Though it’s literally hanging over us like a sword of Damocles, I don’t think most Americans are familiar with Project 2025 yet— let alone its inherent dangers. Basically, it’s the comprehensive plan put together by right-wing think tanks and activists, aimed at systematically dismantling the administrative state and reshaping the federal government to align with reactionary and neo-fascist, authoritarian principles. It involves extensive policy proposals, personnel changes, and legal strategies designed to significantly reduce regulatory oversight, eliminate progressive programs, and consolidate executive power, ultimately paving the way for a radical transformation of American governance in favor of the interests of the billionaire class that fully funds these think tanks.
Bad enough, right? Well, on Friday Michael Schaffer reported that mainstream conservatives are cooking up their own version— and, predictably, it also sucks. Enter: Third Way, another neoliberal corporately-funded anti-progressive think tank. Associated politicians are ex-Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and not ex yet Josh Gottheimer. Third Way, he reports is “launching a ‘talent bank’ aimed at stocking a second Biden administration, or some other future Democratic government, with well vetted political hires who fit Third Way’s moderate brand. In the process, the organization is part of an under-appreciated new trend at Beltway policy organizations, where white papers are giving way to a kind of wonk fantasy football as think tanks create in-house government HR shops that aim to have a cadre of ideologically simpatico political appointees ready to go on day one.
Many of the divides between center left and left are about cultural style as much as policy takes. Take the electric vehicles that [Third Way Communications Director Kate] deGruyter was talking about. Most of the left is in favor of transitioning to them. But is that because they’re better for climate change, or because they make our country less reliant on foreign petrostates, or because you think America’s taste for big cars is somehow gauche?
Centrists’ complaints on the subject often boil down to thinking that young progressives themselves tend to live in transit-rich cities and can’t empathize with folks who might like a car-centric life. It’s not clear what kind of resume items you’d look for if you wanted to assemble a roster of people with the correct centrist approach to that sort of thing.
“I think that’s where some of the strength of the organization can come to bear helping kind of flag those issues, or where those particular sensitivities could be really impactful in specific areas,” deGruyter said.
Of course, that all assumes that someone winds up taking their hiring guidance from a think tank’s talent bank. Even in the highest-profile example, that’s not a given. Though Democrats have stepped up attacks on Project 2025— it was recently the subject of a Biden digital ad— the Trump campaign itself has repeatedly said outside groups don’t speak, or hire, for their candidate.
This is the board of directors of Third Way, basically a cabal of banksters and one of the most destructive forces from inside the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Meet the scumbags:
• John Vogelstein, Chairman- Chairman of New Providence Asset Management, LLC and Senior Advisor to Warburg Pincus, LLC.
• Jonathan Cowan, President- Andrew Cuomo's ex-Chief of Staff
• David Heller, Vice Chairman- formerly the Global Head of Equity Trading for Goldman Sachs
• Bernard Schwartz, Chairman Emeritus- former Chairman of the Board and CEO of Loral Space and Communications Inc., now the Chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC.
• William Budinger- founder and former chairman and CEO of Rodel, Inc.
• David Coulter- Managing Director and Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus, formerly chairman of J.P. Morgan & Chase Co.
• Lewis Cullman- engineered the very first leveraged buyout (LBO)— with $1,000 cash, he and a friend bought Orkin Exterminating Company for $62.4 million.
• William Daley- Prior to being appointed Chief of Staff by Obama, he was Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Midwest for JPMorgan Chase
• Robert Dyson- Chairman and CEO of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp, an investment firm
• Michael Edwards- a partner at Arrowgrass Capital Partners
• Andrew Feldstein- CEO and Co-CIO of BlueMountain Capital Management
• Brian Frank- funder and Managing Partner of Declaration Partners LP, an investment firm. Previously, he was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at MSD Capital, the private investment firm founded by Michael Dell.
• David Greenwald- chairman of Fried Frank since 2013. Before that he was the international general counsel of Goldman Sachs.
• David Horvitz- Chairman and CEO of SouthOcean Capital Partners, LLC and SouthOcean Investment Partners, LLC.
• Peter Joseph- Chairman of Trenton Fuel Works LLC, previously a private equity bankster
• Derek Kaufman- Head of Global Fixed Income at Citadel, previously a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase
• Derek Kirkland- Managing Director and Co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group in Investment Banking.
• Daniel Lewis- former insurance executive for Progressive Insurance and former real estate developer
• Thurgood Marshall, Jr.- partner and lobbyist for Bingham McCutchen LLP and a principal of Bingham Consulting Group
• Susan McCue- Lobbyist, Harry Reid's former Chief of Staff
• Rachel Pritzker- a Pritzker
• William Reeves- co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd., former managing director of JP Morgan
• Marc Spilker- Founding Member of GPS Investment Partners LLC and chair of Chiron Investment Management LLC., previously co-head of at Goldman's Investment Management Division
• Ted Trimpa- lobbyist and head of Trimpa Group, LLC
• Barbara Manfrey Vogelstein- venture capitalist and “someone’s” wife
• Joseph Zimlich- CEO of Bohemian Companies, family-owned real estate and private equity holdings
