Subject: Re: John Oliver Weighs In
But I think this is what makes Trump so dangerous. Trump doesn’t really want to do anything that doesn’t involve making money for Trump or having people shower him with accolades. Specifically, I don’t think he has much interest in actually governing.

But he also has no interest in picking fights that don't concern him, either. He's very keen on keeping his "political capital" entirely and totally to himself and the issues he cares about.

Hence the gutting of the party platform earlier this week, much to the dismay of vast swathes of movement conservatives. Gone are the calls for any national anti-abortion measures - no federal statute banning abortion, no constitutional amendment for pre-born life. Bye-bye to planks calling for free trade, replaced by enthusiastic support for tariffs. This also included getting rid of calls for trimming down the "entitlement state," replaced by a full-throated defense of Medicare and Social Security - an express rejection by Trump's team of part of Project 2025.

Trump doesn't give a rat's patootie what Heritage wants to do with the federal government. He's not going to launch a full-scale war with the civil service just because Kevin Rogers has a fever dream about how much better life would be if the Pendleton Act hadn't passed. He's not going to try to cut popular programs like Medicare or Social Security, or stick his hand in the hornet's nest of federal abortion access, merely because Heritage thinks that would be peachy. Trump doesn't care about Kevin Rogers, and isn't going to let Kevin Rogers hijack his administration.

Trump went along with Federalist Society recommendations on judges because he doesn't care about the judiciary and because appointing conservative judges and getting rid of Roe v. Wade is something his base cared passionately about and because it didn't cost him much political capital. His base doesn't give a fork about Schedule F or the Pemberton Act, certainly doesn't want him to cut Medicare or Social Security, and absolutely doesn't want him to start criminalizing pornography. He's not wasting his favors in Congress to fulfill Heritage's vision of completely reorganizing half the cabinet agencies or repeal the Posse Comitatus Act.

Project 2025 is a fever dream wish list of the Heritage Foundation. Some of the things on it will get implemented, but only because they're things that Trump wants to do any way - things like draconian border enforcement are his core issues, and other measures like tax cuts and walking back from climate change regulation have been popular in the GOP base for decades. Eliminating the traditional - but not statutorily required - independents of DOJ and the law enforcement agencies is certainly something he has a keen interest in doing, with or without Heritage. The other stuff? Trump's not going to bother with any of that just because Heritage has some pencil-necked poindexters who think that's how government should be run.