End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller released the following statement on reports from the Associated Press and Washington Post that Trump’s Project 2025 organizers are preemptively planning ways to overturn the election and engage in election interference:
“Donald Trump has refused to accept the 2024 election results and his Project 2025 cronies are laying the groundwork to try to undemocratically steal the election once again. These MAGA extremists and their convicted felon cult leader pose unprecedented threats to our democracy and must be stopped.”
Associated Press: The GOP group behind Project 2025 floats conspiracy theory that Biden will use ‘force’ to keep power
Gary Fields and Ali Swenson
7/11/24
Key Sections:
- A conservative think tank that is planning for a complete overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win is suggesting that President Joe Biden might try to hold the White House “by force” if he loses the November election.
- The Heritage Foundation’s warning — which goes against Biden’s own public statements — appeared in a report released Thursday that the group said resulted from a role-playing exercise gaming out potential scenarios before and after the 2024 election.
- The Heritage Foundation and other pro-Trump groups have continued to promote the same false claims of election fraud that fueled Trump’s attempts to stay in office despite his 2020 loss to Biden. Those efforts culminated in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when rioters sought to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
- The report alarmed experts who pointed out that there’s been no indication Biden intends to hold onto the presidency if he loses.
- “This is gaslighting and it is dangerous in fanning flames that could lead to potential violence,” said Rick Hasen, an election law expert and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
- Biden has said he will accept the election results.
- “This document is nothing more than an attempt to justify their efforts to suppress the vote, undermine the election, and ultimately another January 6,” said James Singer, a spokesperson for the campaign.
- Trump has stopped short of making a commitment to accept the results, saying in CNN’s recent presidential debate that he would do so “if it’s a fair and legal and good election.”
Washington Post: Trump allies at Heritage declare 2024 election illegitimate in advance
A “war game” presented at the right-wing foundation imagined far-fetched scenarios for election interference to justify preemptive measures.
Isaac Arnsdorf
7/11/24
Key Sections:
- The report said a key finding was that the sitting president is the greatest danger to the peaceful transition of power, with no mention of Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to keep himself in office. Instead it offered that conclusion as justification for doubting the outcome of the 2024 election and trying to reject anything other than a Trump victory. Trump himself has repeatedly declined to say he will accept the results or rule out a violent response. He has told his supporters that he can only lose through cheating.
- The Heritage Foundation, a longtime bastion of conservative orthodoxy that has more recently reinvented itself for the Trump era, has become a lightning rod in the campaign because of its role in convening “Project 2025.” That project published detailed policy proposals for every federal agency, ready for the next Republican administration to implement. Some of the most controversial ideas including banning abortion medication, facilitating White House involvement in law enforcement and rolling back legal protections for LGBTQ Americans.
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