In the wake of Donald Trump’s stunning election victory over incumbent Kamala Harris, the president-elect’s staunchest allies are publicly embracing the controversial Project 2025 policy agenda as a roadmap for the incoming administration. The comprehensive blueprint, coordinated by the conservative Heritage Foundation, has emerged as a flashpoint in the early jockeying for influence and cabinet posts among Trump loyalists.
“Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda,” declared podcaster and commentator Matt Walsh in a triumphant post-election message on X, punctuating his tweet with a sarcastic “Lol.” Internet provocateur Benny Johnson echoed the sentiment, proclaiming, “It is my honor to inform you all that Project 2025 was real the whole time.”
The ebullient mood among Trump’s inner circle stands in stark contrast to the dire warnings issued by Democrats during the campaign about the dangers posed by Project 2025 and its ties to the MAGA movement. Harris and her surrogates had seized on the 900-page Mandate for Leadership, a policy manifesto published by Heritage, as evidence that a second Trump term would pursue a draconian agenda of political purges, rollbacks of minority rights, and assaults on environmental protections.
Project 2025 Architects Eye Top Jobs
Now, with the Trump transition underway, several of the Mandate‘s key architects are widely seen as contenders for senior positions in the new administration:
- Chris Miller, acting defense secretary during the January 6th Capitol riot
- Ken Cuccinelli, former acting deputy secretary of homeland security
- Russell Vought, Trump’s first-term budget chief
- Peter Navarro, ex-trade adviser who, like Steve Bannon, was jailed for defying January 6th investigators
- Roger Severino, formerly a top official at Health and Human Services
According to sources close to the transition, true power over shaping the second Trump administration lies not with Heritage, despite its Project 2025 initiative, but with the Stephen Miller-founded America First Policy Institute (AFPI). Key AFPI figures, including president Brooke Rollins and board chair Linda McMahon, are said to be quarterbacking the transition, with an eye toward stacking the administration with ideological allies.
Democrats Sound the Alarm
The ascendance of Project 2025 and AFPI has Democrats and government watchdogs deeply concerned. During the campaign, Harris warned that a second Trump term guided by the Mandate‘s far-right proposals would spell disaster for American democracy. “Everything from abortion rights to immigration to the future of our planet is on the ballot,” she argued in an October debate.
Some political analysts contend that Democratic attacks on Project 2025 proved so potent that they forced Heritage to delay a planned book by its president Kevin Roberts until after the election. In the book, Roberts reportedly advocates “burning” institutions including the FBI and Department of Education – rhetoric that Trump felt compelled to distance himself from during the campaign.
We look forward to this historic term, during which President Trump has an opportunity to make America great, healthy, safe, and prosperous once again.
Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation president
Concerns Over Feasibility
Other observers caution that Democrats’ doomsaying over Project 2025 may be overblown. They note that Heritage has produced ambitious policy manifestos for incoming GOP administrations since 1981, often with little success in translating them into practice. Overhauling entire federal agencies, for instance, would surely prompt fierce court challenges.
“The entire conservative movement stands united behind [Trump] as he prepares to secure our wide-open border, restore the rule of law, put parents back in charge of their children’s education, restore America to its proper place as a leader in manufacturing, put families and children first, and dismantle the deep state,” Roberts, the Heritage chief, said in a post-election victory lap. Still, he conceded in an interview that the Mandate represents “an aspirational document.”
Bracing for Impact
With Trump returning to power, progressives are girding for battle across a range of fronts. Abortion rights, already curtailed by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, could face further erosion. Protections for LGBTQ Americans may come under renewed assault. And the new administration is expected to take a hawkish line on immigration, border security, and the teaching of race in schools.
As one Democratic strategist put it, “Project 2025 is a window into the right’s wildest fantasies. With Trump back in the Oval, and emboldened by victory, there’s no telling how much of that fever dream they’ll try to enact. Constant vigilance is the only option.”
