By Mary Rooke
President Donald Trump escaped the clutches of the Democratic plan to end his freedom because voters stopped the so-called investigations at the polling booth in 2024. Less than two years later, Democrats are promising to do this again, and it seems Republicans still haven’t learned their lesson.
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker did not mince words in his March New York Times Magazine interview, calling for the Democrats to initiate “Project 2029,” a play on Republicans’ Project 2025. When asked what a Democratic “Project 2029” agenda would look like, he said it would focus on restoring the rule of law.
“I don’t think you can speak of it in shorthand, but I’ll just say a couple of things that I think are absolutely necessary. One is we’ve got to restore the rule of law, and that means holding people accountable who’ve broken the law. I’m talking about in this administration. When we get a new one, the people in this administration who’ve broken the law and federal agents who’ve broken the law need to be held accountable … criminally prosecuted, civilly prosecuted, whatever it is that we can do. Right. It may be that you can’t criminally prosecute somebody, but that you can go after them civilly,” Pritzker said.
If this feels similar to Democrats’ obsession with “Democracy,” it’s because this is the same playbook. The real agenda is not to “restore the rule of law,” it’s to persecute their political enemies. On left-leaning websites such as Bluesky, progressives rant about the need to punish conservatives and anti-woke centrists after the Democrats retake control of the federal government, a campaign of retribution they call “Reconstruction 2.o.” For example, critics of campus censorship by leftists need to be punished, progressives argue, because they depicted woke speech restrictions as a threat, which led to anti-woke voters turning against the Democrats. As one progressive with many followers put it, “every FIRE employee should be persecuted by the Reconstruction II government like they’re Tom Homan himself.” The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan civil liberties group that defends free speech, and has represented both conservatives and leftists in First Amendment lawsuits. Democrats are angry that FIRE has the temerity to represent campus conservatives and libertarians when they are censored, even though FIRE also routinely represents progressives whose free speech or due process rights have been violated, such as a professor who criticized Mike Pence, and FIRE actually represented more progressives than conservatives in 2024. FIRE employees are deemed “reactionary centrists” by Bluesky users, because they object to censorship by campus leftists, even censorship designed to create a “safe space” for “marginalized” groups such as transgender students.
The clip of Governor Pritzker, which spread rapidly after being posted on X, is not an isolated outburst. It is the public face of a structured Democratic effort already underway. Project 2029 is the left’s direct response to the conservative Project 2025. Where the latter focused on policy implementation, the former is being framed around the rapid execution of an agenda that begins with so-called accountability for the current Trump administration and its supporters. Democrats are not hiding the ball. They are building the machinery now, while Republicans in Washington appear content pretending to manage day-to-day governance.
The pattern is clear from the last 15 years. Federal agencies under both parties have repeatedly targeted conservatives, Trump administration officials, Trump family members, and ordinary supporters through selective enforcement, surveillance, novel legal theories, financial pressure, and speech suppression.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report on IRS targeting, Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 findings, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General’s work, and the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s final 17,000-page report created a track record of documented errors, omitted evidence, confirmation bias and disparate treatment of conservatives. Democrats now intend to expand this work in 2029.
And why wouldn’t they? No one involved in the IRS scandal against the Tea Party, the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, or the lawfare against Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Mark Meadows, Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, and others has been held accountable. Nor are there any answers for the multiple assassination attempts on Trump’s life, including the Butler shooting that rocked the world.
Banks closed accounts of Trump supporters like Eastman and Mike Lindell of MyPillow. Accounts for the Trump Organization were closed after January 6, with JP Morgan Chase citing “legal or regulatory risk.” Operation Choke Point, under the Obama administration, targeted industries that regulators disliked. A Biden-era variant, sometimes called Choke Point 2.0, reportedly involved Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance that flagged terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” to banks. Gun shops and religious stores faced similar hurdles. President Trump’s 2025 executive order explicitly addressed these practices, but the damage to individuals and small businesses was already done. Again, no one went to jail.
Americans suffered widespread censorship policies from the White House, which pressured tech platforms to suppress certain material regarding COVID-19. The FBI flagged what would become the Hunter Biden laptop story as “potential Russian disinformation” to Facebook. Every day Americans found that their posts were throttled simply for asking questions or pointing out the obvious.
The FBI also released a memo targeting traditional Catholics as “radical” extremists. We now know that Biden’s CIA labeled women who believe traditional motherhood and homemaking are the most important responsibilities as potential extremists. The DOJ went after pro-life grandmothers for simply praying at abortion clinics. The FBI conducted an armed raid of a father’s home while his children were present.
The list seems never-ending.
These actions were not isolated. They spanned administrations but showed a consistent direction against one political side. No matter who was in charge, the machinery remained intact. Democrats openly admit they plan to continue the abuse.
Republicans hold the White House and congressional majorities. Yet the response to these attacks on Americans has been piecemeal. Executive orders have addressed some debanking and censorship issues. A few cases have been dismissed. But the deeper structures, like DOJ career staff patterns, agency guidance documents, and the absence of comprehensive safeguards against political persecution, remain. Conservatives who lived through the IRS delays, the Russia probe, the indictments, the account closures, and the content suppression know the cost.
Current midterm polling makes the warning feel more urgent. As of March, Democrats hold a consistent lead on the generic congressional ballot. Political analyst Nate Silver’s average shows Democrats leading by 5.1 points. RealClearPolitics shows Democrats up 4.7 points. Recent Emerson College polling shows Democrats leading by as much as 7 points. Morning Consult places Democrats’ lead at 3 points. Cook Political Report ratings show dozens of House seats leaning Democratic or in play. These numbers reflect voter frustration with inflation, cultural issues and the historical trend of a midterm penalty for the president’s party.
If this trend holds, Democrats could regain the House in November and, at the very least, strengthen their Senate position. That sets the table for 2028.
A Democratic presidential win in 2028 would install a new administration with Project 2029 documents in hand. There would be no holding back the revenge machine that the Democrats have spent the last 15 years refining. They would have subpoena power, prosecutorial discretion and regulatory leverage. Past officials, family members, campaign aides, and supporters would face renewed attacks, repeating the cycle, only with more coordination. (RELATED: Democrat Presidential Hopeful’s Quiet Plan To Become 2028 Frontrunner)
Despite appearances, Republicans are not powerless. Still, they seem intent on sleepwalking through the rest of this year, effectively handing Democrats a fully staffed, ideologically aligned bureaucracy ready to execute Project 2029.
