Project 2025

By Matthijs le Loux

Mar 30, 2025 at 5:01 am



Despite denials, Trump's policies align with controversial Project 2025

The turbulent first months of Donald Trump's presidency have been a feast for the ultraconservative authors of Project 2025. While he denied all knowledge of the initiative last year, Trump is now pursuing policies that largely correspond with their plans.

At the heart of Project 2025 is a drive to expand the powers of the U.S. president, dismantle large parts of the federal government apparatus, and promote a Christian nationalist ideology.

During the election campaign, Project 2025 threatened to become a millstone around Trump’s neck, as it was extremely unpopular with voters. He distanced himself from the plans and claimed to have no idea who was behind them. That was not very convincing: many of the authors served in his first administration, and Trump himself spoke approvingly of the project when it was presented at a dinner of the think tank responsible for it, the Heritage Foundation.

The president and his cabinet got off to a flying start in late January. In the first few days, Trump signed dozens of executive orders. A TIME analysis found that nearly two-thirds of those orders to the federal government were in line with Project 2025. Several architects of the plans were appointed to the administration, including Russell Vought .

From climate policy to trade war The nearly 900-page Heritage Foundation tome includes plans to close the Department of Education. Trump signed a presidential executive order to that effect on March 21. It's part of a massive campaign to clean up the federal government and replace the remaining civil servants with forces politically aligned with the president.

Measures against ‘woke’ diversity policies and the dismantling of climate and environmental policy and science are also outlined in the think tank’s playbook . Economists, such as analysts at ING, use Project 2025 to predict how US trade wars will develop. Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation is also focusing on how to dismantle the EU .

Many of the new US administration’s policies are being challenged in court. Some of these cases will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Decisions by the Supreme Court justices could change the country for decades to come.

The volume and pace of reform and the myriad of legal challenges are a key part of the ultraconservative strategy. The movement wants to strike while the iron is hot. Thanks to Trump’s presidency, Republican dominance in Congress and a large conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the fight is taking place on a favorably placed battlefield. That could change in just under two years, in the midterm elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Ultra-conservative influence transcends Project 2025 The Heritage Foundation’s influence is not limited to the plans outlined in Project 2025. The Trump administration’s course also aligns with Project Esther , a plan to combat anti-Semitism. The think tank presented it in October 2024, a year after the Hamas attacks in Israel.

Since the beginning of this month, the government has been targeting people with permanent residence permits or (student) visas who were involved in Gaza protests at universities. They are accused of supporting Hamas. No evidence has been presented for this yet. Several students and former students have been arrested and detained pending deportation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is relying, among other things, on an obscure, never-before-used 1952 law that gives his department the authority to expel non-citizens if they are "hostile to U.S. foreign and national security interests."

Judges are now considering several proposed deportations. In doing so, the government is not only testing its own power, but also likely Article 1 of the US Constitution: the right to freedom of speech. Does that apply equally to non-citizens who are legally resident in the US? If not, where do they draw the line?

The government is also putting pressure on educational institutions. The Ministry of Education announced earlier this month that it had frozen $400 million (about €372 million) in grants and contracts for Columbia University.

The deportations of student protesters, the vindication of Rubio, and the defunding of universities are consistent with proposals from Project Esther, which in turn draws heavily on the principles and strategies of Project 2025.

'Beyond my wildest dreams'

Think tanks have been known to have a lot of influence at the start of a US presidential term, but to lose it along the way. That happened to the Heritage Foundation under Ronald Reagan. Trump is also known to be erratic: during his first term in the White House, he often broke with previously beloved advisers. But for now, it is harvest time for the ultra-conservative movement.

After Project 2025 was discredited last year, its then-director became a lightning rod. Under pressure from Trump's campaign team, Paul Dans had to resign. His public anger about this seems to have subsided by now.

In a recent interview with Politico , Dans happily noted that the White House has embraced 'his' Project 2025. "It actually goes way beyond my wildest dreams."





Questa mattina mi sono alzato
o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
questa mattina mi sono alzato
e ho trovato l'invasor.


This morning I woke up
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
this morning I woke up
and I found the invader.

  
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# interview

  
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