Recently, the term “Project 2025” has been ablaze in the news, with figures such as President Biden or former President Trump mentioning it in speeches, leaving many observers confused about what it is. The Democrats have utilized it as a scare tactic to encourage their voters to turn out and vote, while Trump and more moderate Republicans have distanced themselves from it. It is now worth examining what exactly Project 2025 entails, and if there is any chance of it happening in the future.
Background
Since the 1980s, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation has published new editions of its Mandates for Leadership in parallel with presidential elections. Think of them as sort of a guidebook of policies for Republican presidents to implement once in office. These editions have served as suggestions for the President to morph the executive branch into an executor of conservative policy. Project 2025 goes further, with Politico describing it as “far more ambitious” than every previous edition released by the Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 has been called a wishlist for the most conservative in America to base their policy decisions on. The Heritage Foundation has had a large influence on prior conservative policy as much of their ideas had been implemented under Republican Presidents and Congresses.
Image source: Biden campaign
What does it do?
The 700-page document detailing Project 2025 has a myriad of different plans of action and a wishlist for what they hope the most conservative members of Congress would implement. It has policy ideas such as: dismantling and consolidating multiple governmental organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and more; entirely overhauling the federal bureaucracy by replacing hundreds of thousands of government jobs; restricting abortion, creating a flat tax, reverting the powers of the Federal Reserve. and so much more.
Essentially, Project 2025 acts as a way to consolidate and overhaul the Federal government in a way to get loyalists into jobs and consolidate agencies for what they see as the best way to both achieve efficiency and control.
Will it happen?
After a surge in awareness about Project 2025, many Republicans have distanced themself from it. Presidential candidate Donald Trump for example has claimed to never even met Heritage Foundation leadership and knowing very little about the document. Furthermore, Project 2025’s former director, Paul Dans recently stepped down, making it seem even more likely the project’s viability would be finished. However, the current director Kevin Roberts, is close to Trump and very close to his running mate JD Vance. Furthermore, the Heritage Foundation itself has always been very close with Republican leadership and has often gotten much of what they wanted done to happen. Many on the left cite Republican insistence that abortion would not be overturned only for it to happen in 2022 to be the same as with Project 2025—namely that Republican leadership is currently against it in public but privately will try to achieve their wish list.
Ultimately, the future of Project 2025 is uncertain, especially as the 2024 election itself is uncertain. If Trump were to be elected, there is no doubt he would attempt to garner congressional support for at least parts of the plan but to what extent is currently unknown. Trump himself has been a loose cannon in that what he says and does can change on a whim and thus no one likely knows the project’s viability unless Trump himself is in the Oval Office signing bills and orders.
Sources:
Felix Puig Seppalainen is the senior political editor of Polinsights. He is a rising high school senior. Following the 2020 election, he cemented his love for politics and economics and have pursued those studies ever since. For fun, he trades in the stock market, learn history, and predict elections which led to his invitation to partake in Polinsights and take a part in this work of democratizing the access to information on politics.
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