The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 wants to reshape America under Trump

The 2024 presidential election is only days away, and there appears to be a not-slim chance that former President Donald Trump could make his return to the White House. Trump is currently neck-and-neck in most polls with Vice President Kamala Harris, and the election is likely to come down to the wire.

The former president has previously committed to being a "dictator on day one" if he were to gain power again. While there have been arguments over whether Trump's words are hyperbole or literal, there is at least one group apparently scheming to assist with these dictatorial tendencies — through a plan called Project 2025.

Project 2025, which has only recently begun to gain traction in the national news media, is the brainchild of a conservative think tank called the Heritage Foundation. The foundation is collaborating with at least 80 other conservative groups to spearhead an effort to "rescue the country from the grip of the radical left," with a "governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration," according to the Project 2025 website.

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Many in opposition to the plan have alleged that Project 2025 is part of a greater effort by conservatives to turn the United States into a Trump-led autocracy. What does Project 2025 entail, and why are some political scientists afraid of its effect on democracy?

What is Project 2025?

It is a "mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to [Trump's] own," The Associated Press said, and is "essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president's return — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals." The full Project 2025 consists of a 920-page outline that mandates four doctrines to implement in the event of a conservative presidency: the first is to "restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children," the outline said. The second doctrine is to "dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people."

Third, Project 2025 would "defend our nation's sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats." And the last doctrine of the project is to "secure our God-given individual rights to live freely — what our Constitution calls 'the Blessings of Liberty.'" The main goal of these four tenets would be to execute a "sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return [Trump] to the White House in 2025," The New York Times said. The majority of the plan would be implemented during a transition period of 180 days that the project is calling its "playbook."

As the project's outline shows, this would involve the consolidation and retooling of dozens of federal agencies to place them fully under Trump's auspices. The project is mostly based on a legal principle called the unitary executive theory, which asserts that the president of the United States has complete power to control the executive branch of the government. The theory is an interpretation of Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the country's executive power "shall be vested" in the president.

Proponents of the unitary executive theory, including those in charge of Project 2025, argue that this vesting of power in Article II "gives the president complete control of the executive branch, so Congress cannot empower agency heads to make decisions or restrict the president's ability to fire them," the Times said. The theory is often a point of debate among scholars but has been championed by conservatives. The Reagan administration first developed the theory "as they sought to advance a deregulatory agenda."

The plan would also seek to fill the government with Trump loyalists by "scouring records and social media accounts to rule out heretics — effectively administering loyalty tests — and launching a so-called Presidential Administration Academy that tutors future MAGA bureaucrats," Politico said. This would ensure that "what remains of this slashed-down bureaucracy is reliably MAGA conservative — not just for the next president but for a long time to come — and that the White House maintains total control of it."

Using these powers as a baseline, Project 2025 presents a "Christian nationalist vision of the United States, one in which married heterosexuality is the only valid form of sexual expression and identity; all pregnancies would be carried to term, even if that requires coercion or death; and transgender and gender-nonconforming people do not exist," The New Republic said.

Who is behind Project 2025?

The project is mainly led by the aforementioned Heritage Foundation. Led by Kevin D. Roberts, the foundation is a think tank "based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense," according to its website. The foundation has grown to become one of the most influential conservative groups in the country.

Other people and groups involved with the project include like-minded right-wing think tanks and institutes, including individuals who once worked in the prior Trump administration. This includes Turning Point USA, a college-based nonprofit led by right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, as well as a conservative advocacy organization called the Center for Renewing America. Former Trump staffers involved with Project 2025 include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump's former senior adviser Stephen Miller, the latter of whom has been described as a white nationalist.

Overall, at least "140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025," said CNN. This includes more than "half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors" to the project's core manifesto. Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, also wrote the forward to an upcoming book by Kevin D. Roberts that is described as the outline for a "peaceful 'Second American Revolution.'"

What have analysts said about Project 2025?

Many progressives have opined that Project 2025 is an effort to turn the country into an autocracy, with Trump and his MAGA movement at the top. "The right is intent on turning Trumpism into a governing agenda," Robert L. Borosage said at The Nation. The Heritage Foundation is looking to "recruit, train and plant MAGA operatives throughout the government, and arm them with clear marching orders."

The priority of Project 2025 is to "bring the permanent bureaucracy to heel," Borosage said. The appointees in Trump's new government "will be driven not by Reagan's sunny 'morning in America' conservatism but by a dark QAnon vision of America betrayed," he added. However, there remains an unknown: whether Trump "would have the discipline to impose this agenda." Nevertheless, there is a "greater likelihood that if he regains office, his next administration will be far more organized, relentless and destructive than his first," said Borosage.

If Trump retakes the White House, it is "highly likely that some of Project 2025's ideas would be implemented — we just don't know which ones," said Gaby Del Valle at The Verge. Some of the most proactive proposals are "prominently highlighted but never explained." This includes proposals like the banning of pornography. But while there "are some contradictions between and within chapters — signs of fissures or points of contention among the dozens of participating organizations," said Del Valle, Project 2025 in general does "amount to a coherent vision."

What has Trump said about Project 2025?

In the early days of the campaign, Trump made little mention of the project by name. However, Democrats, in particular the recently formed Harris campaign, have begun working to link Trump's official second term platform, Agenda 47, to Project 2025. And as New York magazine said, many of Trump's indicated plans for a second term fall in line with the Project 2025 outline.

Despite this, Trump has "made clear he wants little to do with Project 2025," said CNN. Trump has "no idea who is behind it," the former president said of the project on social media, and has claimed not to know what the project is about. The effort to tie Trump to Project 2025 is part of a "lying and fear-mongering" campaign, Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said to CNN. Democrats have "been told, officially, legally, in every way that we have nothing to do with Project 2025," Trump himself has said. "They know it, but they bring it up anyway."

This hasn't stopped Harris from ramping up attacks against the former president in relation to Project 2025, often calling it "Trump's Project 2025" during speeches. The former president's "DNA is all over it," Harris said of Project 2025 during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. The project is a "blueprint, a detailed blueprint, about the danger and the detail of what Donald Trump and his allies plan," she said.

It seems that efforts by the Democrats to garner recognition of Project 2025 are working; a Sept. 25 NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters found that 57% of respondents reported feeling negatively about Project 2025, including 51% who said they view it "very" negatively. Only 4% of respondents told NBC that they viewed Project 2025 in a positive light. Notably, even 28% of self-identified "MAGA Republicans" in the poll said they viewed Project 2025 negatively. Project 2025 was the least-popular topic in NBC's poll, which ran the gamut from socialism and capitalism to Taylor Swift.

However, the Heritage Foundation maintains that Project 2025 is "candidate-agnostic, meaning its thousands of applicants could serve in any Republican administration," New York magazine said. In a statement to the outlet, the foundation said it was "proud to welcome conservatives of all different backgrounds and experiences." Amid ongoing controversy, the Heritage Foundation has also said it will end new policy work.