Today, the betting markets predict Biden and Trump will be the presidential candidates and Trump will win. The House and Senate are too close to call pending state redistricting map cases, but all three branches of government may be under Trump’s control in 15 months. Unlike the sloppy, shambolic transition planning the last time Trump took power and the inept clown show for four years when he tried to use it, a current Trump transition committee of 400 staffers has developed a 1000-page plan for reorganizing every aspect of the federal government from the white house down to BLM law enforcement officer (LEO’s). Two other documents, (below) one, the last Republican party platform and a current budget plan from a 190 member House Republican study group also plainly commit to the end of public land as we have known it.
As a federal manager, I did high-level staff work on two major federal agency reorganizations involving tens of thousands of people and local, regional and headquarters offices. This plan is the work of pros and excellent staff work. It is the result of a longer 40-year continuous planning effort by the Heritage Foundation and lawyers who are expert in how government works and what you must do to modify the authority, delegations, functions and duties of a federal agency. A quite complex undertaking if you want it to withstand legal scrutiny.
Post January 2025, public lands will be devoted not to what is above ground, but what is below – trillions of dollars in oil, gas and coal.The forest service will see most land and forest protections reversed and BLM land devoted to extraction and oversight reorganized to eliminate law enforcement as we know it and county sheriffs introduced into process. BLM’s 30 pages were written by William Pendley – well known to every wilderness advocate in America… well known. The transition plan is but one part of a vast project which includes a sophisticated federal employment process.
Every state and federal government entity, legal or policy obstacle to their plan will be defunded, abolished, and remnants of their prior policies erased. Federal employees with any power at all will be under the direct control of Trump with minimal appeal rights if at all, with federal pay and pensions reduced.
During Trump’s last term, MAGA Republicans took four years to learn just how complicated it is to change long established federal agencies and policies. I think they now know how to do it.
Here are the links.
1000 pg MAGA Transition plan for the whole government. Interior Dept (BLM) pg. 517-545, Agriculture (USFS)(289-319
Republican study group: 180 republicans have also produced a plan with their priorities
“Reduce the Federal Government’s Footprint – The federal government’s physical footprint is staggering. According to the CRS, “The federal government owns roughly 640 million acres, 28 percent of the landmass of the United States. The federal government owns over 80 percent of the land in Nevada and 45.9 percent, on average, of the contiguous western states.” (471)
This tremendous hold over our country stifles growth and inflates land prices, a burden that hits working class Americans hardest.” (pg 107)
The Republican Party has a platform which was last updated in 2016.
“…ranching on public lands must be fostered, developed, and encouraged (pg 18)
states can best manage our forests to improve forest health and keep communities safe”. (pg 19)
In my book Organize To Win I devote two chapters to how the great past successful national grassroots campaigns have been organized and managed. I put them out as two blog posts here and here.