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A key ally to former President Donald Trump detailed plans to đ deploy the military in response to domestic unrest,
đĽdefund the Environmental Protection Agency
and â ď¸ put career civil servants âin traumaâ
in a series of previously unreported speeches that provide a sweeping vision for a second Trump term.
In private speeches delivered in 2023 and 2024, #Russell #Vought, who served as Trumpâs director of the Office of Management and Budget, described his work crafting legal justifications so that military leaders or government lawyers would not stop Trumpâs executive actions.
He said the plans are a response to a âMarxist takeoverâ of the country; likened the moment to 1776 and 1860, when the country was at war or on the brink of it;
and said the timing of Trumpâs candidacy was a âgift of God.â
Vought does not hide his agenda or shy away from using extreme rhetoric in public.
But the apocalyptic tone and hard-line policy prescriptions in the two private speeches go further than his earlier pronouncements.
As OMB director, Vought sought to use Trumpâs 2020 â#ScheduleFâ executive order to strip away job protections for nonpartisan government workers.
But he has never spoken in such pointed terms about demoralizing federal workers to the point that they donât want to do their jobs.
He has spoken in broad terms about undercutting independent agencies but never spelled out sweeping plans to defund the EPA and other federal agencies.
Voughtâs plans track closely with Trumpâs campaign rhetoric about using the military against domestic protesters
or what Trump has called the âenemy within.â
Trumpâs desire to use the military on U.S. soil recently prompted his longest-serving chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. #John #Kelly, to speak out,
saying Trump âcertainly prefers the dictator approach to government.â
Other policies mentioned by Vought dovetail with Trumpâs plans,
such as embracing a wartime footing on the southern border
and rolling back transgender rights.
Agenda 47, the campaignâs policy blueprint, calls for revoking President Joe Bidenâs order expanding gender-affirming care for transgender people;
Vought uses even more extreme language, decrying the âtransgender sewage thatâs being pumped into our schools and institutionsâ
and referring to gender-affirming care as âchemical castration.â
Since leaving government, Vought has reportedly remained a close ally of the former president.
Speaking in July to undercover journalists posing as relatives of a potential donor, Vought said Trump had âblessedâ the Center for Renewing America and was âvery supportive of what we do,â CNN reported.
propublica.org/article/video-dâŚ
Videos Reveal Trump Adviserâs âShadowâ Plan for Second Administration
Private videos reveal Trump adviser Russ Voughtâs âshadowâ plans for using the military on protesters, defunding the EPA and villainizing civil servants.ProPublica