Project 2025 is the anti-democracy draconian extreme right wing Republican policies for the future based on the “Mandate for Leadership” created several years ago by the The Heritage Foundation and 100 other conservative groups, which has been highly influential for conservative presidential administrations since the Reagan era.
The 900-page manual, published in 2023, includes detailed policies to apply if there is a Republican victory in November 2024: https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
The Heritage Foundation HAS ALREADY INFLUENCED THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. IN HIS FOUR YEAR TERM. Examples of some of the most notable policy recommendations and their adoption or implementation by the former Trump administration include:
- Leaving the Paris Climate Accord: In August 2017, Trump announced the U.S. was ending its funding and membership in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
- Repealing Net Neutrality: In December 2017, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman proposed ending the 2015 network neutrality rules.
- Reshaping National Monuments: Heritage’s recommendation to prohibit Land Acquisition (Cap and Reduce the Size of the Federal Estate) was adopted by Trump when he issued two executive orders effectively shrinking the size of national monuments in Utah.
- Reinstating the Mexico City Policy: This executive order prevents taxpayer money from funding international groups involved in abortion and ending funding to the United Nations Population fund. On Jan. 23, 2017, in his first pro-life action, Trump signed an executive order today reinstating the Mexico City Policy.
- Increasing Military Spending: Trump’s budget calls for a $54 billion increase in military spending to improve capacity, capability, and readiness of America’s armed forces.
- Reforming Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF): The Trump administration adopted and is in favor of strengthening existing work requirements in order to receive benefits.
- Allowing Development of Natural Resources: The Trump administration opened off-shore drilling and on federal lands. Executive Order 13783 directed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to commence federal land coal leasing activities.
- Reforming Government Agencies: Trump tasked each of his Cabinet secretaries to prepare detailed plans on how they propose to reduce the scope and size of their respective departments while streamlining services and ensuring each department runs more efficiently and handles tax dollars appropriately.
- Withdrawing from UNESCO: In October 2017, Trump announced he was putting an end to U.S. membership in the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/07/03/project-2025-trump-us-government/
Polling demonstrates that although the American public is largely unfamiliar with Project 2025, the plan is deeply unpopular when people learn about its proposals.
According to an Accountable.US/Upswing poll on Project 2025 conducted in May, only 12 percent of Americans knew a “great deal” or “a lot” about the right-wing set of proposals. After a “straight reading” of what Project 2025 is — describing the plan, without details, as being a “collection of policy proposals that will reshape the executive branch of American government in the next conservative presidency” — favorability for Project 2025 went up.
But support dropped when specifics were discussed, the poll found.
For example, 87 percent opposed cutting Social Security benefits for younger workers, and 86 percent said they opposed eliminating the Head Start program. Seventy-seven percent disapproved of passages that aim to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people, 68 percent opposed criminalizing abortion medication, and 82 percent were against allowing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to increase abortion surveillance. Seventy-nine percent also opposed the plan to allow presidents to fire employees in the civil service program based on their loyalties to them.
After those policies and more were thoroughly explained, 66 percent of respondents in the poll said they had a negative view of Project 2025, while only 25 percent said they approved.
That poll’s findings appear to have been confirmed by another survey. A Navigator Research poll in June similarly found that 7 in 10 respondents didn’t know enough about Project 2025 to formulate an opinion. When presented with 19 specific policies within the proposal, however, their views drastically changed, with 63 percent saying they opposed Project 2025 and only 24 percent approving.
