In my opinion, the news media hasn’t been covering Project 2025 enough, as the GOP MAGA ex-president keeps denying any association with it. But as more and more would be voters become aware of its content, they become justifiably, horrified. That’s why the GOP MAGA ex-president continues to distance himself from it, claiming that he had nothing to do with it. This denial is as credible as Trump trying to distance himself from the GOP MAGA NC candidate for governor after previously praising him as MLK on steroids or the abortion ban issue after he has publicly taken full credit for it.
Here’s reality. The GOP MAGA ex-president can be seen in a 2022 video via Google on the Heritage Foundation premises when the Project 2025 blueprint had been published, praising the Project 2025 plan for how to run the US government with a GOP MAGA autocrat at the helm. Only 32 out of 36 conservatives who wrote this 922-page manual had previously been employed by his administration, many of whom plan to return if Trump manages to step foot in the White House. For the cherry on top, the GOP MAGA ex-president’s vice president pick JD Vance has written the forward to the Project 2025 book, planned for publication post the 2024 November elections.
Reference: In resurfaced speech, Trump endorses Heritage Foundation’s PROJECT 2025/ Salon …
Knowing the MAGA ex-president’s ties to Project 2025, let’s see what’s planned for NOAA and FEMA…
As per a fact-checking report conducted by PolitiFact via PBS, “Fact-checking what Project 2025 says about the National Weather Service:”
Excerpts:
“Partisan jostling aside, what does Project 2025 say about NOAA and the National Weather Service?”
“A Moskowitz spokesperson, Keith Nagy, said “while Project 2025 doesn’t call for the complete dismantling of the NOAA, it intends to undermine the agency’s independence from the executive branch and eliminate many of its internal departments. Any threats toward the NOAA or NWS jeopardizes life-saving information about hurricanes, heat waves, and other extreme weather events.”
Project 2025 calls for breaking up NOAA, commercializing forecast operations
“Project 2025 is the conservative Heritage Foundation’s policy blueprint for a Republican administration. Trump has disavowed it, but it was written by several former Trump administration officials. In 2022, when Trump gave a keynote speech at a Heritage event in Florida, he said the organization would “lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.”
“Project 2025 includes about four pages on NOAA and the National Weather Service. That part was written by Thomas F. Gilman, who was an official in Trump’s Commerce Department.”
“The document describes NOAA as a primary component “of the climate change alarm industry” and said it “should be broken up and downsized.”
“The National Weather Service, one of six NOAA offices, provides weather and climate forecasts and warnings. The National Hurricane Center is part of the National Weather Service within NOAA.”
“Project 2025 would not outright end the National Weather Service. It says the agency “should focus on its data-gathering services,” and “should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”
It said that “commercialization of weather technologies should be prioritized to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the most cost-efficient technologies for high quality research and weather data.” Investing in commercial partners will increase competition, Project 2025 said.”
“Project 2025 also said the National Weather Service should become a “performance-based organization” held accountable for achieving specific results, even if the head of the agency must “deviate from government rules” to achieve those results.”
“The document said little about the National Hurricane Center. It said the administration should “review the work of the National Hurricane Center” and that “data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.”
Experts criticized plans in Project 2025
“We asked several experts who are familiar with the NOAA and the National Weather Service’s work about Moskowitz’s statement. They said Project 2025 doesn’t call for the National Weather Service’s termination but limits its work.”
“Craig Fugate served as former President Barack Obama’s administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and as then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s emergency management director. He recently served on a federal advisory committee, the Space Weather Advisory Group under NOAA.”
“While Project 2025 doesn’t call for the elimination of the NWS, it places restrictions on research, climate products, and potentially limiting access to the NWS forecasters and centers such as the National Hurricane Center,” Fugate said.”
“Private sector criticism of the National Weather Service is not new, Fugate said.”
“A 2005 bill by then-Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., Fugate said, would have eliminated the free dissemination of weather information provided by the National Weather Service. The bill drew no co-sponsors and foundered.”
“Rick Thomas, an Alaska climate specialist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, said Project 2025’s vague language made it difficult to assess whether it called for eliminating NOAA and the National Weather Service. But “the intent is clearly to cripple public weather forecasting,” he said.”
“Thoman cited examples of Project 2025’s vague phrasing on the National Weather Service:”
- “Should focus on its data-gathering services.” Thoman asked whether that means doing nothing but data gathering. If so, then the weather and climate models produced continuously by the National Weather Service that private companies rely on would go away, he said.”
- “Should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.” Thoman asked whether that means the National Weather Service should charge for forecasts or abandon weather forecasting entirely.”
“Although Project 2025 seems to push collaboration with the private sector, that already happens. Private entities, including TV forecasters and AccuWeather, use NOAA data, Rachel Cleetus, policy director in the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said. (AccuWeather said it didn’t support what Project 2025 recommended.)”
“The reality is NOAA and the National Weather Service are already working with a lot of commercial partners so it’s unclear what exactly is the intention there,” Cleetus said.”
“She also said dismantling NOAA could render the agency ineffective.”
“The idea that it could be broken up and somehow still be able to do this essential work, it won’t be possible,” Cleetus said.”
Our ruling
“Moskowitz said, “Project 2025 wants to get rid of NOAA” and the National Weather Service.”
“Project 2025 has a few pages about NOAA and the National Weather Service and some of its phrasing is vague.”
“But it does call for major changes. It described NOAA as a primary component “of the climate change alarm industry” and said it “should be broken up and downsized.”
“It doesn’t explicitly call for getting rid of the National Weather Service, but it says it should “fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”
“We rate this statement Half True.”
How Helene became a ‘worst case scenario/ Washington Post, MSN
Study Reveals Climate Change’s Impact On Hurricane Helene’s Heavy Rainfall/ today.tamu.edu
Gronda Morin 