The Unelected

They’re Like the Undead, But Meaner

In our democratic system, the most dangerous threats aren’t always the most obvious. Some are hidden away ready to pounce. This November, we’re not just voting for a candidate. We’re voting for country over party. We’ve heard from enough Republicans to know that that is a thing. If that candidate is Kamala Harris, our country survives as a democracy. If that candidate is Donald Trump, a cadre of unelected will pounce as enforcers of a radical, conservative agenda, wielding authoritarian power with impunity. Who are they?

Top secret and covert. Project 2025’s “180-Day Playbook”

The Unelected in Business Suits

Awareness of Project 2025 has spread like wildfire. Few say they’ve never heard of it. But tucked away on the Project 2025 website is a section described as Pillar IV, also known as the 180-Day Playbook with this notation:

“The time is short, and conservatives need a plan. The project will create a playbook of actions to be taken in the first 180 days of the new Administration to bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left’s devastating policies.”

While the authors decry the "Left’s devastating policies,” they omit specifics on how "relief" will be delivered. The 180-Day Playbook has not been released to the public. What we know about this secret document suggests it may be the most radical, extreme, and dangerous document of all.

Even though the 180-Day Playbook itself remains hidden from public view, we can infer what in it based on these authoritarian measures throughout the 1,000-page “Mandate for Leadership” document:

• Rapid Personnel Changes: The immediate replacement of tens of thousands of federal workers with conservative appointees. This includes reviving Trump's "Schedule F" policy, reclassifying many federal employees as political appointees to facilitate mass purges.

• Agency Overhauls: Dramatic transformations of federal agencies within the first 180 days, including:

  • Elimination of the Department of Education

  • Placing agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Justice under direct presidential control

  • Overhauling the Department of Justice, including the cessation of FBI efforts to combat misinformation

  • Abolishing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at the Pentagon

• Policy Reversals: Swift reversals of Biden administration policies, particularly in areas like climate change and social services. It’s no stretch to see reproductive choice in the crosshairs.

And how do these policies get enforced? Project 2025 loyalists and acolytes could deploy methods like these to enforce their policies—whether legal or not. Either the Supreme Court will look the other way or JD Vance will challenge a Supreme Court to enforce a contrary ruling.

• Invocation of the Insurrection Act

• Resurrection of the Alien and Sedition Acts

• Impoundment of all Congressional spending

• Mass deportations and family separations

And we’ve had plenty of warnings about these methods from Trump himself:

“I will use every single power at my disposal including sending as many federal law enforcement assets as required to restore safety and peace ... Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store. Shot! ... “

That’s the quick relief Trump and his unelected henchmen are planning to bring to Americans suffering from the “Left’s devastating policies.”

These unelected forces have learned from Trump’s first term “mistakes,” and they are ready to correct those errors on an unprecedented scale. They are prepared to infiltrate our institutions and reshape America according to an ultra-conservative Christian nationalist agenda. Their aim is to strip away the rights and freedoms of the masses while claiming absolute power for themselves. Women and minority communities are especially vulnerable.

The unelected must be stopped by not giving Trump a second term in November.

The Unelected in False Vestments

We speak of Christian nationalism with regularity, but some clarity is in order. The Baptist Joint Committee along with the National Council of Churches report regularly on Christian nationalism calling it a danger to the country. To be clear, Christian nationalism is not a religion. It is an authoritarian political ideology. Project 2025 is brimming with its adherents.

Seven Mountain Dominionism is perhaps the most virulent form of Christian nationalism.

Adherents share a singular goal: to impose their fundamentalist values on American society.  The "Seven Mountains" movement was founded in the 1970s. Three evangelicals claimed to receive visions from God about influencing and controlling the seven spheres of society: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.

When an Alabama Supreme Court ruling plunged the state’s in vitro fertilization [IVF] laws into chaos last February, Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker shed light on Seven Mountains Dominionism. In his ruling, Parker laced his opinion with scripture nearly two dozen times, revealing the religious zealotry underlying his legal philosophy.

Like other authoritarian movements, "Seven Mountains" is neither a religion nor a policy debate. It’s a dictatorial mandate to be imposed on every American citizen once all seven mountains are controlled by dominion theology.

Anthony Comstock would love that.

Comstock, the 19th-century crusader against vice, would find kindred spirits among today’s Seven Mountain Dominionists. His legacy endures through the 1873 Comstock Act—a series of laws that, like zombies, roam the land despite being dead for nearly a century. Laws once used to prosecute mailing of “obscene” materials are now being revived in the fight against reproductive rights.

Disgraced United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn is another “celebrity warrior” aligned with the “Seven Mountains”. We hardly remember Mike. His service lasted 22 days in Trump’s 1.0 administration as National Security Advisor—until he pleaded guilty for lying to Mike Pence and the FBI about his Russian contacts. But Flynn may find redemption in Trump 2.0 by recruiting an “army of God” to claim dominion.

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion…. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”—Michael Flynn

Thomas Jefferson might like a word about church and state, but perhaps another time.

The Unelected in Black Robes

When Justice Samuel Alito led the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade, it wasn't just a rollback of reproductive rights—it was a signal as loud as his “Appeal to Heaven” flag at the Jersey shore. Six conservative Justices of the Supreme Court teamed up with authoritarians and harmed women across the country—wittingly or not. The fallout from the Dobbs decision has deepened divisions, with some states protecting reproductive rights while others seek to impose nationwide bans. The Supreme Court has sown the seeds of a new civil war.

Back in 2016, Senator Linsey Graham had it right,

“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.”

Since then, Graham and the other senators who groveled before Trump and have kept him in office enabled him to name three justices to the Supreme Court cinching the 6-3 conservative majority. In due course, that majority overturned the nation’s fundamental principle that all people are equal before the law. In July 2024 they ruled that one man was above it.

During the Supreme Court's oral arguments for Trump v. United States, Justice Neil Gorsuch made a comment—one that was both laughable and horrific. With all his black-robed gravity he summoned these words:

“We are writing a rule for the ages."

Laughable… that Gorsuch thought he could hide that the conservative justices were focused on the specifics of Trump’s case.

Horrific… that the 6-3 majority tailor-made their decision for one man in one situation.

If elected Trump will tear up the democracy that bought his immunity and create an autocracy where Gorsuch’s “rule for the ages” will wreak havoc.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not hold back on CBS this week:

"I was concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances when we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same."

Ian Bassin, co-founder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy, says that in order to consolidate their grip on power, modern authoritarians use 'salami tactics,' slicing away at democracy one sliver at a time. The six black-robed conservatives on the Supreme Court gave Trump and Project 2025 cohorts the whole salami.

Unelected black robes are already on the bench.

Unelected business suits and unelected theocrats in false vestments are waiting at the gates. We haven’t let them in.

At least not yet.

All it would take would be a Trump win in November. We can’t let that happen. The secular principles of liberal democracy—equality, free speech, free and fair elections, academic inquiry, and all the things that repulse authoritarians—are what make America strong. To lose them would be to lose the very soul of the nation. The race is tight. In two months, the choice is ours—between a candidate who respects the rule of law and equal rights for all—and an authoritarian who would undo all of that for his own benefit and gain.

The future of our democracy is waiting to be pulled back from the brink.