Whether you support or criticize the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” there’s no denying it has become a political hot potato. Conservatives find much to admire in Project 2025, while Democrats, many of whom likely haven’t delved into its details, have condemned it as a near-apocalyptic threat.
President Trump, facing backlash from his opponents who liken Project 2025 to a harbinger of doom, has distanced himself from the document on the campaign trail. In a significant development, Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, has resigned, seemingly succumbing to pressure from the Trump campaign.
Dans’ departure follows the project’s achievement of its primary goal: uniting over 110 leading conservative organizations to forge a cohesive conservative vision aimed at transferring power from the unelected administrative state back to the people, according to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts.
For months, Democrats have wielded Project 2025 as an election-year weapon, portraying its ultraconservative policies as a preview of the extreme measures a future Trump administration might implement. The nearly 1,000-page document outlines extensive changes to the federal government, including modifications to personnel rules purportedly designed to ensure government workers’ loyalty to the president.
Despite this, Trump has repeatedly disavowed the document, claiming on social media that he hasn’t read it and knows nothing about it. At a Michigan rally earlier this month, he described Project 2025 as the work of the “severe right,” with some ideas being “seriously extreme.”
Without directly addressing Dans’ resignation, Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita stated, “President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way.”
When pressed for further comments, Trump’s representatives declined to say whether the campaign had a hand in Dans’ resignation. They did, however, welcome reports of Project 2025’s potential demise, cautioning that any group misrepresenting its influence with Trump or his campaign would face serious consequences.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and leading Democrats have consistently linked Trump to Project 2025, using it as a key argument against his potential return to the presidency.
