Project 2025 summary: What's in the blueprint for a second Trump term?

There are plenty of reasons to fear a second Donald Trump presidency, but one of the most demonstrably extreme things his administration could do is implement Project 2025, an ultraconservative policy manifesto that seeks to make drastic changes to how the U.S. government has operated for the past century. He wrote the chapter for HUD, recommending it prioritize keeping “noncitizens … from living in federally assisted housing.” Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro also makes an appearance—presumably working on Project 2025 before he was sent to prison—by recommending U.S. trade policy should focus on moving manufacturing jobs back home while coaxing other countries to lower their trade barriers so the U.S. can raise them instead. Trump’s assistant press secretary Karoline Leavitt also appeared in a Heritage Foundation promotional video last year that sought to recruit people for Project 2025’s training program. And Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told media outlets that “no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official.” Campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita also said that Project 2025 and similar policy proposals are “merely suggestions.” The Heritage Foundation, for its part, claims that the Trump administration embraced 64 percent of its policy proposals. A recent fundraising email gave supporters two options: “We can let Trump win and enact his Project 2025 agenda, OR, we can build on the historic progress President Biden and Vice President Harris have delivered over the past three and a half years.” The Democratic National Committee also recently launched a billboard campaign across swing states that highlights the plan’s priorities—one such sign reads, “Donald Trump and Project 2025: guts checks and balances, seeks revenge, bans abortions nationwide.” Even those outside politics are waving red flags about Project 2025, with British American comedian John Oliver dedicating a 30-minute segment to the plan in his show Last Week Tonight.