What is Project 2025? Conversations, both online and off, surrounding the conservative agenda have exploded recently — more than a year after the policy proposal was published.
Project 2025 is a 922-page proposed blueprint for the next Republican administration produced by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Critics have labeled it “an authoritarian takeover of the United States,” while supporters call it a plan to return “our federal government to one ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’”
The proposal came under the spotlight recently after Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” The ensuing scrutiny caused a spike in Google searches for the term and led both presidential candidates to issue statements.
Since then, Project 2025 has become a central talking point for Democrats on the 2024 campaign trail. Even Kamala Harris, in her July 21 statement announcing her intention to run for the nomination, mentioned the project.
What is Project 2025, and what is it calling for?
Project 2025 bills itself as “a policy agenda, personnel, training and a 180-day playbook” to be implemented “on day one” by the next Republican president, outlining various agenda items, including which bills to propose, laws to revoke and government agencies to restructure.
While the project is a proposal and not aligned with any specific campaign, its proponents hope their recommendations will be taken into account by Donald Trump should he win in November.
Some of its directives include:
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An overhaul of the Department of Justice and FBI, the former of which it labels “a bloated bureaucracy” with employees “who are infatuated with the perpetuation of a radical liberal agenda.”
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Implement Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that the Biden administration repealed that would allow the reclassification — and potential replacement — of thousands of government workers.
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Eliminate the Department of Education.
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Shut down the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
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Impose wide restrictions on abortion access, including reversing federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
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Allocate funding for “construction of additional border wall systems.”
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Ban pornography and imprison anyone who produces or distributes it.
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Promote “Sabbath Rest” by encouraging Congress to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require people who work these days to be paid time and a half.
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Have the federal government promote “biblically based, social science reinforced” heterosexual marriages.
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Call on the new Health and Human Services secretary to “reverse the Biden Administration’s focus on ‘LGBTQ+ equity'” and “subsidizing single-motherhood.”
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Remove sexual orientation, gender identity, diversity, equity, inclusion and gender equality from any federal rule, regulation or legislation.
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Revive Trump’s plan to open most of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska to leasing and development.
Read more from the BBC: Project 2025: A wish list for a Trump presidency, explained
Who’s behind Project 2025?
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation came into prominence in Washington during the Ronald Reagan presidency, whose administration implemented policies from the think tank. Since then, the group has been ranked by the University of Pennsylvania as one of the most influential public policy organizations in the U.S. Heritage also advised the administrations of George W. Bush and Trump.
Project 2025 is not officially affiliated with Trump’s campaign —or any other — although the name Trump is mentioned over 300 times throughout the document. In November, Axios reported that Heritage officials told the outlet they had briefed all the Republican campaigns running at the time — Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley.
Trump’s own policy agenda is called “Agenda47,” given the next president will be the nation’s 47th. The former president has said publicly he does not know who’s behind Project 2025.
However, numerous people involved in Project 2025 worked in the Trump administration or have helped with Trump’s reelection campaign. Project 2025 director Paul Dans was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management under Trump. Associate directors Spencer Chretien and Troup Hemenway worked for the Trump administration as well.
Of the 34 authors and two editors listed on the project, at least 25 have served Trump in some capacity, several in senior positions in his presidential administration.
In an April podcast interview, John McEntee, a senior advisor on the project and former Trump official, said, “We’re gonna integrate a lot of our work” with the Trump campaign.
What does Trump say about Project 2025?
Trump has distanced himself from the project. In a post on social media after Roberts’s comments, Trump said he didn’t know anything about it.
“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Trump did not specify which points he disagreed with. Trump’s campaign website does not explicitly endorse Project 2025 either and instead points to Agenda47 for policy stances. There is some overlap in ideas between Project 2025 and Trump’s campaign — both include some variation of shutting down the Department of Education, cracking down on gender-affirming care, ending subsidies for electric vehicles, and continuing to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read more from the Associated Press: Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House include deportation raids, tariffs and mass firings
What do critics say about Project 2025?
Critics have called it “a real threat to democracy,” “a far-right assault on America” and a “dystopian plot.” Institutions such as Georgetown University have called elements like the cuts to Medicaid “draconian.” Sasha Buchert, the director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, described the language as “dehumanizing.” Immigration advocacy groups have called it “an authoritarian, often illegal, agenda that would rip apart nearly every aspect of American life.”
Many Democrats have pushed back against it, including Biden, who said it “should scare every single American.” Some conservatives have even gone public with their concerns. Robert Shea, who was a senior official under former president George W. Bush, said Schedule F would create “an army of suck-ups.”
What do supporters say about Project 2025?
Roberts, who wrote the Project 2025 forward, says the current political system is stacked against Republicans and Project 2025 will work to “free the next Republican president.”
“The point is to hasten the hiring of aligned personnel and hasten the implementation of conservative policy,” Roberts told the New York Times in January. “That includes hastening the overturning, via executive order, of what we believe are wrong policies of the current administration.”
Conservatives outside of the organization have also offered their support. Sen. Mike Lee called Project 2025 a blueprint to “return power back to the states and the American people.” Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of the conservative site The Federalist, described it as “a sweeping plan to end the weaponization of the government against Americans.”
Why is Project 2025 getting so much attention right now?
In a July 2 interview on Steve Bannon’s podcast — hosted by former Rep. Dave Brat since Bannon reported to prison for his contempt of Congress sentence — Roberts made his comments about the “second American revolution.”
The clip circulated widely on social media, racking up thousands of views and introducing fresh debate around Project 2025. In the days following Roberts’s comments, Google searches for “Project 2025” hit record highs.
Read more from Politico: Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution
The Biden administration, which has spent the last few weeks trying to put out fires regarding Biden’s debate performance and Democrats asking him to drop out of the race, jumped on Roberts’s rhetoric. James Singer, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement, “248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense.”
Roberts tried to clarify his comments in a post on X, claiming he and other conservatives are “committed to peaceful revolution at the ballot box,” but it hasn’t calmed the conversation online.
In the aftermath of Roberts’s comments, on July 5, Trump released his social media statement to publicly distance himself from the initiative.
That same day, a Project 2025 spokesperson said it does not “speak for any candidate or campaign” in a post on X, but added that it believed Trump will be the next president and that he can “decide which recommendations to implement.”