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Established | April 2022[1] |
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Purpose | Reshape the U.S. federal government to support the agenda of Donald Trump |
Location |
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Director | Paul Dans |
Publication | Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (2023) |
Parent organization | The Heritage Foundation |
Budget | $22 million[2] |
Website | www |
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in the United States |
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The 2025 Presidential Transition Project,[3] also known as Project 2025, is an initiative organized by the Heritage Foundation with the aim of promoting a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election.[4][5] The Project asserts that the entire executive branch is under the direct control of the president under the unitary executive theory.[6][7] It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers as political appointees, in order to replace them with loyalists more willing to enable Trump's policies.[8][9] In doing so, proponents argue that the change would dismantle what they view as a vast, unaccountable, and mostly liberal government bureaucracy.[10] The Project seeks to infuse the government and society with conservative Christian values.[11][12] Critics have characterized Project 2025 as an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan to steer the U.S. toward autocracy.[11][13][14] Many legal experts have said it would undermine the rule of law,[15] the separation of powers,[5] the separation of church and state,[16] and civil liberties.[5][15][17]
Project 2025 envisions widespread changes to the government, particularly economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes taking partisan control of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production.[15][18] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,[19] though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism.[20] Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other agencies or terminated.[21][22] Funding for climate research would be cut and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be reformed according to conservative principles.[23][24] The project seeks to cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid,[25][26] and urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care.[27][28] The project seeks to eliminate coverage of emergency contraception under the Affordable Care Act[25] and enforce the Comstock Act to prosecute those who send and receive contraceptives and abortion pills nationwide.[28][29] It proposes criminalizing pornography,[30]: 5 [31] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[31][32] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs[5][32] and affirmative action[33] by having the DOJ prosecute "anti-white racism."[34] The Project recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants living in the U.S.[35][36][37] It proposes deploying the military for domestic law enforcement.[38] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of those sentences.[39][40]
Some conservatives and Republicans have criticized the plan for its stance on climate change[41] and foreign trade.[20] Other critics believe Project 2025 is rhetorical "window-dressing" for what would be four years of personal vengeance at any cost,[10] in addition to trying to undo "most everything implemented" during the Biden administration.[8] The project's authors acknowledge that most of the proposals would require the Republican Party to control both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.[10] Some aspects of the plan have recently been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and would face court challenges, while others are norm-breaking proposals that might survive court challenges.[42]
Although Project 2025 cannot legally promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors are associated with Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.[43][44][45] The Heritage Foundation employs numerous people closely aligned with Trump,[46][47][48] and coordinates the initiative with various conservative groups run by Trump allies.[11] In 2023, Trump campaign officials acknowledged the project aligned well with their Agenda 47 program.[10] Trump campaign advisers have had regular contact with Project 2025,[49] though the project's controversial proposals have also caused the Trump campaign to view it as an annoyance.[46][50] On July 5, 2024, Trump publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, saying he "knew nothing about it" and that some of its ideas were "ridiculous and abysmal".[51][9][52][53][54] He has since repeatedly disavowed it.[55][56] Some critics have dismissed Trump's claims, pointing to the involvement of figures close to Trump in the project.[57][58] The distancing came days after Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts suggested in an interview that there would be a second American Revolution, which Democrats and others criticized as a veiled threat of violence.[59][60] The project has described a "battle plan" to regain control of the government.[61][59][62][41]
The project—which started in April 2022
about2025
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Haberman, Savage & Swan 2023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Mascaro-2023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page)....a controversial idea known as 'unitary executive theory'
The Heritage Foundation, the influential group behind Project 2025, has laid out sweeping reforms of virtually every aspect of government, including a plan that critics warn will line the public service with employees loyal to a Republican commander-in-chief, as well as providing an ultra-conservative framework for policies. Its stated goal is to undo most everything implemented in the previous four years of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.
biden assails
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).For Trump personally, of course, this is a live-or-die agenda, and Trump campaign officials acknowledge that it aligns well with their own 'Agenda 47' program.
Washington Post July 12, 2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Larson-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Project 2025's blueprint envisions dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI; disarming the Environmental Protection Agency by loosening or eliminating emissions and climate-change regulations; eliminating the Departments of Education and Commerce in their entirety.
Cranston-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The Economist-2023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Stone-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Schofield-2025
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Skibell-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Barron-Lopez-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Park-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Yang-Zahn-March242024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Dans & Groves 2023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Thompson-May142024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).heritage.org-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Brownstein
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Savage-Haberman-Swan-Nov112023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).plot revenge
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Sarat-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).[Jeffrey] Clark also helped draft portions of the Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump term, including outlining the use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement, as first reported by the Washington Post.
Holmes 2023
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Of the 38 people involved in the writing and editing of Project 2025, 31 of them were nominated to positions in Trump's administration or transition team – meaning 81% of the document's creators held formal roles in Trump's presidency.
Treene-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Last week, former President Donald Trump attempted to distance himself from "Project 2025," a sweeping plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a closely aligned conservative group.
Given Heritage's influence – the organization is full of the former president's staff, and the person leading Project 2025, Paul Dans, is a former Trump administration official who told a recent gathering of religious broadcasters that he expects to return to the White House if Republicans are victorious this fall...
Arnsdorf-20240516
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The most detailed articulation of what a second Trump term would look like was cobbled together by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. Called 'Project 2025,' it is a book-length presentation of a sweeping overhaul of government and governance. It is also, in the current view of the Trump campaign, an annoyance: It gives Trump's opponents something to point to and elevate to voters as unacceptable, even though it isn't actually offered by Trump himself.
Former President Donald Trump distanced himself on Friday from Project 2025—a controversial package of conservative policy ideas by the Heritage Foundation
in April 2024, Project 2025 senior advisor John McEntee stated that they and the Trump campaign planned to 'integrate a lot of our work'
While Donald Trump has publicly distanced himself from it
Trump, meanwhile, has publicly distanced himself from the plan.
Yang-2024
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Trump's post came three days after Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts' comments on Steve Bannon's 'War Room' podcast about a second American Revolution. Democrats and others criticized what they viewed as a veiled threat of violence. [...] Trump's statements and policy positions suggest he is aligned with some but not all of the project's agenda.
His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.
Bloodless2
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state.
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