By José Niño
Much talk has been made about the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, also known as Project 2025. It is a comprehensive plan crafted by former Trump administration veterans and other individuals interested in shaping public policy for a possible second Trump administration.
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Paul Dans, the former chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under the presidency of Donald Trump, is the director of Project 2025. This project is the brainchild of a coalition of over 110 conservative organizations that have become disgruntled with the state of politics in the United States. Their aim is to ensure that the Trump administration has an instant impact on policymaking from day one.
Project 2025 is made up of four pillars—policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook. It seeks to correct the many errors of previous Republican and Democrat administrations that have let culturally leftist ideas crystallize, while also presiding over vast expansions of the state at the expense of everyday Americans.
Project 2025’s agenda consists of gutting the FBI, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Communications Commission, and Federal Trade Commission, while getting rid of DEI programs, slashing funding for the Department of Justice and National Institutes of Health, and cracking down on internet pornography, among other measures.
Indeed, one of the biggest failures of the modern-day conservative movement has been its inability to implement a coherent, governing agenda. Conservatives have no problems in winning elections. One can see this from the elections of Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and even the recent administration of Donald Trump.
In the end, all of these Republican presidential administrations left many conservative voters with a bitter taste in their mouths as they saw the state inexorably grow and presidents failing to fully deliver on their campaign promises—comprehensive immigration restriction in Trump’s case.
Given how Trump‘s first term was co-opted by the likes of conservative hawks such as Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, there is a strong likelihood that a potential second Trump administration will fall victim to the same dynamic if the right personnel decisions are not made. A major plank of Project 2025 is to staff the Trump administration with competent individuals who share his vision, which is a reasonable step toward making concrete policy gains.
Project 2025 has already frightened those on the left and the neoliberal establishment. Many of these people believe that Project 2025 will usher in an authoritarian, Christian nationalist order. A glowing endorsement of such a project if there ever was one.
Trump himself has apparently distanced him from Project 2025 as seen by a post he made at Truth Social on Jul. 5. He initially declared:
I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.
The former president doubled down in a Truth Social post that he published on July 10, declaring:
I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican platform, had nothing to do with it.
It remains to be seen if Trump is disavowing this policy initiative out of political considerations. If history has been a teacher, it’s that Republicans have a penchant for dropping the ball when it comes to delivering their promises to put the administrative state on a diet. Project 2025 represents a decent start. However, the problems the United States faces are quite extensive and will require bold action for them to be rectified.
Winning elections is not enough to ensure that good policies are implemented. Unless there’s a veritable revolution in American politics where genuine rightists take over all branches of government and federal agencies, one can expect the country to go through this same vicious cycle of political disappointment.
At some point, conservative voters will have to come to grips with the harsh reality that Republican Party leaders have continuously scammed them for decades. The scam will continue if these same leaders aren’t held to account.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. You can contact him via Facebook and Twitter. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control at josealbertonino.gumroad.com. Subscribe to his “Substack” newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
