Project 2025

Trump's America would resemble Orban's Hungary

By now you have certainly heard of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. If you thumb through their policy agenda, Mandate for Leadership 2025: the Conservative Promise, you're holding a tome that weighs 4.4 pounds and includes 887 pages of policy prescriptions for a second Trump presidency. It's a terrifying collection of plans, promises, and threats to neuter the federal government and eliminate every last vestige of secular democracy from it.

The Heritage Foundation's 2025 Presidential Transition Project notes without exaggeration, "Project 2025 is unparalleled in the history of the conservative movement—both in its size and scope but also for organizing 100 different groups under a single banner. Spearheaded by Heritage, the coalition is systematically preparing for successful conservative governance in our nation’s capital. Project 2025’s four pillars will collectively pave the way for an effective and historic administration: A policy agenda, personnel recruitment, training, and a 180-day playbook to kick off the term on Jan. 20, 2025."

Together with the Trump 2024 Campaign's Agenda 47, a collection of far-right policy prescriptions from the Führer himself, Trump will re-enter government with a unified conservative movement all on the same page, with a full roster of pre-vetted and trained zealots "who will be ready on Day One of the next Administration to save our country."

What to Read

A number of analysts have discussed both the most destructive aspects of this plan as well as its history. Among the most thorough are: Peter Mongomery's in The Public Eye; another by GPAHE, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism; and Carlos Lazada's piece in the New York Times. Margaret Hartmann's piece in the New York Intelligencer is also very informative. If video is your thing, MSNBC's Ali Velshi offers a short explainer in an interview with Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

David Corn's article in Mother Jones and Rick Perlstein's in Rolling Stone tie Project 2025 with past GOP efforts by Gingrich and Reagan. Lindsey Anstead's analysis in the Berkeley Political Review centers on the dismantling of the Civil Service and replacement of professional staff with ideological bedfellows — a critical aspect of the GOP's plan to drag the federal government into the bathroom and drown it, as Grover Norquist put it almost 30 years ago. In an odd echo of history, one the first "reforms" the Nazis instituted when they took power was to gut the Civil Service and kick out the Jews.

From reproductive rights, to the environment, to democratic institutions, immigration, voting, regulatory institutions, gay and trans rights, free speech, separation of church and state, law enforcement, prisons, education, race, the media – Project 2025 is a giant wrecking ball as well as a plan to root out democracy, regulation, professionalism and process in government institutions — all while favoring Christian Nationalists.

In short, Project 2025 is American Conservative's plan to turn the United States into Viktor Orban's Hungary.

Project 2025's Four Pillars

If you can't work up the enthusiasm to read the book, then read what the Heritage Foundation themselves have to say about their plan.

1. Policy Agenda

This book is the product of more than 400 scholars and policy experts from across the conservative movement and around the country. Contributors include former elected officials, world-renowned economists, and veterans from four presidential Administrations. This is an agenda prepared by and for conservatives who will be ready on Day One of the next Administration to save our country. The Heritage Foundation is once again facilitating this work, but as our dozens of partners and hundreds of authors will attest, this book is the work of the entire conservative movement.

2. Personnel Recruitment

Please fill out the questionnaire below and upload your resume for inclusion in the Presidential Personnel Database if you would like to be considered for positions in a presidential Administration. Project 2025 is the effort of a massive coalition of conservative organizations that have come together to ensure a successful Administration begins in January 2025. With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government. Project 2025 is being organized by The Heritage Foundation. To learn more about positions in the Executive Branch, please refer to the 2020 Plum Book.

3. Presidential Administration Academy

If you’re interested in serving the next conservative President, you’ve come to the right place. Presidential Administration Academy participants are professionals at all career levels from across the country and in our nation’s capital who want to learn, engage, get credentialed, and BE PREPARED to serve the next President and the American people by advancing conservative policy at the federal level. Applicants ranging from new college grads to experienced professionals in all career fields are encouraged to apply. We also welcome those who have not previously served in an Administration as well as those who are former appointees.

4. 180-Day Playbook

The fourth pillar of Project 2025 is our 180-day Transition Playbook and includes a comprehensive, concrete transition plan for each federal agency. Only through the implementation of specific action plans at each agency will the next conservative presidential Administration be successful.

More Reading

1. 2020 Democratic Party Platform Democratic National Committee, Democratic National Convention (August 18, 2020)

2. A Gen Z Guide to ‘Project 2025’ Ali Reed, Lexington Line (November 27, 2023)

3. A Pledge to America: the latest in a long line of political protest pamphlets Husna Haq, Christian Science Monitor (September 23, 2010)

4. Agenda47: A New Quantum Leap to Revolutionize the American Standard of Living Trump 2024, Trump 2024 Campaign (March 3, 2023)

5. American Conservatism is a Poison Charles P. Pierce, Esquire (August 30, 2023)

6. Analysis Exposes Trumpian Project 2025 as 'Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism' Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams (November 13, 2023)

7. Analysis of the Project 2025 plan for the next conservative president Richard C. Hall, Oklahoman (January 7, 2024)

8. Bannon: Trump administration is in unending battle for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’ Philip Rucker, Washington Post (February 23, 2017)

9. Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2025 Office of Management and Budget, White House (March 30, 2024)

10. Christian Nationalist Insiders Are Prepping for Trump's 'Dystopian' Return Julia Conley, Common Dreams (February 20, 2024)

11. Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press News (August 29, 2023)

12. Conservatives aim to restructure U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision Lisa Mascaro, PBS News Hour (August 29, 2023)

13. Conservatives Plot To Dismantle U.S. Government And Replace With Trump's Vision Lisa Mascaro, Huffington Post (August 29, 2023)

14. Contract with America Douglas B. Harris, Center for the Study of Federalism (2006)

15. Contract with America Editors, Online Highways (March 2024)

16. Critics warn RNC 'bloodbath' a preview of what Project 2025 would do if Trump is reelected Thor Benson, AlterNet (December 11, 2023)

17. Disturbing Revelations: Trump's Alleged Neofascist Agenda for 2025 Exposed Emma Taylor, Trendy Digests (March 20, 2024)

18. Does “A Pledge to America” Have a Future? David Plotke, Dissent Magazine (January 27, 2011)

19. Donald J. Trump For President 2024 Trump 2024, Trump 2024 Campaign (2024)

20. Far right's Project 2025 makes Christian faith the government's job Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, MSNBC (September 8, 2023)

21. Former lobbyists wrote "A Pledge to America"? Not plural, and help is questionable Angie Drobnic Holan, PolitiFACT (September 30, 2010)

22. GOP ready to make 'Pledge to America' Michael A. Memoli and Lisa Mascaro, Los Angeles Times (September 23, 2010)

23. GOP's 2025 Plan: Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban Abortion Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone (December 22, 2023)

24. How ‘Project 2025’ became the Biden campaign’s favorite target Shelby Talcott, Semafor (March 8, 2024)

25. How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life Andra Watkins, How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life (2024)

26. How Right-Wing Groups Are Plotting To Implement Trump’s Authoritarianism David Corn, Mother Jones (September 14, 2023)

27. How Wily Newt Pulled the 'Contract with America' Scam Rick Perlstein, Rolling Stone Magazine (January 26, 2012)

28. HRC, other groups to rally against GOP 'masterplan' for a Christian theocracy Christopher Kane, Blade (January 25, 2024)

29. Hucksters: Trump Consulting Gingrich on Midterm ‘Contract’ Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine (May 26, 2021)

30. Inside the Next Republican Revolution Michael Hirsh, POLITICO (September 19, 2023)

31. It’s very well-thought-out: Authoritarian expert breaks down dangers of Project 2025 Ali Velshi and Ruth Ben-Ghiat, MSNBC (February 24, 2024)

32. Ken Paxton, America First Legal, and Premonitions of Project 2025 Toni Aguilar Rosenthal, American Prospect (March 15, 2024)

33. Key to Understanding the New Congress: Gingrich's Contract With America Thomas Schaller, The American Prospect (January 12, 2015)

34. No liberal equivalent of the Federalist Society? Please. Kevin Drum, Mother Jones (January 24, 2019)

35. President Biden’s Budget Is an Ambitious Blueprint To Build a Stronger, More Equitable America Julia Cusick, Center for American Progress (March 28, 2022)

36. Project 2025 Peter Montgomery, Political Research Associates (February 14, 2024)

37. Project 2025 - The Book Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation (2023)

38. Project 2025 & Agenda47: The "Quiet Parts" Spelled Out Eric Engle, Eric's Substack (November 21, 2023)

39. Project 2025 is GOPers’ blueprint for destroying the planet. It must be stopped. Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer (July 30, 2023)

40. Project 2025 Promises Revenge, Oppression, and Autocratic Rule Thomas Zimmer, Democracy Americana (February 22, 2024)

41. Project 2025 Publishes Comprehensive Policy Guide, ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise’ Press Release, Project 2025 (April 21, 2023)

42. Project 2025 Reaches 100 Coalition Partners, Continues to Grow in Preparation for Next President Press Release, Heritage Foundation (February 20, 2024)

43. Project 2025: A Christian Nationalist fever dream that would destroy American democracy Hemant Mehta, Friendly Atheist (October 3, 2023)

44. Project 2025: A Heightened Threat of Christian Nationalism and Authoritarianism Editors, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (November 13, 2023)

45. Project 2025: An Authoritarian Conspiracy Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker, Conspirituality Podcast (January 4, 2024)

46. Project 2025: Democratic Doomsday Lindsey Anstead, Berkeley Political Review (November 17, 2023)

47. Project 2025: Harrowing roadmap for Christian nationalist presidency Editors, Freedom from Religion Foundation (September 20, 2023)

48. Project 2025: Heritage Foundation helms right-wing coalition in drafting playbook to overhaul U.S. government on ‘Day 1’ of next Republican presidency Charlie Neibergall, Market Watch (September 9, 2023)

49. Project 2025: Overview Spencer Chretien, Heritage Foundation (January 31, 2023)

50. Project 2025: The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism Editors, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (2024)

51. Project 2025: The Plan of the Century with Peter Montgomery Peter Montgomery, Political Research Associates Podcast: Inform Your Resistance (March 12, 2024)

52. Project 2025: The Right’s Dystopian Plan to Dismantle Civil Rights and What It Means for Women Carrie N. Baker, Ms. Magazine (February 8, 2024)

53. Project 2025: Unveiling the far right’s plan to demolish immigration in a second Trump term Cecilia Esterline, Niskanen Center (February 20, 2024)

54. Project2025.org’s Questionnaire for Applicants to the “Presidential Personnel Database” Editors, New York Times (December 1, 2023)

55. Reject the Christian-nationalist "Project 2025" Editors, Faithful America (November 6, 2023)

56. Republican "Contract with America" Republican Party, Republican Party (09/27/94)

57. Republicans Offer Their 'Pledge to America' Ron Elving, NPR: It's All Politics (September 23, 2010)

58. Right Wing Round-Up: A Christian Nationalist Administration Kyle Mantyla, Right Wing Watch (February 20, 2024)

59. Scoop: McCarthy's "Commitment to America" rollout Andrew Solender and Alayna Treene, AXIOS (September 6, 2022)

60. Stop Project 2025 Editors, Stop the Coup 2025 (2024)

61. Supreme Court in Hand, Far Right Wing Prepares to ‘Take the Reins of Government’ Peter Montgomery, Right Wing Watch (June 27, 2022)

62. The Battling Budget Blueprints Of 2025 Are Here Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Forbes (March 11, 2024)

63. The Contract with America turns 25 Sheila Weinberg, The Hill (October 8, 2019)

64. The Contract With America: The Chrystallization of the GOP's Racial Agenda Edward J. Rymsza, CUNY Law Review (09/01/14)

65. The danger of Project 2025 Kim Zappala, NECC Observer (November 20, 2023)

66. The Dangers of a Second Trump Term Go Far Beyond the White House David Faris, Slate (March 26, 2024)

67. The First Contract with America James A. Henretta, Wilson Quarterly (Winter 1996)

68. The Future Begins with Trump's Agenda 47! Benjamin Deniston, LaRouchePAC (2024)

69. The GOP Has a Master Plan to Criminalize Being Trans Brynn Tennehill, DAME Magazine (August 14, 2023)

70. The Real Problem With ”Project 2025” Bettina Krause, Liberty Magazine (January 1, 2024)

71. The Terrifying Christian Nationalist Crusade to Conquer America Chris Lehmann, Nation (March 13, 2024)

72. The Theocratic Ambitions of Project 2025 Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Portside (December 11, 2023)

73. Trump & Gingrich Team Up on MAGA-Style “Contract With America” Ahead of 2022 Chris Walker, Truthout (May 26, 2021)

74. Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, and Devlin Barrett, Washington Post (November 5, 2023)

75. Trump is starting to put together his own Contract with America. And he’s teaming up with Newt. Meridith McGraw, POLITICO (May 25, 2021)

76. Trump wants no limits on presidential power. That’s not new for the GOP. Joseph Lowndes, Washington Post (July 27, 2023)

77. Trump's "Agenda 47" is no joke Chauncey DeVega, Salon (July 14, 2023)

78. Trump’s Christian Nationalist Friends Have a Horrifying Plan for a Second Term Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, New Republic (February 20, 2024)

79. Trump's Contract with America – 50 promises from candidate who delivers Newt Gingrich, FOX News (August 27, 2020)

80. Trump’s Most Unhinged Plans for His Second Term Margaret Hartmann, New York Intelligencer (March 8, 2024)

81. Trump’s radical second-term agenda would wield executive power in unprecedented ways Kristen Holmes, CNN (November 16, 2023)

82. Unequal Justice: Trump 2024 and the Blueprint to End American Democracy Bill Blum, Progressive (July 26, 2023)

83. US hard-right policy group condemned for ‘dehumanising’ anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric Martin Pengelly, Guardian (September 15, 2023)

84. What “Project 2025” Would Do to America Thomas Zimmer, Democracy Americana (February 29, 2024)

85. What a Donald Trump second term would look like Anthony Zurcher, BBC News (November 3, 2023)

86. What I Learned When I Read 887 Pages of Plans for Trump’s Second Term Carlos Lozada, New York Times (February 29, 2024)

87. What Was the Contract with America? Brendan McGuigan, UnitedStates Now (March 6, 2024)

88. Why Democrats Should Help Republicans Publicize “Project 2025” Jim Hightower, Jim Hightower's Lowdown (August 17, 2023)

89. Why There’s No Liberal Federalist Society Evan Mandery, POLITICO (January 23, 2019)