A defiant Donald Trump has been voted as the official Republican candidate for the 2024 U.S. Presidential polls at the Republican National Convention (RNC) held in Milwaukee. Mr. Trump, who survived an assassination attempt on July 13, recently came under fire for a controversial policy roadmap called ‘Project 2025’, penned by some of his allies and ex-employees of his administration. The 78-year-old ex-president has denied any knowledge about it.
The 900-page document outlines a ‘conservative’ approach to overhaul the federal tax code, restrict abortions and bring most government employees directly under the President’s control, rather than their independent departments.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who is Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, has termed the project as the “biggest attack on the government in U.S. history.” Linking Mr. Trump directly to it, Mr. Biden pointed out that the initiative is “run and paid for by Trump people” and is “a blueprint for a second Trump.”
Here’s a look at what the document proposes, who is behind it and its significance.
What is ‘Project 2025’?
Project 2025, termed as a ‘Presidential Transition project’ talks of how to reshape US’ governing policy with a conservative agenda, personnel, training and a roadmap for the first 180 days of the presidency. While the project has been in the making since 2023, it has recently gained traction after Mr. Biden declared “Project 2025 will destroy America” in early July, and has continued to attack Mr. Trump over it.
Policy
Under its policy agenda, Project 2025 quotes a book named ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise’ which will aid the next ‘conservative President’ taking office in January 2025 to ‘deconstruct the Administrative State’ and ‘save America’. Detailing its plans for various government departments like Defence, Education, Commerce, Trade, Justice, Homeland Security, Health, Energy, Environment and the bureaucracy, the project makes several dramatic suggestions:
- Give the President direct supervision of bureaucrats without congressional approval, more power over Justice department.
- Eliminate a federal department of Education and send funds to States to structure courses, infrastructure, and syllabi, among other items.
- Promote oil, gas and nuclear-based energy sources, end energy efficiency standards, green subsidies and stop focus on climate change.
- Reduce union rights and make membership optional.
- Reduce the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate to only regulation, taking away its policymaking powers.
- Restrict the use of abortion pills, promote ‘stable, man-woman married, nuclear families’, ban pornography.
- Place the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the supervision of a politically-appointed leader like the Assistant Attorney General, and dismantle Homeland Security.
- Overhaul of foreign policy regarding Mexico, Russia, China, Iran, and Korea; make immigration and visa policies more stringent.
Personnel, training & transition
The ‘Personnel’ part of the project invites interested conservatives to apply for positions in the next administrations via a questionnaire. Apart from the standard questions on personal details, educational and professional qualifications, the questionnaire asks applicants to answer in detail about their political philosophies, policies of interest, opinions on immigration, abortion, education, sexuality, religion, unions, law enforcement, healthcare, gender, military, and free speech.
Details are to be compiled on a presidential personnel database to help the team select like-minded political appointees in its administration. Potential political appointees can attend online courses offered by their ‘Presidential Administration Academy’ to learn conservative governance, administrative and regulatory processes. The project also has a 180-day playbook for the transition of each federal agency from the old administration to the new conservative one.
Who is running Project 2025?
The initiative, which was first commissioned in 2023, is spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation – an influential wight-wing think tank which has been guiding conservative policies since the Reagan Administration. In its latest ‘Mandate for Leadership’, it claims that the Trump Administration followed almost two-thirds of its goals within its first year.
Apart from the Foundation, there are about 100 conservative organizations involved in the project such as Alabama Policy Institute, American Cornerstone Institute, Center for Military Readiness, Gun Owners Foundation, Hillsdale College, James Madison Institute, National Rifle Association, and Project 21, to name a few.
How is Donald Trump connected to it?
While Mr. Trump is not mentioned in the document and his campaign is not mentioned as one of the coalition partners, many former officials of his administration and several of his political advisors are in key positions of the initiative.
Paul Dans, the project’s director, was Chief of Staff at the Office of Personnel Management in the Trump administration, reported the BBC. Similarly, former Trump official and Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform policy director Russell Vought is another contributor to the policy document.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Heritage Foundation’s annual President’s Club meeting on October 17 in Washington, D.C.
At least 140 former Trump administration officials, including six former cabinet secretaries and four ambassadors nominated by Trump are involved in the project, according to a CNN estimate. Several lawyers, who aided Mr. Trump during his bid to overturn the 2020 election and his impeachment trial, such as Jay Sekulow, Cleta Mitchell and John Eastman, are advising the project. Apart from direct officials, several Trump appointees in independent bodies have also contributed to the project, reports CNN.
The project is the brainchild of The Heritage foundation, led by Mr. Kevin Roberts. The foundation is closely associated with Mr. Trump— the former president has spoken at several events hosted by the think tank and Mr. Roberts has publicly backed Mr. Trump, claiming to have spoken to the ex-president multiple times.
However, Mr. Trump maintains that he has “no idea who is behind it (Project 2025).”
“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,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
What is the significance of Project 2025?
The project has alarmed not just Mr. Trump’s opposers, but several legal experts, bureaucrats, law enforcement agents and some Republicans.
A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court maintaining that presidents enjoyed broad immunity from prosecution for their actions while in office has raised concerns of abuse of power. With Project 2025 recommending higher presidential authority, politicising bureaucracy and make sweeping policy changes without Congressional approval, many fear that such changes, if implemented under a second term Trump administration, would be dangerous for the U.S.
Certain extreme suggestions in the document, such as those on abortion pills and gender, are not supported by Mr. Trump. However, others like increasing presidential powers and political appointees were suggestions voiced by Mr. Trump. The Trump campaign has issued a statement to Reuters saying, “Team Biden and the DNC are lying and fearmongering,” adding that the official policy platform of the Republican party was published under Agenda 47, distancing Mr. Trump and the party from Project 2025.
Close shave: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents following the shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Evan Vucci
With polarization running high in this election cycle, as witnessed by the assassination attempt of Mr. Trump, the conservative base has rallied strongly behind the former President. Several polls predict that the recent attempt and his strong defiance to it is likely to favour Mr. Trump’s poll chances. While several ‘tell-all’ books have revealed that federal officials working in the White House had limited the damage of the first Trump term, Project 2025 paints a grave, organised picture of a second Trump presidency taking the U.S. down a steep conservative route.
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