Dear John,

As many as 100 million Americans will watch the first Presidential Debate of this election year in just a few short weeks. This may well be the single biggest opportunity for the candidates to define themselves -- and each other -- to the American people before the election.

Most Americans simply have no idea how radically destructive Trump’s plan for “governing” in a second term, known as “Project 2025,” actually is.

Project 2025 is incredibly dangerous, including because it dovetails perfectly with Trump’s own totalitarian vision for himself.

It calls for deportation camps for up to 7 million immigrants -- Trump’s version of ethnic cleansing -- to be carried out by his own white, Christian nationalist government, which, in one short-lived Truth Social post, Trump called his “Unified Reich.”

The plan calls for weaponizing the Department of Justice to wreak vengeance on Trump’s enemies, and using the military to put down campus protests. It would eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, the Commission on Civil Rights, and countless other protections for consumers and marginalized groups.

We must get the truth out about Project 2025 and Trump’s actual plans for commencing his dictatorship on “Day One.” Send a direct message to CNN to fulfill its journalistic duty by asking about Project 2025 at the upcoming presidential debate.

Trump’s plans for education are alarmingly regressive, including the abolishment of the Department of Education and the implementation of universal school vouchers, which would funnel millions of public dollars into private schools. Many of these schools teach religious faith as if it were established fact, and they have no obligation to teach actual science in science classes or critical thinking in history classes.

Under Project 2025, book bans will be expanded even beyond the more than 3,000 books banned in 2023. The books prohibited by the far-right censors focus mainly on the experiences of people of color and the LGBTQ+ community. Project 2025 also seeks to eliminate all programs that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in schools and universities.

When we write our letters to CNN, we must urge the moderators to ask questions that highlight the actual proposals in Project 2025 and Trump’s plans for governing in each of these areas. Sample questions could include:

• Under your administration, will you abolish the Department of Education as outlined in Project 2025?

• Do you support Project 2025’s call to expand book bans and defund schools that don’t comply at the local, state, and federal level?  

• Moms for Liberty, an anti-government extremist group that has quoted Hitler in their literature and threatened violence against teachers, librarians, and school boards, supports Project 2025. Will you disavow their support for your campaign?

You may have your own questions you would like to see answered. The key point we need the debates to clarify for all viewers is that a second term for Trump would be far more destructive than his first. A second term would involve the methodical dismantling of the institutions that support and protect our democracy.

Send your message to CNN CEO Mark Thompson and call on CNN to expose the truth of Trump’s extremist agenda, as laid out in Project 2025.

Thank you for getting the truth out to the American people.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action