Unitary Executiv
The title of the book suggests a theme of challenges and threats faced by the American republic, with "phantoms" representing unseen or hidden influences such as the deep state. The authors analyze how these concepts connect and influence the dynamics of American governance, especially in times of crisis or perceived threats to the nation.
“Deep State”
The term "deep state" refers to a perceived network of unelected officials, often within government agencies or institutions, who are believed to exert influence and control over policy decisions regardless of the elected government. "Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic" discusses how the idea of a deep state challenges the traditional notions of democratic governance, as it suggests a hidden and powerful force that operates independently of elected officials.
Isolated and caught up in their own endeavors, citizens would leaveadministrators to their own ends. Those self-serving ends, Tocque-ville wrote, would whittle away at democratic liberties
This is exactly what is mentioned in the 2025 playbook
Plants focused on profit, and his regulatory aims followed. WhenJeff spoke of “influence,” he understood the industry to be separatefrom the public, even though it was the “biggest stakeholder” in hisagency’s decision making. And his agency was an arm of the govern-ment. And the government is “of the people, by the people, for thepeople,” or at least Abraham Lincoln contends as much in America’sbeloved Gettysburg Address. So his agency, according to a string oflogic, should serve the public.
The industry mentioned is a precursor to what would become known as the Deep State. The deep state, being one of the twin phantoms mentioned in PBR, undermining the will of the people to push bureaucratic agendas
The legacy of the plantation system hasleft possession in the hands of the few, and dispossession the lot of themany, including white men like William Gresham and black womenlike Lela Roberts
The plantation system also negatively affected white people, leaving economic scars along with racial scars for both white and black people. Part of the cultural Marxism the Right proclaims is the vilification of white people because of slavery, leading to their problems being ignored because of their stigmatized history, when in reality, what happened in the past is not their fault. They are still forced to bear the consequences economically and culturally, which helps explain the Right's hatred for woke culture
President’s ability to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed
This is the main basis of the president's power over the federal workers of the executive branch. The Heritage Foundation uses this to justify unitary executive theory, to ensure that their policies and laws are pushed out with no resistance. From a constitutional interpretation standpoint this checks out, but is it not concerning that the president can so easily pass legislation while anyone who opposes their agenda can't even have representation in the executive branch?
Madison was arguing that Congress cannotrequire the President to obtain the Senate’s consent to removal, because thelegislature cannot exercise the executive power, not that Congress cannotregulate the manner in which the executive power is exercised:If the Constitution had not qualified the power of the President in appointing tooffice, by associating the Senate with him . . . in that business, would it not be clearthat he would have the right, by virtue of his Executive power, to make suchappointment? Should we be authorized, in defiance of that clause in theConstitution,—”the Executive power shall be vested in a President,” to unite theSenate with the President in the appointment to office? I conceive not. If it is
The act of relinquishing control over one person to the president caused so much controversy and disagreement, but with P2025 the conversation is not one of whether executive power needs permission from congress, but one of how far executive power should truly be able to reach
the Framers simply overlooked this importantconstitutional issue.
This is a good point and raises the question: if there are such oversights in the constitution, can something that was not accounted for in the creation of the constitution be considered constitutional or unconstitutional?
likemost independent agencies, which are headed by a commission with multiplemembers on staggered tenures, the CFPB is headed by a single Director. 6 TheDirector is “appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent ofthe Senate,” to a five-year term. 7 The statute specified, however, that thePresident could “remove the Director for inefficiency, neglect of duty, ormalfeasance in office.” 8
The reason the president is able to remove the head of CFPB is because they are directly appointed and therefore subordinate to the president, but project 2025 seeks to give the president power to make everybody in the executive branch subordinate to them
In Pillar IV—the Playbook—we are forming agency teams and drafting tran-sition plans to move out upon the President’s utterance of “so help me God.
Takes policy ideas in Mandate for Leadership and executes them (entire executive branch under direct presidential control, eliminating the independence of the DOJ, CC, etc.)
Pillar II is a personnel database that allows candidates to build their ownprofessional profiles and our coalition members to review and voice theirrecommendations. These recommendations will then be collated and sharedwith the President-elect’s team, greatly streamlining the appointment process.
A sort of "Conservative Linkedin" that will serve as an online personnel database for administrative federal roles
Pillar I—this volume—puts in one place a consensus view of how majorfederal agencies must be governed and where disagreement exists bracketsout these differences for the next President to choose a path.
Mandate for Leadership- 180 day playbook to move the federal government in a conservative direction through unitary executive action and plans to "reshape public discourse on civil rights issues"
The federal government is a behemoth,weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom andliberty under siege as never before.
The right uses cultural Marxism as a trigger topic to illicit outrage from supporters. It is used as a pejorative that can be used to dismiss a large range of ideas in order to avoid engaging in actual substantive discourse. Later on in pages 4-5, they talk about how progressivism has destroyed the "American Family", and how it must be restored in order to save our country. This American Family's roots ties back to the post WW2 industrialization era and served to produce workers and consumers that would keep the economy growing. Under the guise of returning to American tradition and fighting cultural Marxism, to me it looks like the Right seeks to reassert control over the population and trajectory of the economy by banning the discussion the discussion of topics like gender awareness, abortion, reproductive rights, etc. in order to reinstate the American family as the cultural norm