Trump, Who Claimed He Knew Nothing About Project 2025, Reverses Course
Donald Trump repeatedly told America he had “nothing to do” with Project 2025. But now, he’s welcoming its architect into his Cabinet with open arms.
Russ Vought, who was deeply involved in the creation of Project 2025 and wrote an entire chapter in the right-wing playbook, is being strongly considered for an upcoming Cabinet position, according to several sources who spoke with ABC News. Vought has already begun the vetting process and has been seen at Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump’s team.
Vought—a former lobbyist, self-described Christian nationalist, and director of the Office of Management and Budget in Trump’s first term—authored a chapter in the 922-page MAGA extremist master plan titled “Executive Office of the President” for Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” section. The chapter serves as “a comprehensive policy guide for the next conservative U.S. president.”
Vought isn’t the only Project 2025 alum being floated for a crucial role in the Trump Cabinet. Gene Hamilton, who wrote a chapter about how the Justice Department needed a “top to bottom overhaul” because it is “captured by an unaccountable bureaucratic managerial class and radical Left ideologues who have embedded themselves throughout its offices and components,” has been seriously floated for an important legal team position. Trump has also nominated Project 2025 contributor and free-speech “warrior” Brendan Carr to serve as Federal Communications Commission chair.
On the campaign trail, Trump had tried to distance himself from Project 2025, particularly after it became a focus point for Democrats. “This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas, I guess some good, some bad, but it makes no difference. I have nothing to do [with it],” Trump stated during his nationally televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. His loyal transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick described the project as an “absolute zero” and “radioactive.”
And yet here we are, with Vought, Carr, and Hamilton cozying back up to the president-elect, who was surely lying to America throughout his campaign. The skeleton plan for the far-right takeover is coming alive.