IDEAS FOR WHAT YOU CAN DO TO
SAVE DEMOCRACY –
Siskiyou Democrats February 2025 Newsletter
What’s Going On
It’s been just over a month since the new Administration took office. And, things are changing daily, so it
does seem a bit much to keep track of all that is happening. For the most part, the new group seems to be
using the “Project 2025” playbook to basically dismantle the federal government. They are working to
accomplish this by:
Four Pillars
Project 2025 is a concerted effort by former Trump officials, rightwing operatives, and dark money backers
to lay the groundwork for a second Trump Administration. It has four pillars:
1. Project 2025 Blueprint: The 920-page “Mandate for Leadership” provides detailed policy and
personnel plans for the next president to abolish or restructure every federal agency.
2. Personnel Database: Collects thousands of resumes from MAGA loyalists to replace non-partisan civil
servants with political appointees that pass the MAGA loyalty test.
3. Administration Academy: private training center to shape and prepare MAGA loyalists to take over
government positions and politicize the civil service.
4. First 180 Days Playbook: Secret action plan, including immediate executive orders and other actions
too controversial to publish, to carry out Trump’s promise of being “a dictator on Day 1”. Armed with Project 2025, infused with absolute immunity from his Supreme Court, and unrestrained by the checks and balances that protected certain rights and freedoms during his first presidency, Trump would have everything he needs to take total control of your life.
What You Can Do
All of us, as Americans, have the obligation to fight against a takeover of our government. Here's what you,
as an individual, can do:
1. BE INFORMED: Stay alert to what is happening in Washington DC. It is going on now! Not all of the
media are going to cover it, so you need to read from dependable sources (Listed on page 2)
2. BE READY: Determine what you can do from your Siskiyou County base and be ready to act when
called. These actions might include 1) attending protests, 2) making phone calls, 3) sending emails, 4)
writing letters/postcards, 5) making donations to groups in the fight and 6) participating in economic
blackouts.
3. TAKE ACTION: As we become more concerned about heading towards an authoritarian takeover, we
need to be vigilant and take action. All of us are responsible for maintaining our democracy and upholding the Constitution. When you read some of the news sources, you may discover ideas for action. One way is to keep our representatives informed of our opinions and what action they should take to prevent a takeover.
​
What You Can Do - Details
1. BE INFORMED
Substack.com
US Politics - https://substack.com/home/category/76739
“We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters and that good writing is
valuable – and as the platform has evolved, we’ve come to expand that view to include all
forms of cultural work. On Substack, writers and creators can publish their work and make
money from paid subscriptions while readers can directly support the work that they deeply
value.“
Substack's principles
"With every product and feature we build, we will stay true to the following principles:
Great work is valuable and deserves to be rewarded with money.
Publishers should have a way to make a living, or even a fortune, from doing the work they believe in.
Money is the fuel that makes our entire engine work, and it’s a healthier, more honest metric than
“eyeballs” or engagement.
The people have the power.
Publishers own their content and relationship with their subscribers and have complete editorial control.
Readers and consumers choose who they enter subscription relationships with.
A free press and free speech are fundamental to a trustworthy media system.
We take a hands-off approach to content moderation and instead support community moderation, where
publishers set their own terms of engagement for their community, and readers choose which
communities suit them.
We help readers take back their mind
On Substack, you are the customer. We want to help you be intentional in determining your media diet.
We don’t seek to trap you in an attention game that can never be won, and instead we want to help you
find and spend time with work that you deeply value."
Some Substack Writers:
Meidas Touch Network: The fastest growing independent news network in the world. We
cover breaking news, politics, law and more. We are unapologetically pro-democracy.
Because TRUTH is golden.
​
The Bulwark:
​Analysis and reporting on politics and culture in America. Home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. No partisan loyalties. No tribal prejudices.
The Contrarian: The Contrarian is that alternative: unflinching, unapologetic, and
unwavering in its commitment to truth-telling. The Contrarian contributors may not agree
on all issues (and, in fact, enjoy lively debate), but we share an unequivocal determination
to defend our fundamental freedoms and the values essential to a pluralistic democracy.
Letters from an American: Historians are fond of saying that the past doesn’t repeat itself; it
rhymes. To understand the present, we have to understand how we got here. That’s where
this newsletter comes in.
​
Dworkin Report: Here at the Dworkin Report, we don’t just produce daily, hard-hitting
articles, exclusive interviews, member-only chats and more—you also get real actions,
delivering measurable results.
Democracy Docket: Democracy Docket is the leading digital news platform dedicated to
information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts. Marc Elias
and his team of lawyers have been working on voting rights and other issues.
Hubbell Report: The newsletter started in February 2017 as my effort (as a father and
husband) to provide hope and perspective to my family after the unexpected results of the
2016 election. Over time, my family email was shared among friends and became of
community of like-minded citizens devoted to preserving American democracy.
2. BE READY
There are several organizations who are planning protest marches, writing letters and making phone calls.
Think about what you want to do to help the cause. And, if possible, give to the groups fighting this.
3. TAKE ACTION
The best action you can take, as a resident of Siskiyou County is to CALL REP LAMALFA. He is our
representative and we need to let him know how we are feeling about this takeover! Speak your
mind!
Some ideas: you might let him know how concerned you are about the attempted coup and ask
him the following questions. Note: as actions increase which are illegal or unconstitutional, you
may think of other questions to ask.
1. Are you with Musk or Trump?
2. Are you for the Constitution or do you want to eliminate it?
3. What are you going to do to assure there remains a separation of power?
4. Why are you silent on the matter of the government takeover?
LaMalfa's DC Phone Number: (202) 225-3076
LaMalfa's Contact Form: https://lamalfa.house.gov/contact
ACTION ITEMS: Coming up, there are several "Economic Boycotts". Watch for the dates
on the Siskiyou Democrats website.
In addition, groups such as Indivisible and the Women’s March have been making plans for protests. The
various resources listed above may have some actions recommended.
​
What is Being Done? (excerpted from Democracy Docket member email 2/21/25)
DEMOCRACY DOCKET
We've added an exciting new feature to this newsletter: our first-ever Trump Accountability
Tracker! At the end of each week, this tracker will highlight the number of lawsuits against
Trump's various executive actions and where those actions currently stand.
It’s time to state something that has become increasingly clear: Donald Trump and his allies do
not have a grand strategy to dismantle democracy. Rather, they are making things up as they go
along. This doesn’t make their actions any less sinister, but it does mean they will inevitably make
some profound mistakes.
We’ve all seen the stories of government employees who were fired, only to have their
terminations rescinded when it became clear that they — for example — help safeguard our
nation’s nuclear weapons program. But this haphazard approach is also playing out in
courtrooms, where Department of Justice lawyers are increasingly making fools of themselves.
Take, for instance, the self-inflicted spectacle involving the filing of a motion in federal court to
dismiss the indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. At first, it seemed that Emil
Bove, the deputy attorney general and mastermind behind this sordid affair, had a specific reason
for requiring career prosecutors to file the papers. His efforts led to several resignations and a
wave of negative media attention. Eventually, he found someone in the department’s Public
Integrity Section to carry out the task.
At the time, many — including myself — assumed that Bove had pressured a career official to file
the motion to avoid the embarrassment of the DOJ’s second highest-ranking official having to
appear in court over such a routine matter. Yet, on the day of the hearing, there Bove sat — alone
— as the judge questioned whether the dismissal should even be granted.
Trump Accountability Tracker
Democracy Docket is tracking the 44 most important Trump accountability lawsuits related to democracy.
Restricting Birthright Citizenship 10 lawsuits have been filed against this order.
Status: Courts have blocked this action
Freezing Federal Funding 3 lawsuits have been filed against this action.
Status: Courts have blocked this action.
Establishing DOGE 5 lawsuits have been filed against this order.
Status: Courts have yet to rule, so the action is in effect.
Granting DOGE Agency Access 10 lawsuits have been filed against this action.
Status: An agreement stemming from litigation
has restricted DOGE’s access to Treasury data.
Targeting Federal Employees & Civil Service 7 lawsuits have been filed against this action.
Status: An agreement stemming from litigation has blocked some
efforts targeting FBI employees.
Dismantling Agencies (CFBP, USAID) 5 lawsuits have been filed against these actions.
Status: Litigation has blocked these actions.
​
Excerpted from the “Stop Project 2025 Task Force”
What is Trump’s Project 2025?
Project 2025 is the blueprint for Trump and MAGA Republicans to gut checks and balances so that
they can take over the government, impose their agenda, and control every American. They plan to
use this unchecked power to criminalize abortion nationwide, sell out the middle class, end Social
Security and Medicare as we know it, and control the rest of our lives.
Below is an executive summary of their plan. To see a full subject-by-subject breakdown of Project
2025, click here. You can read all of this in their own words in the 920-page manifesto.
Four Pillars
Project 2025 is a concerted effort by former Trump officials, rightwing operatives, and dark money
backers to lay the groundwork for a second Trump Administration. It has four pillars:
Project 2025 Blueprint: The 920-page “Mandate for Leadership” provides detailed policy and personnel
plans for the next president to abolish or restructure every federal agency.
Personnel Database: Collects thousands of resumes from MAGA loyalists to replace non-partisan civil
servants with political appointees that pass the MAGA loyalty test.
Administration Academy: private training center to shape and prepare MAGA loyalists to take over
government positions and politicize the civil service.
First 180 Days Playbook: Secret action plan, including immediate executive orders and other actions
too controversial to publish, to carry out Trump’s promose of being “a dictator on Day 1”
Armed with Project 2025, infused with absolute immunity from his Supreme Court, and
unrestrained by the checks and balances that protected certain rights and freedoms during his first
presidency, Trump would have everything he needs to take total control of your life.
Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda
Takes Over the Government to Assert Total Control
• Guts Checks and Balances: Consolidated unchecked presidential power by purging the civil
service, firing independent agency leaders, destroying entire agencies, and conditioning
federal funding on political fealty. Project 2025 compromises the ability of every civil servant to
uphold the law and effectively serve the public rather than the narrow interests of the
president and his cronies.
• Political Purge of the Civil Service: Imposes loyalty tests and purges thousands of
independent civil servants so that the president can give control to thousands of political
operatives, hand-picked for their unquestioned loyalty to the president regardless of
qualifications, expertise, or commitment to constitutional duty.
• Weaponizes the DOJ and FBI: Politicizes law enforcement and empowers the president to
use the Department of Justice and FBI to target political opponents and enforce this radical
agenda.
• Undermines Congressional Oversight: Evades the Senate’s constitutional obligation to give
advice and consdent on the president’s appointees and obstructs transparency,
accountability and oversight.
Threatens Rights and Personal Freedoms
• Quashes Free Speech: Authors want Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one to
suppress protests, silence dissent, and target political opponents.
• Slashes Reproductive Freedom in Every State: Criminalizes abortion nationwide with no
exceptions and a total ban on abortion pills, directs the government to monitor all pregnancies
to prosecute miscarriages, restricts birth control, and bans fertility services like IVF. It
declares that the “Dobbs decision was just the beginning”
• Attacks LGBTQ+ Americans: Declares that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination should be legal,
rescinds nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, undermines the rights of
same-sex married couples, criminalizes gender nonconformity, bans transgender people from
the military, weaponizes federal law to require states and private actors to discriminate
against transgender people, and dismantles services for LGBTQ+ Americans wherever
possible, including by mandating the federal government to officially adopt the stance that
marriage is only between a man and woman.
• Undermines Racial Equality: Defunds services for underserved communities and eliminates
policies and programs aimed at advancing racial diversity, equality and inclusion. It would fire
federal employees who participated in a DEI program and hinder efforts to address racial
inequalities by prohibiting the collection of data related to race and ethnicity. It also enables
discrimination by, for instance, absolving police departments under federal oversight for racial
discrimination and wiping out the Office of Civil Rights responsible for protecting students and
educators from discrimination.
• Rolls Back Women’s Rights: On top of an unpecendented assault on reproductive freedom
and sexual health, Proect 2025 calls for the removal of “gender equality” or “gender equity”
from every piece of federal legislation and reverses every policy, regulation and executive
order aimed at promoting gender equality, including immediate dissolving the Gender Policy
Council. Repeals any programs “subsidizing single-motherhood” and eliminates services for
working families, including overtime pay and Head Start. Rewrites Title IX and makes it harder
to report sexual harassment and assault.
• Mass Deportations of Immigrants: Rounds up millions of immigrants, including DREAMERs,
in detention camps to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American
history.
Hurts the Middle Class and Working Families
• Ends Social Security and Medicare as we know them: Rips retirement and healthcare
security from America’s seniors. Makes Medicare Advantage the default option, which would
atrophy traditional Medicare and serve as a backdoor to privatization. It also bans Medicare
from provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act. Project 2025 repeals the Medicare Shared
Savings Program. Claims that Social Security “could not be covered here in depth”, but the architects of Project
2025 have given every indication that they intend to cut Social Security and raise the
retirement age.
• Raises prescription drug prices: Repeals the Inflation Reduction Act to prohibit Medicare
from negotiating drug prices and eliminate caps on insulin prices and out-of-pocket drug
expenses for seniors.
• Cripples Public Education: Completely eliminates the Department of Education, slashes
public school funding, and redirects taxpayer dollars to religious private schools.
• Eliminates Head Start: Abolishes Head Start and rejects the notion of universal child care in
favor of “home-based” childcare solutions.
• Ends overtime pay: Enables large corporations and employers to avoid paying overtime often
or ever at all.
• Slashes food assistance: Guts SNAP and rejects efforts to offer free universal school meals.
• Raises taxes on the middle class and working families: It lowers taxes for mega
corporations and cuts back programs to ensure ultrawealthy tax cheats pay their fair share.
• Increases housing costs: Slashes funding for affordable housing and increases mortgage
insurance rates on FHA loans.
• Ends affordable student loan repayment plans: Plans to end income-driven repayment
plans for student loans, increasing financial burdens on graduates and limiting access to
higher education .
• Attacks unions and labor protections: Guts the NLRB and EEOC, makes it harder for unions
to get recognized and easier for them to be decertified, and slashes protections for minors
working in hazardous or dangerous jobs.
• Abandons our Commitments to Veterans: On top of slashing federal jobs currently held by
veterans, Project 2025 drastically limits what disability benefits veterans qualify for. It also
bans transgender troops from service, revokes the VA’s ability to provide abortion-related
care, and slashes the number of general officers.
• Privatizes the National Weather Service, making Americans pay for weather data and life-
saving weather alerts.
Puts Americans in Danger
• Destabilize the economy: Compromise the Federal Reserve and other independent agencies
autonomy, firing leaders and gutting their capacity to promote the stability of our economy.
• Militarizes Local Policing: Allows the military to be deployed for domestic law enforcement.
• Hurts Election Integrity: Eliminates CYBERCOM’s role in protectiong US elections from
cyberattacks, including form foreign actors
• Damages Allies and Global Stability: Reorients all alliances and pulls out of existing nuclear
frameworks while increasing our own nuclear supply.
• Undermines National Security: Strips disfavored Purges the Intelligence Community of
disfavored experts and civil servants to empower cronies loyal only to Trump, regardless of
their qualifications.
• Undermines Public Safety: Makes it easier for people who want to commit violence to carry
guns and harder for law enforcement to solve violent crimes.
• Make Products, Medicines, Food, Travel, and More Less Safe: Curtails consumer
protections (FDA, FAA, etc.)
• Reverses Climate Action: Cuts scientific and climate research, dismantle environmental
protections, and sell off federally protected public lands to the highest bidder. It also disbands
the Environmental Protection Agency, undermining clean air and water protections.
​
LETS GET BUSY!
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