Project 2026: A Mandate for Leadership on the Progressive Promise
by Jacqueline Murray Brux
Studio of Books


"The time has come for principles over politics."

Lifelong social justice activist and Professor Emeritus of Economics Brux makes a clarion call for re-establishing progressive ideals in a pushback against the depredations of the infamous Project 2025 in this collection of fifty-two blog posts. Written during the first year of Trump's second term in office, the blog, titled The World is a Cruel Place for Those Whose Hearts are Easily Broken, appears on Facebook and Substack. Brux's work in economic development, with a specialty in women in development in developing nations, is widely known. She writes: "Trump has single-handedly, from the depths of his own unimaginable cruelty, and with the complicit acceptance and moral depravity of his enablers, caused the deaths of far too many people, some of whom I've known, from poverty, war, and starvation."

Brux's down-to-earth prose has a neighborly, conversational slant that will appeal to both sophisticated and casual readers. Her angst is understandable, not only as a citizen witness to DOGE's economic cuts for "waste, fraud, and abuse" but also, on a very personal level, as an activist who has worked internationally with the very people now facing US funding cuts to critical health and economic programs. In many cases, it is the women and children in these developing countries who suffer the most. The thought-provoking blog posts cover issues present in Africa, Asia, and South America, and there are also many posts regarding the grave suffering in Gaza and Sudan. Brux notes that "As a political and social economist, I have written on U.S. socioeconomic policy, including our country's inadequate social safety net that has severely frayed under Trump 2025." This much-needed volume will likely be warmly welcomed by those who share the author's views and others interested in progressive ideals and social justice in general.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review

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