Message From the Desmog Editor Brendan DeMelle

By now, you’ve probably heard of the radical effort known as Project 2025. But you might be less familiar with the potentially even more extreme plans of Trump megadonor and fracking billionaire Tim Dunn. 

As DeSmog’s Geoff Dembicki reports, this Texas pastor directs a political nonprofit called Convention of States, which is leading an effort to rewrite the U.S. Constitution in ways that it says would “limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.” It also refers to climate change as a “hoax.” Dunn has a long track record of backing far-right political efforts in Texas and now is reportedly looking to take his Christian Nationalist strategy to the national stage.

Dunn is a top 10 individual donor to the Trump campaign, and Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has previously endorsed the Convention of States project. As Peter Montgomery, research director at People for the American Way told DeSmog of Dunn’s plans, “They are very committed to rewriting the U.S. Constitution.” Read more in Geoff’s story.

Of course, dismissing the climate emergency is core to Project 2025 as well. While the Heritage Foundation and its other architects try to frame the endeavor as populist and moderate, DeSmog’s Joe Fassler has found Project 2025’s funding sources tell a very different story – elite, extreme, and closely tied to the Trump campaign. Fassler’s wide-ranging analysis of public financial disclosure forms found that the groups on its advisory board are heavily funded by just six ultra-conservative billionaire families that together gave over $122 million since 2020.

He then mapped the funding ties between each Project 2025 group and these billionaire families. Check out the interactive map of Project 2025 funding.

On the other side of the world, a very different attack is unfolding. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and a documented opponent to climate action, is hiring at least two dozen Western PR and consulting firms to help it sell the idea of Neom, an “eco-city” in the desert. As these firms rake in millions of dollars, accusations are building that they are helping to obscure human rights abuses and creating a green mirage while Saudi Arabia maintains its commitment to oil, reports Adam Lowenstein in ‘Money in Exchange for Silence’.Read the full story.