Will Trump implement Project 2025? What to know about the right-wing policy plan
During the 2024 campaign, Democrats tried to tie former President Donald Trump to an unpopular policy blueprint called Project 2025, in the hopes that it would scare voters away from him. It clearly didn't work well enough, and with Trump set to return to office next year with a Republican majority in the Senate and possibly the House of Representatives, he could have broad latitude to enact his preferred policies.
So what is Project 2025, and how might it influence Trump's governing agenda after he takes office next January?
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a "presidential transition project" released by the Heritage Foundation, a staunchly conservative think tank. The Foundation has released a "mandate for leadership" document every election cycle for almost 40 years since 1981, after Reagan's first victory the previous year.
Reagan went on to adopt or attempt almost two-thirds of the 2,000 policy recommendations in the first "mandate" document, according to the Heritage Foundation.
Trump reportedly said five of the eleven judges he considered for appointment to the Supreme Court seat opened by Justice Antonin Scalia's death were the Heritage Foundation's picks.
The think tank, which advocates traditional conservative politics of "free enterprise, limited government... and a strong national defense," describes Project 2025 as a conservative "plan of action."
The document outlining the plan is more than 900 pages of right-wing policy recommendations to expand the president's control of the Justice Department and FBI, impose nationwide restrictions on access to abortion, roll back environmental regulations and eliminate entire federal departments.
The project "does not speak for any candidate or campaign," according to a statement posted to X. It is "a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy & personnel recommendations for the next conservative president."
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Is Trump linked to Project 2025?
The vast majority of authors and editors that worked on Project 2025 – 31 out of 38 – have connections to Trump or his previous administration. They include Chris Miller, Trump's former acting defense secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, his acting deputy homeland security secretary, and Peter Navarro, his former White House aide who served prison time for defying subpoenas from the committee investigating Trump's efforts to steal the election.
Paul Dans, Trump's former chief of staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, was Project 2025's director. Trump advisor Stephen Miller and his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt appeared in a video for the project's "Presidential Administration Academy."
Vice President Kamala Harris tried to paint Trump as in lock step with Project 2025.
"What you're going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again," Harris said in her single debate against Trump in September.
Trump has distanced himself from the project, claiming in a July Truth Social post to "know nothing abut Project 2025."
Representatives for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The Heritage Foundation also did not return a request for comment.
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What does Project 2025 propose?
Liberal think tanks and Democratic politicians have accused Project 2025 of seeking to turn government upside down and dismantle checks and balances in support of a right-wing agenda. The plan is "the most conservative, unhinged and extreme agenda we've seen in modern times," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a September news conference. It "threatens to erode our democracy," according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Project 2025's proposals for cracking down on access to abortion have garnered special attention – according to the document, the Food and Drug Administration should reverse its approval of mifepristone, the drug used in almost two-thirds of abortions in the U.S., and ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding.
Trump said in August he would not rule out taking away access to the drug. On the campaign trail, he enthusiastically took credit for the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, which he paved the way for through his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices. But he also said he would veto a national abortion ban.
Project 2025 calls for a major overhaul of the Justice Department, including a "vast expansion" of political appointees in the Civil Rights Division and the FBI.
Trump has similarly said he would bend the Justice Department to serve him politically – "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say, 'Go down and indict them,'" he told Univision in an interview last year. John Kelly, his former chief of staff, said Trump often described "constant and obsessive" ideas of using the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service to target his enemies.
Project 2025 supports slashing environmental protection regulations, from weakening the Clear Air Act to delisting grizzly bears and other species from laws protecting endangered species. The National Weather Service and five other offices with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality," according to the plan.
Trump, who has sometimes declared climate change a "hoax," has promised to boost fossil fuel production and cut down regulations on pollution. In his previous term, he rolled back more than 100 environmental rules, according to a New York Times analysis.
The plan calls for the elimination of the Department of Education – Trump also said he would axe the department at a rally in Wisconsin in September. It would cut regulations requiring employers to pay employees overtime – under Trump, the Department of Labor making millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.
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On immigration, Project 2025 calls for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to implement "expedited removal" of immigrants who lack legal status – a process normally only used at the border – and greenlight ICE agents to enter "sensitive zones." Congress should fund ICE to increase daily available beds in detention centers to 100,000, according to the project.
Trump has multiple times promised to order National Guard troops to assist in mass deportations. He has said he would activate provisions of the Alien Enemies Act, previously used to arrest people of Japanese, German and Italian descent in WWII, and use other emergency provisions.
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Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at [email protected]. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Trump implement Project 2025? What's in the 'transition' plan