By Mary Jones | Thursday, August 1, 2024 | 4 min read
On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, resigned from the Heritage Foundation. Reports indicate that the Trump campaign pressured the foundation to halt the project. Project 2025 has faced intense criticism since early discussions, including from us at FeDlan News, gained significant attention. Recently, it has been widely mentioned, including by President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Our analysis indicates that Project 2025 contains elements likely to attract broad disapproval. With the recent surge in scrutiny, the Trump campaign appears to have taken note. In a seemingly related move following Dans’ departure, the Trump campaign issued a press release disavowing any connection to Project 2025, asserting that they had “nothing to do” with it and that it wasn’t “associated with the campaign or the President in any way.” Despite their claim that “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed,” the project’s goals still align closely with Trump’s own plans.
Project 2025 had become a political liability, forcing Trump to distance himself. This also presents an opportunity to reassert control over personnel for his new administration, as the Heritage Foundation was responsible for vetting political appointments. Thus, Trump may have effectively killed two birds with one stone. However, don’t be deceived; despite the public disavowal, it’s unlikely his plans for the country have changed. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, indicated that Trump was not truthful about Project 2025. Reporter Judd Legum noted that of the 38 people involved in Project 2025, 31 were appointed or nominated by Trump, demonstrating significant overlap with his administration’s policy positions, as echoed in Trump’s Agenda 47.
Recently, a leaked video showed Trump’s Vice President pick, J.D. Vance, thanking the Heritage Foundation for their work on banning abortion and cutting Social Security. Today’s news appears to be more about political maneuvering than a genuine disavowal of the policies Trump has long advocated.
For instance, Project 2025 calls for reclassifying tens of thousands of civil servants as political appointees, stripping them of civil service protections to replace them with political loyalists, aligning with Trump’s announced plans. This strategy isn’t new; Trump signed an executive order in October 2020 to strip protections from civil servants, affecting over 50,000 federal employees. This order was rescinded by President Biden shortly after taking office.
Trump’s Agenda 47 clearly states that he will reimpose “Schedule F” on day one, despite his disavowal of Project 2025. The alignment of their plans is too coincidental to ignore.
Project 2025 emphasizes appointing conservative judges to the federal judiciary to ensure a long-term impact on American jurisprudence. Trump similarly appointed a significant number of conservative judges to the federal courts, including three Supreme Court justices, reshaping the judiciary to reflect conservative values.
Project 2025 advocates for pro-market economic policies, including tax cuts, deregulation, and promoting free enterprise. Trump’s administration implemented major tax cuts, reduced regulations on businesses, and promoted policies aimed at boosting American manufacturing and energy independence.
Project 2025 supports stringent immigration policies, including stronger border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws. Known for his hardline stance on immigration, Trump focused on building a border wall, increasing immigration enforcement, and reducing illegal immigration.
Project 2025 advocates for a strong national defense and a foreign policy that prioritizes American interests. Trump’s “America First” foreign policy emphasized strengthening the military, reducing U.S. involvement in international conflicts, and renegotiating trade deals to favor American interests.
Overall, both Project 2025 and Trump’s plans reflect a vision of a more conservative federal government, with an emphasis on deregulation, strong national defense, a conservative judiciary, and restrictive immigration policies. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 can be seen as an extension or formalization of many of the goals and strategies pursued during Trump’s presidency.
