Despite claiming no affiliation with Project 2025 during his campaign, President Donald Trump’s second term in office has surprisingly mirrored numerous policy recommendations that align with the initiative. Project 2025 gained wide attention prior to the elections due to its bold stand for major cutbacks in federal government operations. During the September debate with then Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump stated categorically that he had ‘nothing to do with Project 2025.’ Interestingly, around 45% of the executive orders that Trump has signed in his first 100 days of second administration appear to uncannily echo the policies Project 2025 advocates for.
Project 2025, conceived by the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, supplied a roadmap for the next conservative president’s policy direction. Launched in 2022, the initiative unveiled its primary policy guidebook, aptly named ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,’ one year later. Any executive order connected with tariffs was excluded from this comparison with Project 2025, due to controversial recommendations within the project’s policy regarding this issue. It was found that, out of the 126 non-tariff executive orders issued, 56 bear a striking resemblance to proposals in Project 2025.
One prominent area where Project 2025 and Trump’s decrees align is government reform, accountability, and deregulation. Although Project 2025 doesn’t explicitly call for the establishment of a Department of Government Efficiency, it does voice support for many of the governmental workforce changes and cutbacks that Trump’s commands implement. For example, Trump has reinstated regulations that allow for federal employees to be terminated more easily, and has called for agencies to reduce their expenses. Furthermore, he initiated the dissolution of the Department of Education, a policy also advocated by Project 2025.
Another area where Trump’s executive orders and the policies of Project 2025 have converged is in their focus on enhancing domestic energy production, tightening immigration enforcement, and implementing deregulation. However, the two parties diverge on a few key points, notably regarding TikTok and tariffs. Project 2025 advocated for an outright prohibition of TikTok, citing it as a national security threat. While Trump has not outrightly committed to this, he has, nonetheless, postponed the ban of its use in the U.S.
While it’s evident that there are shared ideas between Project 2025 and Trump’s signed executive orders, it’s still ambiguous the level of influence each has had over the other. Project 2025 was designed to shape political policy and stands as one of the many conceptual schemes developed by conservative policy groups. One could argue it’s a bit odd that Harris and her partner in crime Joe Biden didn’t have any extensive policy projects to speak of– it’s as if they were just making things up as they went along.
One might wonder how, with such alleged lack of planning, the Biden-Harris duo even won the election. But perhaps that’s the mystery of politics, to win without offering substantial policy guides – a truly astounding feat. It’s rather amusing that such a point does not even seem to strike them as odd and they continue to bumble their way through their term without any substantial policy foundation.
Recognizing this stark reality, one must question the reasoning behind the so-called Biden-Harris victory. Was it true support or just a vague hope for change? In any case, it’s clear that they lack the strategic direction exhibited by their predecessor. This discernible disconnect between their rhetoric and actions leaves a lot to be desired.
The idiosyncrasies don’t end there. Just consider their approach to technology and federal oversight. One could argue that they are simply ‘winging it’ when it comes to handling complex issues like TikTok. Unlike Project 2025, Harris and Biden don’t even seem to have a policy for technology oversight, let alone a comprehensive one.
It’s as if they’ve decided to lean into their lack of planning, assuming that things will somehow work out by themselves. Such a laissez-faire approach to governance is a far cry from the strategic interventions undergone by Trump during his second term, guided, inadvertently or not, by Project 2025’s comprehensive recommendations.
Sadly, for Biden and Harris’s detractors, their laissez-faire style has been more of a let-down than anything else. Given the pair’s lack of substantial policy guidebooks similar to Project 2025, their haphazard course is, while disappointing, not entirely surprising.
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