Project 2025 leader resigns under pressure from Trump and Democrats. What is the conservative policy proposal all about?
On Tuesday, Paul Dans announced he was stepping down from Project 2025 and his role as the director of the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.
Project 2025 is a 922-page blueprint crafted by Heritage and other conservative groups for the next Republican administration that would radically reshape how the American government works. Critics have labeled it “an authoritarian takeover of the United States,” while supporters call it a plan to return “our federal government to one ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’”
In campaign speeches, Vice President Kamala Harris has relentlessly sought to link Trump with Project 2025, leading Trump to denounce many of its objectives while declaring that he had nothing to do with its creation.
Dans’ resignation comes in response to the backlash from Trump, even though Dans has continued to assure Trump voters that Project 2025 will be implemented if Trump wins reelection.
What is Project 2025, and what is it calling for?
Project 2025 bills itself as “a policy agenda, personnel, training and a 180-day playbook” to be implemented “on day one” by the next Republican president, outlining various agenda items, including which bills to propose, laws to revoke and government agencies to restructure.
While the project is a proposal and not aligned with any specific campaign, its proponents hope their recommendations will be taken into account by Donald Trump should he win in November.
Some of its directives include:
An overhaul of the Department of Justice and FBI, the former of which it labels "a bloated bureaucracy" with employees "who are infatuated with the perpetuation of a radical liberal agenda."
Implement Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that the Biden administration repealed that would allow the reclassification — and potential replacement — of thousands of government workers.
Eliminate the Department of Education.
Shut down the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
Impose wide restrictions on abortion access, including reversing federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Allocate funding for “construction of additional border wall systems.”
Ban pornography and imprison anyone who produces or distributes it.
Promote "Sabbath Rest" by encouraging Congress to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require people who work these days to be paid time and a half.
Have the federal government promote “biblically based, social science reinforced” heterosexual marriages.
Call on the new Health and Human Services secretary to “reverse the Biden Administration’s focus on 'LGBTQ+ equity'" and “subsidizing single-motherhood.”
Remove sexual orientation, gender identity, diversity, equity, inclusion and gender equality from any federal rule, regulation or legislation.
Revive Trump’s plan to open most of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development.
Read more from the BBC: Project 2025: A wish list for a Trump presidency, explained
Who’s behind Project 2025?
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation came into prominence in Washington during the Ronald Reagan presidency, whose administration implemented policies from the think tank. Since then, the group has been ranked by the University of Pennsylvania as one of the most influential public policy organizations in the U.S. Heritage also advised the administrations of George W. Bush and Trump.
Project 2025 is not officially affiliated with Trump’s campaign —or any other — although the name Trump is mentioned over 300 times throughout the document. In November, Axios reported that Heritage officials told the outlet they had briefed all the Republican campaigns running at the time — Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley.
Trump’s own policy agenda is called “Agenda47,” given the next president will be the nation’s 47th. The former president has said publicly he does not know who’s behind Project 2025.
However, numerous people involved in Project 2025 worked in the Trump administration or have helped with Trump’s reelection campaign. Dans, the former Heritage Foundation director, was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management under Trump. Associate directors Spencer Chretien and Troup Hemenway worked for the Trump administration as well.
Of the 34 authors and two editors listed on the project, at least 25 have served Trump in some capacity, several in senior positions in his presidential administration.
In an April podcast interview, John McEntee, a senior advisor on the project and former Trump official, said, “We're gonna integrate a lot of our work” with the Trump campaign.
What does Trump say about Project 2025?
Trump has publicly distanced himself from the project multiple times over the last month and as recently as July 30.
“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote on social media in early July. “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.”
On July 30, Trump’s campaign heads Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles issued a statement, echoing prior claims that Trump is not at all affiliated with Project 2025.
"President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” the campaign said, according to AP. “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.”
The Washington Post also reported that LaCivita allegedly warned people involved with Project 2025 that they would be barred from working for the Trump administration, should he win the election.
Trump’s campaign website does not explicitly endorse Project 2025 either and instead points to Agenda47 for policy stances. There is some overlap in ideas between Project 2025 and Trump’s campaign — both include some variation of shutting down the Department of Education, cracking down on gender-affirming care, ending subsidies for electric vehicles, and continuing to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Has JD Vance said anything about Project 2025?
Vance, Trump’s running mate, has not explicitly mentioned Project 2025. His stances do overlap with some of Project 2025’s ideas, specifically concerning abortion and centralizing presidential power.
Vance wrote the forward to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’s forthcoming book, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America. Vance does not mention Project 2025 in the forward, despite Roberts being a major architect behind it.
What do critics say about Project 2025?
Critics have called it “a real threat to democracy,” “a far-right assault on America” and a “dystopian plot.” Institutions such as Georgetown University have called elements like the cuts to Medicaid “draconian.” Sasha Buchert, the director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, described the language as “dehumanizing.” Immigration advocacy groups have called it “an authoritarian, often illegal, agenda that would rip apart nearly every aspect of American life.”
Many Democrats have pushed back against it, including Biden, who said it “should scare every single American.” Some conservatives have even gone public with their concerns. Robert Shea, who was a senior official under former president George W. Bush, said Schedule F would create “an army of suck-ups.”
What do supporters say about Project 2025?
Roberts, who wrote the Project 2025 forward, says the current political system is stacked against Republicans and Project 2025 will work to “free the next Republican president.”
“The point is to hasten the hiring of aligned personnel and hasten the implementation of conservative policy,” Roberts told the New York Times in January. “That includes hastening the overturning, via executive order, of what we believe are wrong policies of the current administration.”
Conservatives outside of the organization have also offered their support. Sen. Mike Lee called Project 2025 a blueprint to “return power back to the states and the American people.” Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of the conservative site The Federalist, described it as “a sweeping plan to end the weaponization of the government against Americans.”
Why is Project 2025 getting so much attention right now?
Harris has made Project 2025 a talking point in several speeches after she started her presidential campaign.
“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said at a campaign stop on July 23, referring to Project 2025. “Can you believe they put that thing in writing?”
Dans’s resignation from the Heritage Foundation, which will be official in August, also made news, as it was announced Roberts would take over for him. Roberts, who wrote the forward for Project 2025, made news for his July 2 interview on Steve Bannon’s podcast. In conversation with former Rep. Dave Brat, since Bannon is in prison for his contempt of Congress sentence, Roberts described an imminent “second American revolution.”
In the days following Roberts’s comments, Google searches for “Project 2025” hit record highs.
Read more from Politico: Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution
