Project 2025 is a two-part mission launched in April 2023 by the American conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. The goal of its 922 page manifesto, Mandate For Leadership, is to arm the next U.S. president – ideally Donald Trump – with a road map to implement a sweeping conservative agenda. The plan also includes a LinkedIn-style database of loyal conservative candidates who could replace the current and independent government employees.
The plan has four key goals:
- “Restore the family as the centrepiece of American life and protect our children”.
- “Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”.
- “Defend the nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”.
- “Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely – what our constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty’”.
But what does this actually mean? And, if implemented, what consequences could this agenda have for American politics?
Changes to the federal bureaucracy
One of the most significant aspects of Project 2025 is its plan to bring the federal bureaucracy under the direct control of the president. While framed as a way to streamline decision-making, this would effectively remove the separation of powers that has been a cornerstone of American governance since it was founded. The proposed “top-to-bottom overhaul” of federal departments includes eliminating job protections for thousands of civil servants, and allowing future administrations to replace nonpartisan employees with political loyalists.
Trump has previously voiced support for a similar plan, Schedule F. This makes it appear likely he would implement these ideas if elected, especially since the Project 2025 database of potential conservative employees would provide a ready pool of replacements. By undermining the continuity and non-partisanship of the federal government, this proposal would have far-reaching consequences for the balance of power in future presidencies.
Federal funding and immigration
The Mandate for Leadership aims to end the “war on oil and natural gas” by cutting federal funding for renewable energy research and investment. Instead, some of this funding would be redirected to immigration enforcement, including strengthening the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Project 2025 advocates for a more powerful border policing operation, proposing to merge the Department of Homeland Security with other immigration enforcement agencies to bolster mass deportations and raids. These proposals reflect a hard-line stance on immigration, which is closely aligned with Trump’s own policies?
The family and abortion
Project 2025 calls for the adoption of a “biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family”, meaning a return to a traditional family model. To achieve this, the plan emphasises education as a tool to combat “woke propaganda”. This would include censoring any discussions of race, gender, and systemic oppression, violating First Amendment protections on free speech. The plan also targets the transgender community, proposing a rollback of trans rights, and advocates banning pornography due to its perceived harmful impact on the family.
On abortion, the Heritage Foundation proposes reviving the Comstock Act, which would ban the mailing of abortion medications, equipment, or materials through the U.S. Postal Service. It also seeks to withdraw mifepristone, an abortion pill, from the market. These measures would severely limit access to safe abortions, functioning as a backdoor to further criminalise abortion in America.
What is Trump’s relationship with Project 2025?
Despite how closely these policies mirror Trump’s personal views, Trump has repeatedly claimed in speeches and on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he “knows nothing about Project 2025“. However, this is hard to believe. According to CNN, nearly 240 individuals are connected to both Project 2025 and Trump’s administration. For example, two former Trump cabinet secretaries, Ben Carson and Christopher Miller, wrote chapters for Mandate for Leadership, while Trump’s campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who also contributed to Project 2025, is now ironically forced to dismiss it.
This distancing likely stems from the Democrats’ use of the plan as a political weapon, by linking Trump to the controversial policies. Around July 2024, when the Democrats began highlighting Project 2025, Trump began publicly pushing away from the project.
Or, maybe, Trump’s ego caused him to distance himself from Project 2025. Publicly supporting Project 2025 implies Trump would not be the sole architect of his agenda, and he would instead be relying on someone else’s ideas. For someone who prides himself on defining ‘Trumpism’, it is easy to see why he would want to assert that all policy decisions in his administration would be uniquely his.
Regardless of his attempts to distance himself, it is highly likely that Trump would take advantage of Project 2025’s blueprint if elected. If implemented, the plan would fundamentally reshape the American political system, concentrating power in the hands of the president and eroding the system of checks and balances. The plan would also seriously limit immigration and erode the right for women to have safe abortions. However, if Trump did copy the policies of Project 2025, he would be sure to claim the ideas as his own.
