During his first days of office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of enforcement actions, from escape from the World Health Organization to deploying military personnel and national security forces on the US-Mexico border.
Many of these actions are unprecedented. Legal experts and judges say some people appear to be illegal and unconstitutional. But none of them are a surprise. In 2022, almost all of them were outlined in a plan called Project 2025.
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Project 2025 is the top of Trump’s to-do list
Project 2025 is a multifaceted strategy to promote conservative federal policies. Part of this effort will revolve around “Leadership Delegation,” a 922-page document published in April 2023.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and advocacy group, organized a collaboration. A long list of other right-wing research and interest groups, such as Liberty and Turning Point USA’s Moms, also participated in Project 2025.
Leading to the 2024 presidential election, participants in Project 2025 wrote on the plan’s website, “To save the country from the radical left-wing grip.” This agenda will be carried out on the first day of the next conservative government. ”
My research on think tanks explored how these research organizations influence public policy making. The most powerful strategy is to alliance with political parties and support their objectives through research and advocacy. This is exactly what the Heritage Foundation did through Project 2025.
Trump said in his 2024 campaign that he was not affiliated with the project, but evidence of the Project 2025 agenda can also be seen in his second term and in his first administration.
For example, on January 20, 2025, Trump reflected a statement in the plan that “men and women are biological reality.” It is based on a fundamental and indisputable reality. “The order removed transgender references from government websites.
Other instructions are similarly consistent with Project 2025. This received Trump’s executive order that eliminated the Office of the Federal Contract Compliance Program, the government office that ensured that businesses working with the government did not discriminate against their employees, or the OFCCP office. Project 2025 is highly simply recommended to “eliminate OFCCP”.
Several news reports have already discovered that there are many other examples of Trump policy decisions and executive orders that appear to reflect project 2025 recommendations.
In one CNN analysis, starting January 31, more than two-thirds of the 53 executive orders issued by Trump in his first week evoked the proposal outlined in (the duty of leadership).
Heritage Foundation’s decades of activities
The impact of Project 2025 on Trump reflects the growing importance of the Heritage Foundation to Republicans.
My upcoming book on the polarization and politicization of policy research institutions shows many ways tanks like Heritage Foundations are incorporated into partisan networks and are closely related to politicians. Heritage and other partisan think tanks use their research, including progressive groups like the Center for America’s Center for Progress, to consistently support partisan agendas that are consistent with their policy goals. I’m doing it.
The relationship between the Heritage Foundation and GOP represents the most extreme version of this dynamic. Thinktanks are helping Republican presidents go back to Ronald Reagan and use another policy document, also known as the “duty of leadership,” to secure significant policy benefits through the administration. However, the symbiosis between the Heritage Foundation and the GOP has been particularly noteworthy since Trump gained more influence in the party.
As a researcher from a Heritage Foundation told me in 2017 at the start of Trump’s first term, think tanks said, “The administration didn’t have much policy depth, so when they won the election, they said. It was like “What are you doing now?” Do we do? “And that’s where the legacy begins. …We are working on these issues all year round, so we stand by your side. ”
The Heritage Foundation also reviewed potential staff for federal positions. This has resulted in more than 66 heritage employees or former employees who had worked for the Trump administration by mid-2018.
However, the legacy does not entirely determine Trump’s agenda. The group said Trump had “accepted 64% of the 321 recommendations” by the end of 2017, but think tanks are consistent with Trump on issues he cared about most, such as the trade war and the culture war. has been revamped.
As think tank president Kevin Roberts said in 2024, legacy considers its work to “institutionalize Trumpism.”
People who link Trump to Project 2025
Many of the contributors to the “Leadership Duty” were Trump administration officials like former Director of the Management and Budget Office and current candidate Russ Vert.
The list also includes John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence, and the next director of the CIA director, and Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration Customs Enforcement and the current Border Emperor.
Overall, more than half of the plan’s 312 authors, editors and contributors previously worked in the first Trump administration.
An incredibly important, but underrated part of Project 2025 was staffing efforts. The coalition worked to identify, veterinarian and train potential staff and appointees who are now entering the Trump administration and executive branch.
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What are the people and laws saying about Project 2025?
Polls from January 2025 show that the majority of Americans are opposed to many of Trump’s actions since taking office, sometimes with a large margin.
Even during the presidential election, both the Project 2025 itself and the policy ideas it advocated were very unpopular. Democrats have consistently warned of plans in the attack on Republicans.
The lack of general approval for Project 2025 and its proposals are noteworthy as the Heritage Foundation has historically invested time and money to obtain general support for its work. We even run an initiative in which citizens vote on how to interpret the pros and cons of our policy recommendations and how we can get understanding and support.
There are also legal considerations.
Much of Trump’s actions are like the government denies citizenship to children born to some immigrants in the United States, and it depends on the potentially unconstitutional interpretation and expansion of the presidential forces.
This represents another face of think tanks that have historically opposed efforts to empower the president at the expense of congressional authorities. In fact, the Heritage Foundation was established to work together through Congress to achieve its goals. However, Project 2025 appears to be pursuing a new strategy.
How successful is the Heritage Foundation to help Trump implement Project 2025 proposals partially relying on how the public responds? General oversight of the administrative department is important, as is the decisions made by the American judicial system, whether Congress is insisting control over budget issues and exercising it.
These checks and balances have helped maintain American democracy for nearly 250 years.
