroom, or locker room with my daughter under the president’s transgender policies,” she wrote. “When I learned that predators could abuse these new policies to hurt children in school lockers, shelters, pool showers, or other vulnerable public places like remote bathrooms in national parks, I realized I had to do something. [...] The silent majority must no longer be silent.”

Courtney: So, yeah, I would say that that is newsworthy when you appoint that woman to the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the US Agency for International Development. Because, mind you as well, this was the same woman from that first video who was talking at international summits and influencing international guidance. And other harmful nonsense. So she goes on, and a couple of these tips she gives on her own. She’s like, “Here’s one of my tips.” But she also brings in like a revolving door of guests to be like, “You are an appointee, what’s your best tip?” And it was so creepy how, every single time, she brought in a new guest and said, “What is your best tip for a political appointee survival guide?” Everyone started with something along the lines of, “First of all, serving the President was the honor of my life.” They all said some iteration of that before answering any of the questions. It was very creepy.

Royce: So the first one was a bit normal, as you would expect from this. The second one was like, “Oh, I’m seeing a pattern here.” And by the 10th one it’s like, “Okay, the punch bowl is empty. We are in full cult mode.”

Courtney: Yes, exactly! That was how it felt watching this video. So Conservative Political Appointee Survival Guide, tip one: know the President’s policy positions. Which they explained as: read the president’s tweets, [chuckles] watch his speeches, and keep up to date on executive orders, and make sure everything you do is in line with these things and that you make everyone else do likewise.

Royce: The famously consistent and coherent tweets of Donald Trump.

Courtney: Political Appointee Survival Guide, tip number two: Think before you speak, write, or act.

Royce: Calling back to a previous podcast, that is another one that applies to everyone except for the President.

Courtney: So many of these. Everything– it applies to everyone except for the President or the Vice President nominee. Because JD Vance, a few times I was like, [sucks teeth] “I know what guy you’ve got going right now.”

Royce: Well, we made the comment in a previous video that the chief of staff is the chief rule breaker. Must be the biggest breaker of rules.

Courtney: Mm-mm. Yeah, that’s how this works. But yeah, and they say, you have to think before you speak, write or act, because the Democrats will watch you and they will look into your history. So scrub your past social media and blogs of everything that could be damaging, vulgar or contradict the current policies that we’re trying to pass. Do that now, before you’re even appointed. Go right now. Go, scrub your internet history. And that is a thing that they end up saying so many times in so many videos in this playlist.

Courtney: Survival tip number three: learn the lingo, because people in government use acronyms and they cite policies. You should know what they’re talking about when they say these things, because I sure didn’t when I started. [laughs] Tip number four: learn how to navigate your department, your agency, and the culture of the federal government. They went on to basically talk about exactly the same things they did in tip number three. This was almost exactly the same, just–

Royce: They needed a nice round ten. Nine didn’t cut it.

Courtney: They could have at least spaced it out, like put one in the first half and the second one…

Royce: That’d be a better reminder because with as slow as you said some of these videos were, people might only get through them like half at a time.

Courtney: It could be. Tip number five: connect with other political appointees, not only in your agency, but across all the agencies. This guest who gave this said, “For example, I started a Bible study amongst political appointees.” And for as much as that, you know, just in this context with the Heritage Foundation, with Project 2025, with the rise in Christian nationalism, felt very icky, where it shouldn’t feel icky. If someone wants to have a Bible study with other people who share their faith as, like, vaguely co-workers, that shouldn’t be a problem. But in all of this context, I was like, “I don’t like it. I don’t like it.” But I was pleasantly surprised that this was the first woman to actually mention, “Be nice and polite to other people and other employees.” And then I got shocked at how shocked I was to hear that. Because this was like the first mention of being civil to the Careers, to other people, to other agencies, when otherwise this entire training course so far has been preparing you to be persecuted from day one.

Courtney: Step number six: know the Hill and build collaborative relationships. Which is basically just network. Groundbreaking. Step seven: partner with civil society organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, and Alliance Defending Freedom. And then this woman goes on to say, “I was under attack for sharing the Trump administration’s pro-life position in a closed door meeting. This unnerved the left but emboldened the right. And organizations helped intervene to help thwart hit pieces in the media.” And then she even, out loud, says, “Sometimes these agencies have their own agendas and sometimes they might be different than the President’s agenda, but it’s important to work with these agencies anyway.” It’s all just Christian nationalism every time they say the President’s agenda! That’s what they mean.

Courtney: Tip number eight: do not let Career bureaucrats hinder you from advancing the President’s agenda. And this tip, as they were discussing it, was almost exactly like the “learn how to navigate your department,” which was almost exactly like “learn the lingo.” And as I’m cross-referencing these tips, seeing how many of them are so similar, I’m also cross-referencing to previous videos. Because so many of them are so similar to just repeating talking points from video one. But after repeating a bunch of nonsense, they remind you that this is an entire industry of opposition that is against you when you get into the White House. Because there is an overwhelming amount of anti-Christian animus. That’s what they said. That’s what they said…

Courtney: Step nine: be on guard and get ahead of the false narrative being pushed by media. Here is where they tell you that being defamed on Twitter is a badge of honor in the Trump administration. And then, tip number ten – I will give you three guesses – Every single minute, remember you work for the President and have to advance his agenda.

Courtney: And then video 14 is just boring. It’s just about time management, standard admin stuff. But then in video 15, about presidential transitions, we have a guy who helped with staffing in the original Trump administration as an active employee of the Heritage Foundation. And he said that that’s actually a benefit to working at a nonprofit like Heritage is that you can still keep your job there and also go work in an administration. Which it’s– It’s– It just– It’s increasingly evident that packing as many of their people as possible into government is the job of the Heritage Foundation, at the end of the day! This is what they’re trying to do. It doesn’t seem like, “Oh, that’s a benefit, you can go work in an administration and keep your job at this nonprofit.” No, that’s on purpose. That is your job.

Courtney: This video was once again in front of the accidentally trans version of their logo. And this time I know that they’re the ones who messed it up, because I watched this video on a different computer than I watched the first time they were on this set. And it’s supposed to be like the patriotic red and blue, and says 2025, but for some reason this screen and this lighting just makes it pastel blue and pink. So I’m just gonna relish in that. And this Heritage Foundation employee who was in charge of staffing the original Trump administration, which, again, utterly laughable that they want us to believe that Trump knows nothing about Project 2025 or the Heritage Foundation. It’s– If he took an employee of the Heritage Foundation to staff his first round of appointees, they really do take us for fools. But he ended up talking about how helpful the Obama administration was at working with people to transition between election day and January 20th, when the new administration takes over.

Courtney: And I thought that was just utterly fascinating for him to say, because, for some unknown reason, they neglected to mention how Trump blocked Biden’s incoming staff in what was reported by Politico as unprecedented ways. Subline: Trump’s stonewalling of the incoming administration is leaving even some in his own party concerned. And this was being reported after the election, when Trump was still tweeting things like, “I won the election,” when he very clearly did not. And we know just a few short months later, the insurrection happened. And a quote here from a Biden advisor on this Politico article says, “With every day that passes, it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the President-elect and Vice President-elect don’t have access to those threat assessments, intelligent briefings and real-time information about our engagements around the world. Because you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Courtney: And that became a major concern with things like regulations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. I mean, think about what was happening in early 2021. Vaccines for one, and determining vaccine rollouts, still trying to distribute tests. And things were getting increasingly more contentious for any type of mask mandate or social distancing guideline. And that’s only one issue. One issue that the incoming administration was just completely left in the dark about during this transitional period. And now coming into another – what they hope to be another Trump administration – they have the audacity to talk about like, “Oh yeah, the Obama administration was great. They were so helpful with us. They gave us the access we needed. They gave us the intelligence we needed. They made it a really smooth transition” How dare they. And then, just for good measure, even though this was totally irrelevant to the other topics of this video, they just remind you once again to clean up your social media. Because they are very concerned about the public profiles of the appointees they’re going to be getting in.

Courtney: And I am sorry to say that I do think we are in fact going to need to make this a four-parter. So we will leave this off here for today, but next week I promise we will finish this up. There were some wild things in the last handful of videos, so I definitely do want to touch on them, though.

Courtney: But for today, on a much lighter note, I would love to introduce you to this week’s featured MarketplACE vendor, Derelict Spectre. This would be a fabulous place if you’re looking to commission some art. Derelict Spectre is a Black and South Asian character artist, a member of our aroace community, and definitely do go check out his work. One of my favorite pieces every time I click onto his page is this very devilish kind of character. As a D&D nerd who is very fond of tieflings, it very much gives me tiefling vibes. A red, devilish person with curly horns and just a very wicked smile, nice hair. I love it every time I see it. But there are also plenty of other more humanoid options or more furry-like options. And, if you are not currently in the market for an art commission, Derelict Spectre does have a Ko-Fi tip jar, which, of course, I will link to in the show notes. Everyone, definitely go check him out.

Courtney: So we’ll see you all next week to finish out this series on the Project 2025 training videos. And in the meantime, every one of our US listeners, please go check your voter registration right now. Please don’t be caught off guard that you have not registered, that you’ve met a cutoff date, anything like that. We need all hands on deck, especially those listeners of ours who are in those all important swing States.

Royce: Yeah, I haven’t been paying super close attention to that, because Kansas is usually pretty permissive, but I do know that there have been places around the country where local legislation is trying to get passed to make it increasingly difficult to register.

Courtney: Oh yes. And every time a big election comes up, we hear about certain places in the US where voter registration is being purged and, all of a sudden, someone who should be registered and used to be registered just can’t be found. So don’t let anything like that sneak up on you, and with that we will see you all next time.