US Election: Project 2025
OVERVIEW: The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, commonly known as Project 2025, is an initiative to guide the next Republican administration. It was created by the Heritage Foundation with input from hundreds of conservative organizations and scholars. It focuses on policy, personnel, trainin...
Facts
- OVERVIEW: The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, commonly known as Project 2025, is an initiative to guide the next Republican administration. It was created by the Heritage Foundation with input from hundreds of conservative organizations and scholars. It focuses on policy, personnel, training, and a playbook for the first 180 days in office. It includes a manual for overhauling bureaucracy and features a database and 'academy' to recruit and train conservative candidates to staff the White House.[1][2][3][4]
- CONTROVERSY: Project 2025 has become an election topic, as Democrats and their allies have claimed that, if former Pres. Donald Trump were to win the election, he would implement Project 2025's policy recommendations. There's considerable disagreement over the compendium's agenda, with critics saying it advocates cutting entitlements like Social Security and Medicare and implementing bans on abortion, contraceptives, and IVF. However, Heritage denies those claims.[5][6][7][8][2][9]
- RELATION TO TRUMP: Project 2025 is not officially affiliated with any political candidate or party. Nevertheless, many contributors served as officials and advisors in the Trump admin., including its architect Paul Dans. Trump and his campaign have disavowed Project 2025. Trump has called some of the plan's proposals 'abysmal,' and he has at times promised a more moderate stance on abortion and entitlement spending.[10]
- POLICY PAPER: Project 2025's manual emphasizes firing and replacing career bureaucrats, rooting out alleged leftist ideologies in the military's higher ranks, strictly cracking down on illegal immigration, reforming many government agencies — including the Environmental Protection Agency — to remove excess waste and regulations, limiting government spending, and overhauling regulatory agencies related to elections, finance, and communications.[11][2]
- PERSONNEL: Project 2025 allegedly seeks to place conservatives throughout the US government by reinstating Schedule F, which was introduced under Trump but repealed by Biden. This would allow the president to reclassify and replace policy-related civil servants, making them easier to hire or dismiss and increasing control over appointments. The plan also aims to cut bureaucracy by decentralizing, privatizing, and eliminating redundant functions across government departments, while advocating for a performance-based federal employment system.[12][3]
- LOOKING AHEAD: Dans has stepped down from the project and Heritage Pres. Kevin Roberts said he would take over Project 2025 while it vets resumes and executes its vision. It's unclear if Project 2025 will shape policy in a potential second Trump term. Trump asserts that Agenda47, the GOP platform, is the only platform that represents his campaign. It echoes similar sentiments on immigration, economics, and bureaucracy, but is more moderate on social issues, including abortion.[13][14][15]
Sources: [1]Project2025 (a), [2]Project2025 (b), [3]Project2025 (c), [4]Project2025 (d), [5]Washington Post, [6]The White House (a), [7]New York Times, [8]The White House (b), [9]@Politifact, [10]Newsnationnow, [11]Documentcloud, [12]Afge, [13]Wsj, [14]Donald J. Trump and [15]USA Today.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by MSNBC and MSNBC. Project 2025 is dangerous. It details a far-right government takeover and is deeply tied to Trump's campaign. The Republican nominee is desperately trying to distance himself from this extremist agenda, but he can't hide the vast connections. Heritage is littered with Trump allies who have repeatedly fed Trump's fascistic whims. Beyond its partisan purging of the civil service system, Project 2025 also advocates peeling back civil rights, including those related to the LGBTQ+ community and abortion. Trump must not be allowed to run the US government by Project 2025's tenets.
- Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News and National Review. Democrats are spreading lies to misrepresent Trump's platform and distract from the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration. Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from the initiative's hardline positions, but Democrats and the corporate media are still deceiving the public. Meanwhile, Trump's Agenda47 takes an optimistic and modern approach to governing, and most Americans would agree with its common-sense proposals on illegal immigration, economics, and other key issues. Voters should ignore the alarmist Democrats' false claims and focus on how Trump plans to restore America.
- Conservative narrative, as provided by PJ Media and American Conservative. Project 2025 is a bold initiative that will guide a conservative renaissance and reclaim the government from career bureaucrats and politicians who have sold out America. For decades, the Democratic machine has installed party loyalists to ensure Washington operates according to the will of the establishment instead of the people. Heritage created an all-encompassing apparatus to guide conservatives in their fight against tyranny. Unfortunately, Trump has tried to distance himself based on erroneous information. Project 2025 was created by loyal Trump supporters aiming to make America First a reality, so he should embrace it.
