"Dangerous, diabolical, and dastardly" is how Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader, just described the so-called "Project 2025" planning document that all liberals have now been commanded to light their hair on fire about and run around in circles screeching how it portends some imminent apocalyptic MAGA takeover.

First off, it's the least surprising thing in the world that the preeminent DC think tank of the "Conservative Movement" would merge itself to the maximum extent possible with the branding and sensibility of Donald Trump, the current undisputed ruler of the "Conservative Movement," such as it exists. What would be far more surprising is if the Heritage Foundation, which drafted the document now being wailed about by every Democratic pundit, had not maximally ingratiated itself with Trump — in fact, the Trump Administration's embrace of the Heritage Foundation was already well underway during his first term. But now liberals, desperate for a campaign pivot amidst Joe Biden's cognitive implosion, are using their usual overwrought melodrama to hype "Project 2025" as slam-dunk proof that Trump obviously represents an Existential Threat To American Democracy™ or whatever. What they curiously fail to mention is that the document is robustly aligned with many of the liberals' most sacrosanct priorities.

Amusingly, Trump has been busy lately 'disavowing' Project 2025, but that's neither here nor there.

What percentage of despondent Dems who have this crippling fear of Project 2025 have actually read the document? I'm not going to claim to have read all 920 pages, but I did read the sections on the Department of Defense, State Department, and "Intelligence Community." I would love to ask MSNBC anchors if they read these portions, because if they did, they should be celebrating the glorious reaffirmation of "bipartisan consensus" contained therein, rather than fulminating about some despotic nightmare.

Christopher C. Miller, who briefly served as Trump's "acting" Secretary of Defense, writes in his Project 2025 contribution that the next Conservative Administration must "prevent Beijing's hegemony over Asia," including by "modernizing and expanding the US nuclear arsenal." Because we all know that what the "Deep State" fears most is pouring untold billions into nuclear weapons boondoggles that will keep themselves and their corporate partners gainfully employed in perpetuity. Miller solemnly declares that in addition to China, "the United States and its allies also face real threats from Russia, as evidenced by Vladimir Putin's brutal war in Ukraine, as well as from Iran, North Korea, and transnational terrorism."