The New Project 2025-Trump Regime Means My Books Are More Relevant Than Ever
You can't fight an enemy you don't understand
In 2024, I wrote two short but information-packed books about politics. They were pertinent to the US election (along with all the other elections in 2024), but they are even more pertinent now after the US election results. That’s particularly true because the election, and the results thereof, are not about Trump. They never were and never will be.
This election, like all of politics, was about power. Trump isn’t the power, he’s the facade of it. Trump is nothing more than a symptom. In truth, the people behind Project 2025, the real power in this new regime, are also symptoms of much older, and larger, forces.
What happened in 2024 and what has now been unleashed in 2025 is the fruition of a plan that began in the early 1970s. I’m not talking a conspiracy theory, I’m talking about power exercising power. This plan, this Project 2025, actually has its roots in the American traditions of exceptionalism and nationalism. I explain the history and what’s happening now in my books. Educate yourself.
A philosophy professor explores the motivations and goals of the right wing
(Reprinted on Medium with permission of the publisher.)
Many Americans are concerned about the angry rhetoric in politics, in particular the venom coming from Donald Trump and the right wing. Many Americans want a better answer to MAGA and the right wing than fearmongering and name-calling. Two new books by philosophy professor Dr. Douglas Giles combine to explain how Americans can understand and respond to the right wing.
Avoiding petty partisan politics, Giles demythologizes political action and conflict in his books, Left Wing, Right Wing, People, and Power: The Core Dynamics of Political Action and Why Trump? Why Some People Support Him — How the Rest of Us Can Respond. By providing important social and historical context, the two books provide a well-reasoned, rounded view of the Trump campaign and those who support it.
Left Wing, Right Wing, People, and Power traces the historical development of the left wing and the right wing to reveal that the core of politics is the conflict over power. Despite specific differences of time and place, political actions are consistently efforts to preserve or change the structure and dynamics of power. With this insight, we can better understand political positions and actions.
Why Trump? shows there is little new in Trump or the things he says and does. His success in attaining power lies in his ability to harness a long-simmering feeling in a segment of the American population. Realizing that simple reality opens the door to a deeper understanding of the particular strain of US political culture behind the movement that currently takes Trump as its focus.
“Trump is a symptom far more than he is a cause,” writes Dr. Giles. He explains that “the right wing seeks a return to a moral purity” that they imagine existed back when America was “great.” Their agenda is writ large in Project 2025 — a game plan to concentrate power in the possession of a few at the expense of everyone else.
“I certainly welcome the positive approach that the Harris-Walz campaign has brought so far,” Giles says. “We need more hope and joy, but we also need to understand the right wing and what motivates people to support Donald Trump and extreme agendas like Project 2025.”
“There’s the old adage that you need to know your enemy to defeat them, and even if you don’t consider MAGA and Project 2025 the enemy, they probably consider you their enemy.”
Politics is a hostile mess, especially in an election year, but Left Wing, Right Wing, People, and Power and Why Trump? elucidate what’s at stake in this election and what motivates people to political action. The two books clearly and concisely explain the motivations and goals of the right wing and how we can respond to the right wing and defend our democracy by engaging in a constructive politics.
About the Author
Author Dr. Douglas Giles is a professor of philosophy at Elmhurst University, and he researches the root causes of bigotry and injustice and their role in political action. He earned his PhD in social philosophy at the University of Essex (UK) and has written extensively on the history and nature of ideas, ideologies, and paradigms. He is the author of How We Are and How We Got Here: A Practical History of Western Philosophy and Rethinking Misrecognition and Struggles for Recognition.
Dr. Giles is a seasoned lecturer and video producer, skilled in public speaking, panel discussions, and interviews. He is available to those eager for serious and deep conversations about philosophy and politics and those looking for practical solutions to society’s complex problems.
Book Availability
Left Wing, Right Wing, People, and Power: The Core Dynamics of Political Action
Douglas Giles
Real Clear Philosophy
ISBNs: 978–1735880839 and 978–1735880846
Available in e-book and paperback
Why Trump? Why Some People Support Him — How the Rest of Us Can Respond
Douglas Giles
Real Clear Philosophy
ISBNs: 978–1735880891 and 978–1735880853
Available in e-book, paperback, and audiobook
Website URLs: https://dgilesauthor.com/left-wing-right-wing-people-and-power/ and https://dgilesauthor.com/why-trump/
SOURCE: Real Clear Philosophy/publisher