Mark Ruffalo has criticized former President Donald Trump and the initiative Project 2025 in a scathing social media post that has gone viral.
Project 2025 is an initiative developed by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, to make significant changes to the U.S. federal government. It's designed to be implemented should presumptive GOP nominee Trump win November's presidential election.
The project is built around a conservative policy agenda and aims to ensure that Republican loyalists are in place at all levels of the federal bureaucracy to carry out policies, effectively from the first days of a new administration. If enacted, it would bring significant changes across various aspects of American life, encompassing government operations, environmental regulations, social policies and civil service structures.
Empire star Taraji P. Henson has expressed her distaste for the plan, saying while hosting Sunday's BET Awards: "They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game."
The Human Rights Campaign shared a clip of Henson's comments on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the caption: "Preach @TarajiPHenson! Project 2025 is a REAL threat to all of us. Every part of it is a wrecking ball for our lives, our families, and our rights."
Responding, Avengers star Ruffalo wrote: "Project 2025 is not a game, it's white Christian nationalism. It is the Sharia Law of the 'Christian' crazy people who aren't Christian at all but want to control every aspect of your life through their narrow and exclusionary interpretation of Christ's egalitarian, inclusive, and kindly teachings."
"Don't be fooled by Project 2025's extremist and perverse ideology," the politically outspoken actor went on. "Trump is bringing it to all our lives: abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of education, and equality between the races and genders—GONE. Forced birth and forced religion. Trump's American Taliban."
As of press time, the post had garnered more than 3 million views. Newsweek has contacted representatives of Trump and Ruffalo via email for comment.
An overhauling of the federal bureaucracy is the core tenet of Project 2025. This includes the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal employees under a proposed "Schedule F" to facilitate easier firing and hiring of personnel aligned with conservative values. The goal is to ensure that federal agencies are staffed by individuals who will implement the president's agenda without resistance from career civil servants.
Among the wide range of areas it covers, the project outlines a significant shift in social policies, particularly around reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ issues. It advocates the reversal of federal protections for abortion and contraception and suggests the reinstatement of the Comstock Act to limit mail-order abortion pills while proposing the removal of federal funding from providers who offer reproductive health services.
The plan also includes measures to restrict LGBTQ+ rights and remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from federal programs.
A significant aspect of Project 2025 is the expansion of executive power. It proposes consolidating authority within the presidency, reducing the independence of federal agencies, and increasing presidential control over policy implementation. This shift aims to streamline decision-making processes, but raises concerns about the potential for executive overreach.
Critics argue that Project 2025 poses an affront to democracy and social welfare. The Democracy Forward Foundation describes it as a plan to undermine the quality of life for millions of Americans by prioritizing special interests and ideological extremism over the American public. Among the concerns highlighted are cuts to wages, creating of unsafe workplaces, destabilizing the economy and undermining civil rights protections.
Supporters believe that Project 2025 is necessary to streamline the federal government, reduce spending, and reverse any perceived damage caused by liberal policies. They argue that the initiative will restore conservative principles to governance, ensuring a more limited, efficient and effective federal government.
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