Now that it has been confirmed that Donald Trump will be returning to the White House next year, many are turning to his policy agenda to see what could be in store during a second Trump term.
Regarding the Trump policy platform, one phrase has continuously cropped up during the election campaign: Project 2025. The term relates to a detailed 900-page blueprint for a second Trump presidency put together by heavyweight conservatives. Included in its proposals are ridding the federal government of many appointed roles and replacing them with political appointees who have subscribed to Mr Trump’s agenda.
Fronted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, the plans include deporting of millions of undocumented immigrants, eliminating federal agencies like the Department for Education, and severely restricting abortion access.
Democrats have repeatedly attempted to tie Mr Trump to the plan’s most controversial policies, while he has sought to distance himself from it. However, dozens of former Trump administration officials have contributed to the document.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, has cited Project 2025 in campaign speeches and statements in an attempt to encourage voters not to re-elect Mr Trump.
“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Ms Harris said in a speech in Milwaukee in July. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously. And can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it. It’s 900 pages.”
Mr Trump has disavowed the document, saying: "I have nothing to do with Project 2025".
Here’s everything you need to know about the controversial conservative policy wish-list.
What is Project 2025?
The conservative Heritage Foundation created the blueprint, known as Project 2025, which is one of many think-tank recommendations supporting Mr Trump's agenda for a second presidency.
It spans more than 900 pages and includes proposals for massive tax cuts, the removal of thousands of government servants, an increase in presidential power, and the dissolution of the education department and other federal institutions.
Think tanks in Washington DC, frequently suggest policy wish lists for prospective administrations. During his presidency, Barack Obama's leftist Centre for American Progress, for instance, was referred to as his "ideas factory”.
Four pillars are outlined in the Project 2025 document: re-establish the family as the cornerstone of American society; demolish the administrative state; protect the country's boundaries and sovereignty; and protect each person's inalienable right to live in freedom. It is one of numerous policy documents for a programme commonly referred to as Agenda 47, so named because his victory means Mr Trump would become the 47th president of the United States.
The controversial right-wing plan for the next Republican presidency includes details to replace non-partisan civil servants with conservative loyalists, and is being led by many former Trump administration officials.
The leaked videos created for Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy and published by ProPublica and Documented, exposed plans to recruit and train political appointees on behalf of a future conservative administration should they win.
One of the policies includes replacing thousands of government employees, most of whom work in career positions for administrations on both sides of the political aisle, with Republican loyalists.
In the 23 training videos, totalling more than 14 hours, former Trump administration officials gave advice to future appointees on governing and how to best advance their conservative policies.
As well as calling for the replacement of civil servants with Mr Trump loyalists, those plans include eliminating the education department, shrinking environmental protections, and reducing LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights.
Mr Trump has tried to distance himself from the policies amid intense criticism and backlash regarding the group’s extreme policy proposals.
He described it as “seriously extreme” at a rally in Michigan.
He said: “Like some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25, I don’t even know, some of them I know who they are, but they’re very, very conservative.
“They’re sort of the opposite of the radical left.
“You have the radical left and the radical right and they come up – I don’t know what the hell it is, it’s Project 25,” he continued. “‘He’s involved in the project – and then they read some of the things and they are extreme, they’re seriously extreme.
“But I don’t know anything about it, I don’t want to know anything about it.”
Who are the people involved in Project 2025?
According to the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 was written by a number of former Trump appointees and incorporates suggestions from more than 100 conservative organisations.
The 2025 Presidential Transition Project is directed by Paul Dans, a former chief of staff at the office of personnel management (OPM) in the Trump administration.
The project's associate director is Spencer Chretien, a former presidential special assistant and associate director of presidential personnel.
Another associate director is Troup Hemenway, the president of personnel policy operations.
Who are some of the people involved in stopping it?
A Task Force to Stop Project 2025 was announced by congressman Jared Huffman of California in September.
Huffman said: “Project 2025 is more than an idea, it's a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will.
“We need a co-ordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late.”
According to the Heritage Foundation, Biden's party was spreading false hope through “an unserious, error-ridden press release”.
The head of the foundation, Kevin Roberts, claimed that, “House Democrats are dedicating taxpayer dollars to launch a smear campaign against the united effort to restore self-governance to everyday Americans.
“Under the Biden administration, the federal government has been weaponised against American citizens, our border invaded, and our institutions captured by woke ideology.”
President and CEO of Democracy Forward Skye Perryman said: “Project 2025 is one of the most profound threats the American people face today.
“From attacking reproductive rights and workplace safety laws, to allowing more discrimination, pollution and price gouging, the far-right interests behind Project 2025 are preparing to go to incredible lengths to implement a dangerous and deeply unpopular agenda.”
