What is Project 2025? Inside the conservative plan Trump claims to have 'no idea' about.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in November, says he knows nothing about Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, a detailed political plan by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that proposes radical changes in the federal government.
“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post July 5. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal."
Read more: How Project 2025 could affect lives of students; Heritage Foundation president says the second American Revolution will be bloodless "if the left allows it to be."
“Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” Trump wrote.
While the Trump campaign has its own plan, called Agenda47, Trump has a history with many of the Project 2025 contributors. At least 31 of the project's 38 creators – writers, editors or directors – were connected with the Trump administration.
What's the connection with Trump?
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is one of many how-to guides for a new Republican administration. Under federal law, the Biden administration must cooperate with Trump's team now as it prepares for a potential transition. Those efforts will speed up after Election Day should the Republicans win the White House.
"Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise, Project 2025" is the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump administration. More than 100 conservative groups were consulted.
It includes significant changes in the federal government, a database of potential administrative employees and training to help them carry out those changes out, and a plan of action for Trump's first 180 days in office.
"It is not enough for conservatives to win elections," the project site states. "If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration."
President Joe Biden and other Democrats have said the plan, which would expand presidential powers, "will destroy America."
The plan recommends the reinstatement of Schedule F, an executive authority that would change the classification of as many as 50,000 federal workers to political appointees in civil service.
Trump imposed Schedule F on Oct. 21, 2020. Biden repealed it on Jan. 22, 2021.
Other suggestions in the document include:
- Outlawing pornography. (page 5)
- Dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for protecting the country's borders, helping with disaster responses, and cybersecurity, and combining it with units in other agencies. (page 133)
- Eliminating the Department of Education, which maintains federal policies on education and oversees educational assistance to states. (page 319)
- Eliminating the Head Start program, which helps preschool children from low-income families prepare for school. (page 482)
- Making it illegal to mail abortion pills across state lines. (page 562)
- Eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that provides weather forecasts, storm warnings and monitors climate change. (page 664)
Trump used Heritage Foundation policies in first term
Trump accepted guidance from the Heritage Foundation in the first year of his administration. The administration used 64% of the policy recommendations found in the foundation's "Mandate for Leadership" publications, according to foundation officials.
Even if Trump wins the election, it remains to be seen how many of the Project 2025 recommendations his administration will adopt. Any real policy will come from agencies in his new administration, and through legislation written by members of Congress.
Aside from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation is a "revolving door for Trump officials," according to The Washington Post, which noted that the foundation is a sponsor of the Republican National Convention.
If Trump wins in November, many of those connected to Project 2025 "would likely help fill out his administration," Reuters reported.
SOURCE Paste BN Network reporting and research; Heritage Foundation; Reuters