As the presidential election nears, a Republican plan to overhaul the federal government has gained national attention, popping up everywhere from news stories and TikTok to the BET Awards.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is essentially a blueprint to help former President Donald Trump reshape the federal government should he win the election in November.
The document has sparked alarm from Democrats and some independent voters. Earlier this month, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts referenced political violence and said Republicans are taking the country back.
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts told the War Room podcast, founded by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, this month.
Trump, meanwhile, has distanced himself from the plan. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media site. “I have no idea who is behind it. 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’s official platform, Agenda47, outlines his goals and proposals. A spokesperson for the plan said Project 2025 is not tied to a specific candidate or campaign, the Associated Press reported.
We’ll unpack what we know about Project 2025.
What is Project 2025?
The 900-page playbook, also called the Presidential Transition Project, details an exhaustive list of priorities if a Republican wins the presidency. It outlines four major goals: restore the family as the centerpiece of American life; dismantle the administrative state; defend the nation’s sovereignty and borders; and secure God-given individual rights to live freely.
On its website, the Heritage Foundation says Project 2025 reflects input from more than 100 conservative organizations and is the product of more than 400 scholars and policy experts.
What are some Project 2025 proposals?
Project 2025 seeks to strengthen the executive branch by placing some independent agencies, such as the Department of Justice, under presidential control.
The proposal calls for eliminating job protections for thousands of government employees, who could be replaced by Trump loyalists. As many as 50,000 government workers could be fired, according to the Associated Press.
It supports significant overhauls of numerous agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which it calls “a bloated, arrogant, increasingly lawless organization.” Project 2025 also calls for the elimination of the Department of Education and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for daily weather forecasts and severe storm warnings. Project 2025 says the agency is one of “main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”
Project 2025 supports removing a long list of terms from all laws and federal regulations. Those terms include sexual orientation; abortion; reproductive health; reproductive rights; and diversity, equity, and inclusion, known as DEI.
It wants to outlaw pornography, imprison people who produce and distribute it and shutter telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread. The document also suggests abolishing the Federal Reserve and replacing it with “free banking,” in which the government would not have a say in interest rates or the supply of money.
Investments in renewable energy would be cut under Project 2025, which calls for an end on the “war on oil and natural gas.”
Project 2025 does not call for a nationwide abortion ban, according to a report by the BBC, although it does propose withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market.
In the limelight
During the BET Awards on June 30, the show’s host, actress Taraji P. Henson, railed against Project 2025.
“Show up and show out when it’s time to vote because it’s not just about the presidential election, you guys. It’s time for us to play chess, not checkers. It’s about making decisions that will affect us as human beings,” Henson said. “Pay attention. It’s not a secret: Look it up. They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up!”
Moments later, Project 2025 began trending on Google.
The project has also drawn the ire of Last Week Tonight host John Oliver, who used his HBO show to criticize the plan.
“These proposals are extreme because the people who wrote them are extreme,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
