Project 2025 is a plan to reshape the
executive branch of 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 seeks to recruit tens of thousands of conservatives to
Washington, D.C., to replace existing
federal civil service workers it characterizes as the "
deep state", to further the objectives of the next Republican president.
[4] Although participants in the project cannot promote a specific presidential candidate, many have close ties to
Donald Trump and the
Trump 2024 presidential campaign.
[5] The plan would perform a swift takeover of the entire executive branch under a maximalist version of the
unitary executive theory — a theory proposing the
president of the United States has absolute power over the executive branch — upon
inauguration.
[6]
The development of the plan is led by the
The Heritage Foundation, an
American conservative think tank, in collaboration with some 80 partners including
Turning Point USA led by
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-appointee
Office of Management and Budget Director
Russell Vought; and America First Legal led by former Trump Senior Advisor
Stephen Miller.
[7][8]
Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the entire government, particularly with regard to economic and social policy and the role of the federal government and federal agencies. The plan proposes slashing
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) funding, dismantling the
FBI and the
Department of Homeland Security, gutting environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production, and eliminating the cabinet Departments of Education and Commerce.
[9] Citing an anonymous source,
The Washington Post reported Project 2025 includes immediately invoking the
Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement and directing the DOJ to pursue Trump adversaries.
[10] Project Director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, said in September 2023 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."
[11]
Project 2025 consists largely of a book of policy recommendations titled
Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise and an accompanying personnel database open for submissions. There is also an online course called the Presidential Administration Academy, and a guide to developing transition plans. Reactions to the plan included variously describing it as
authoritarian, an attempt by Trump to become a
dictator, and a path leading the United States towards
autocracy, with several experts in law criticizing it for violating current constitutional laws that would undermine the
rule of law and the
separation of powers.
[9] Additionally, some conservatives and Republicans also criticized the plan, for example in relation to climate change.
[12]
Project 2025 - Wikipedia