What is Project 2025? Trump claims to know nothing of alarming plan – but wishes it luck

An alarming proposal to overhaul the US federal government has been linked to Donald Trump, who has just won the 2024 Presidential Election.

Known as Project 2025, or the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, it purports to be ‘building now for a conservative victory through policy, personnel, and training’, and calls for firing up to 50,000 officials and replacing them with Trump loyalists.

Project 2025 plans to build four pillars to usher in ‘an effective conservative administration’, according to its website, where the mandate can be read in full.

Those pillars include a policy agenda, personnel, training and a 180-day playbook.

The plan has a range of objectives, from purging government workers considered disloyal to Trump, to restricting abortion and contraception access, to rolling back some civil rights legislation.

Spanning 922 pages, the plan details expanding presidential power and has been flagged as a danger to democracy by many Democrats.

Is Project 2025 real and could it happen?

Project 2025 is essentially a policy ‘wish list’, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Trump will follow the roadmap upon becoming president.

In fact, Trump previously claimed he knows ‘nothing about’ the project.

It first debuted in April 2023 but later gained attention on social media when President Joe Biden’s campaign warned against it during the early stages of the 2024 presidential race.

Following Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, which ultimately led to him dropping out of the race and being replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, Project 2025 went viral online.

Also in June, a group of House Democrats unveiled a task force to stop the proposal from taking hold if Donald Trump returned to power.

But Trump’s campaign in the lead-up to the election repeatedly distanced the Republican nominee from any link to Project 2025.

Who is behind Project 2025?

Project 2025 is organised by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, DC. It was crafted from the foundation’s Mandate for Leadership, which has influenced presidential administrations since Reagan’s presidency.

‘The project is the effort of a broad coalition of conservative organizations that have come together to ensure a successful administration begins in January 2025,’ states its site.

‘With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government.’

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts previously raised eyebrows when he appeared on the ‘War Room’ podcast, hosted by former White House chief strategist of the Trump administration Steve Bannon, where he explained that Republicans are ‘in the process of taking this country back’.

‘We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,’ Roberts said on the show.

Is Donald Trump associated with Project 2025?

A few days after Roberts’ ‘second American Revolution’ remark, Trump publicly addressed Project 2025 for the first time.

‘I know nothing about Project 2025,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

‘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.’

Despite Trump’s denial of any connection with the project, its leaders include numerous former officials from Trump’s previous term as president.

The project’s previous director was Paul Dans, who served as chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration.

Project 2025’s associate director, Spencer Chretien, served in the Trump administration as special assistant to the president and associate director of presidential personnel.

After Trump posted on social media, the Biden-Harris HQ X account accused the former president of ‘desperately’ trying to deny knowledge of Project 2025.

They included a fact-check claiming that the ex-president’s Super PAC is running ads calling it ‘Trump’s Project 2025’ and that his press secretary is starring in recruitment ads for the project.

The Biden-Harris HQ also stated that Trump said he ‘needs’ the Heritage Foundation to enact his Make America Great Again agenda.

This article was originally published on July 6, 2024.

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