Project 2025
Political plan for changes to the U.S. federal government / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of policy proposals to thoroughly reshape the U.S. federal government in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.[2][3] Established in 2022, the project aims to recruit tens of thousands of conservatives to the District of Columbia to replace existing federal civil servants—whom Republicans characterize as part of the "deep state"—and to further the objectives of the next Republican president.[4] It adopts a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory—which asserts that the president has absolute power over the executive branch upon inauguration.[3][5] Unitary executive theory is a disputed interpretation of Article II of the Constitution of the United States.[6][7]
Purpose | Plan to reshape the U.S. federal government to support the agenda of Republican Party president |
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Location |
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Director | Paul Dans |
Main organ | Mandate for Leadership |
Parent organization | Heritage Foundation |
Budget | $22 million[1] |
Website | www |
Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the entire government, particularly with regard to economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes slashing funding for the Department of Justice (DOJ), dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor of fossil fuel production, eliminating the Department of Commerce, and ending the independence of various federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).[8][9] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,[10] though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism.[11]
Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other government agencies, or terminated.[12][13] Scientific research would receive federal funding only if it suits conservative principles.[14]
The Project urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care[15][16] and to restrict access to contraception.[17] The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank that leads the development of Project 2025, asserted in April 2024 that "the radical Left hates families" and "wants to eliminate the family and replace it with the state" while driving the country to emulate totalitarian nations, such as North Korea. The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity, stating in its Mandate that "freedom is defined by God, not man." Project 2025 proposes criminalizing pornography,[18] removing protections against discrimination based on sexual or gender identity,[18][19] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs,[4][19] as well as affirmative action.[20]
The Project advises the future president to immediately deploy the military for domestic law enforcement and to direct the DOJ to pursue Donald Trump's adversaries by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807.[21][22] It recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants across the country.[23] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of such sentences.[24] Project director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, explained that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state."[25][26] Dans admitted that it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many people to join the government in order to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future President to "regain control" of the federal government.[4]
Although the project does not promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his presidential campaign.[7][27] The Heritage Foundation has developed Project 2025 in collaboration with over 100 partners including Turning Point USA, led by its executive director Charlie Kirk; the Conservative Partnership Institute including former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as senior partner; the Center for Renewing America, led by former Trump Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought; and America First Legal, led by former Trump Senior Advisor Stephen Miller.[28][29] The Project is detailed in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, a version of which Heritage has written as transition plans for each prospective Republican president since 1980.[30]
Critics of Project 2025 have described it as an authoritarian Christian nationalist movement[31] and a path for the United States to become an autocracy. Several experts in law have indicated that it would undermine the rule of law and the separation of powers.[8] Some conservatives and Republicans also criticized the plan, for example in the contexts of centralizing power,[4] climate change,[32] and foreign trade.[11]