ALan Zendell, January 9, 2026

One of the basic strategies of Project 2025 was to strike against Progressive programs and agencies from every direction, unpredictably. It’s the same idea as attacking your enemy with a barrage of missiles. They can’t possibly defend against all of them at the same time, and if they try, they’ll expend all their resources and have to concede defeat. They started with tariffs, projecting an isolationist philosophy (we don’t need allies) and a tough guy stance that perfectly reflects Trump’s narcissistic personality (bend the knee or I’ll break you.)

The Heritage Society convinced Trump that the strongest country in the world with the most respected military and economy should use them both as weapons of mass intimidation. Why cooperate when we can dominate the entire world? Is it any surprise that Trump bought into that? They knew exactly how to play his megalomania.

Except, the people driving Trump knew there was no way the entire world would bow to Trump; they had their own agenda. Carefully threaded among all their other policies were several that had a single objective – increasing the wealth of the people running him. Based on what we’ve seen in year one of Trump-2, the amount of money they can steal, extort, or redirect during a four-year term could reach trillions of dollars. Who cares if the next administration goes after the sycophants who have been doing Trump’s bidding and incarcerates them? Neither Trump nor his handlers at Heritage care any more about them than they do about the rest of us. As long as they manage to avoid World War 3, they’ll be secure in their lavish estates and bunkers.

Project 2025 is a plan for a slow-moving coup orchestrated by right-wing billionaires to re-write the Constitution and return to a time when a few wealthy white men ran everything. But now that all the early pre-emptive strikes have been taken, and anyone with eyes and ears can witness the truth, it’s not working out the way they planned. Take Greenland, for example. We already have free reign to take any national security related action in Greenland based on a 1951 treaty with Denmark. Trump’s lust to acquire Greenland is about its vast supply of untapped minerals, particularly those essential to an expanding AI industry. That’s critical because his threats netted us nothing of value in negotiations with China and Canada, who also possess large amounts of those minerals. And if Trump thinks the rest of the world is ready to concede control of the Western Hemisphere to him…

…Yesterday, The European Union and the trade bloc known as Mercosur agreed to a Free Trade Zone agreement, effectively thumbing their noses at Trump’s ambitions. Mercosur is comprised of four South American countries with populations that total twice ours, (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with Bolivia waiting in the wings to join,) and Canada has already determined that it’s best future requires similar economic agreements with countries other than the United States. All this reflects the rest of the world’s attitude toward Trump’s trade war: “You need us more than we need you.”

You have to wonder what they were thinking and how little Trump understands the situation. China is already South America’s largest trading partner, with a trade volume in excess of half a trillion dollars annually, and heavy investments by China in local infrastructure. With Russia already having a significant military presence in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, attempting to impose the “Donroe Doctrine” is more likely to result in dangerous military confrontations.

Trump’s plans to dominate America are also running into serious opposition. The House passed a resolution to restore cuts to federal health care premium subsidies against the direct orders of Trump. The House and Senate have both demanded the release of millions of pages of evidence about the culture of sexual abuse and pedophilia created by Jeffrey Epstein, which Trump seems desperate to keep from being made public. His immigration policy, based on the sham that millions of illegal foreign criminals are wreaking havoc in our cities, and whose real purpose is to create a federal police force that answers directly to Trump and can usurp local law enforcement, is sparking protests all over the country.

The Trump administration may have bit off more than it can chew. Their strategy of creating chaos for their enemies seems to be coming home to roost. Americans saw with their own eyes, yesterday, how dangerous ICE is, and millions of us are dealing with not being able to pay for health care. Opposition to Trump is better organized, his opponents less fearful of him. It’s hard to see this administration surviving intact for three more years.

This month, we may see another shoe drop as the Supreme Court is likely to rule on the legality of Trump’s tariffs. Everyone is waiting to see if the court gives him a free pass.