But whatever the origin, “tools of ignorance” is a term crying out for wider application. How better, for example, to describe our increasingly siloed social media, where algorithms tirelessly toil to ensure that we never encounter a conflicting opinion or an inconvenient truth? Or for that matter the presumptive Republican nominee for president’s campaign, which begins from the premise that any critical thought or incriminating fact—whether about his propensity for sexual assault or his imaginative approach to asset valuation—is evidence only of a vast conspiracy designed to prevent him from reassuming his rightful place and powers?

Here at The Nation we aim to be the antidote to ignorance. It is in that spirit that we present this special issue on Project 2025, the 800-plus page playbook for a second Trump term assembled by the Heritage Foundation, with crucial assists from an unpopular front of far-right ideologues. We hope you find this reminder of what’s actually at stake in November salutary, since, as Robert Borosage notes in his introduction, this time around Trump will be able to hit the ground running. And because, as Kim Phillips-Fein points out, this isn’t your grandfather’s Republican Party. Or your father’s—even if your father was George Herbert Walker Bush.

We cover Project 2025 from all angles: Chris Lehmann on a revamped executive branch, Elie Mystal on a makeover of the Justice Department, John Nichols on the destruction of democracy, Sasha Abramsky on the terrifying blueprint for housing policy, Joan Walsh on quack cures for healthcare, Bill McKibben on perils to the planet, Gaby del Valle on draconian immigration enforcement policies, Jake Werner on the demonization of China, and William Hartung on force-feeding the Pentagon. Not to mention a profile of movement mover Heather Booth and a dispatch from the education wars.

Plus trenchant editorials, provocative columnists, and a stellar Books and the Arts section. Which brings to mind the wisdom of the philosopher (and Hall of Fame catcher) Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

-D.D. Guttenplan

Editor, The Nation

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