by ALEKSANDRA WRONA & NUR IBHRAHIM
Here’s a nonpartisan look at who’s behind the initiative, what it includes — and so on.
KEY POINTS
- Project 2025 is a conservative coalition’s plan for a future Republican U.S. presidential administration. If voters elect the party’s presumed nominee, Donald Trump, over Democrat Joe Biden in November 2024, the coalition hopes the new president will implement the plan immediately.
- The sweeping effort centers on a roughly 1,000-page document that gives the executive branch more power, reverses Biden-era policies and specifies numerous department-level changes.
- People across the political spectrum fear such actions are precursors to authoritarianism and have voiced concerns over the proposal’s recommendations to reverse protections for LGBTQ+ people, limit abortion access, stop federal efforts to mitigate climate change — and more.
- The Heritage Foundation — a conservative think tank operated by many of Trump’s current and former political allies — is leading the initiative. President Kevin Roberts once said the project’s main goals are “institutionalizing Trumpism” and getting rid of unelected bureaucrats who he believes wield too much political influence.
- The Trump campaign’s goals and proposals within Project 2025 overlap. However, the former president has attempted to distance himself from the initiative. In a July 5, 2024, post on Truth Social, he wrote: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
- In other words, it’s unknown if, or to what extent, Trump’s campaign is talking to leaders of the initiative. Many political analysts and the Biden administration believe Project 2025 is a good indication of Trump’s vision for a second term.
As U.S. President Joe Biden faces growing calls from Democrats to end his reelection campaign, his team is attempting to put focus on Project 2025 — a wide-sweeping proposal by a conservative nonprofit, The Heritage Foundation, to reshape American government. For instance, a July 2024 ad by the Biden campaign described Project 2025 as “a plan for Trump’s second term” and a mechanism to “dismantle democracy as we know it.”
For months, Biden’s team has been sending foreboding emails to supporters, invoking “Trump’s Project 2025” to tap into anxieties over another four years with Trump in the White House and to raise campaign money. According to some of the emails, “Project 2025” calls for proposals that would separate “mothers away from their children,” a reference to border policies during Trump’s administration, or result in “higher housing costs and rampant discrimination.”
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