Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) refused to address remarks from Project 2025′s leader about a “bloodless” second American Revolution during a CNN interview Sunday.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rubio was shown a video of Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative political think tank the Heritage Foundation, which is leading Project 2025, recently saying that the United States “is in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
“Are you comfortable with that?” Dana Bash, co-anchor for “State of the Union,” asked Rubio.
“Well, he’s not running for president, is he?” Rubio replied. “Our candidate is Donald Trump. I didn’t see Donald Trump say that. Donald Trump is running on common sense, on restoring common sense versus the lunacy of the last four years on the far left in the shadow government that now is running our country with Joe Biden as its figurehead.”
Rubio continued, saying that “think tanks do think tank stuff. They come up with ideas, they say things — look, I like Heritage Foundation. I agree with some of the things they stand for, but there’s a bunch of scholars and people that turn around and work on different projects.”
“But our candidate for president is Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is running on restoring common sense, working-class values and making our decisions on the basis of that,” he added. “Not on ideological lunacy, which is what we’ve seen over the last four years under Joe Biden.”
“Is that what Project 2025 is? Is it ideological lunacy?” Bash asked.
“No, I think it’s the work of a think tank, of a center-right think tank,” Rubio answered.
According to Project 2025′s website, the initiative “will build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.”
The 922-page handbook lays out a plan to dismantle the U.S. government and fire more than 50,000 federal workers. Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat warned last week that “one of the most alarming things” in the handbook was the admission that Trump didn’t do everything he wanted to during his first administration.
On Friday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he knows nothing about Project 2025. (The Heritage Foundation, as well as the initiative, are led by former Trump administration officials.)
“I know nothing about Project 2025. 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,” he wrote. “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”