Video Summary
Donald Trump denies knowledge of Project 2025, a policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation aimed at transforming the government. Despite his denial, videos obtained by Documented and ProPublica show many Trump associates involved in the project. The videos outline plans to reshape the federal government and conceal their actions.
Project 2025 Leaks Reveal Trump Connection, While He Continues to Play Dumb | The Daily Show Transcript
- 0:00 | If there’s one thing we all
know about Donald Trump. - 0:02 | It’s that he’s
not a policy guy. - 0:04 | He’s more of a boobs guy.
- 0:07 | Or a, she’ll have a
salad guy, or a babe, - 0:11 | I swear I have a
latex allergy guy. - 0:14 | Definitely not a policy guy.
- 0:16 | So, last year, the
Heritage Foundation - 0:18 | put out a policy for him.
- 0:20 | It’s called Project 2025.
- 0:23 | And everyone’s
talking about it. - 0:25 | It’s really having
a brat summer. - 0:28 | It’s essentially a
blueprint for transforming - 0:31 | the government from
a neutral bureaucracy - 0:33 | to a conservative Death Star.
- 0:35 | And I’m going to be honest,
it’s very upsetting. - 0:38 | But the most upsetted
was Donald Trump. - 0:41 | Well, Truth Social,
Trump wrote, “I know - 0:43 | nothing about Project 2025.
- 0:45 | I have no idea
who’s behind it.” - 0:47 | They come up with this.
- 0:48 | I don’t know what
the hell it is. - 0:49 | It’s Project 25.
- 0:51 | I don’t know anything about it.
- 0:52 | I don’t want to know
anything about it. - 0:55 | OK, now I’m suspicious,
because the last time - 0:58 | Trump said, I don’t know
anything about that, - 1:00 | he was talking about
Stormy Daniels. - 1:02 | So, did Trump
[BLEEP] Project 2025? - 1:07 | [APPLAUSE]
- 1:15 | Trump has consistently
said he doesn’t know - 1:17 | anything about Project 2025.
- 1:20 | But that might be hard
to believe after this. - 1:22 | This week, we
got new evidence - 1:24 | of the connections between
Trump and Project 2025. - 1:28 | Reporters for Documented
and ProPublica - 1:30 | obtained 14 hours worth
of private training videos - 1:34 | from the group, and many
of the people in the videos - 1:37 | have worked for Donald Trump
and remain close to him. - 1:40 | Hello, my name is Jeff Small.
- 1:42 | I was a presidential appointee
in the Trump administration. - 1:45 | I am a former political
appointee in the Donald - 1:48 | J. Trump administration.
- 1:49 | I served in the
Trump administration. - 1:51 | Was on the Trump
campaign team early on. - 1:54 | We stayed until
the final hour. - 1:56 | Yes.
- 1:57 | During the Trump
administration, - 1:58 | I served as the Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs - 2:01 | at the Department of
Homeland Security. - 2:07 | Are you sure that you were
at the Department of Homeland - 2:10 | Security, and not the guy
they brought in to throw - 2:13 | holy water on Giuliani?
- 2:16 | [APPLAUSE]
- 2:23 | ‘Cause you say you’re
a Trump staffer, - 2:25 | but you look like
the last thing - 2:27 | a Russian czar sees
before he’s thrown - 2:29 | into the back of a carriage.
- 2:31 | So, this guy worked in
the Trump administration. - 2:35 | Can you imagine how often Mike
Pence tried to confess to him? - 2:40 | Father, today I saw a pear
and had impure thoughts. - 2:45 | The point is, 29
out of 36 speakers - 2:49 | in these videos
worked for Trump. - 2:51 | There is no way he
doesn’t know who they are. - 2:54 | You think he wouldn’t remember
meeting a guy who looks like ZZ - 2:57 | Top joined a monastery?
- 2:59 | Anyone would remember
meeting this guy. - 3:01 | You’re telling me he’s got
a nickname for Joe Biden, - 3:04 | but not libertarian Gandalf?
- 3:06 | Come on, I don’t think so.
- 3:08 | Look, I want to get to
the videos themselves. - 3:11 | These are internal
training videos - 3:13 | for people who want to
join a new Trump government - 3:15 | in the hopes of
someday being kicked - 3:17 | off Dancing with the Stars.
- 3:19 | But they won’t
just hire anyone. - 3:22 | If you’ve been
convicted of a crime, - 3:24 | you will not be serving
in the federal government. - 3:27 | Crimes, such as fraud,
embezzlement and tax evasion, - 3:32 | show a lack of moral character.
- 3:37 | [CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
- 3:45 | Yeah, we’d hate
to have fraudsters - 3:47 | and tax evaders work for
the Trump administration. - 3:51 | Go on.
- 3:52 | To obtain employment
in government, - 3:54 | it is not favorable if
you have accumulated - 3:57 | debt and filed for bankruptcy.
- 4:01 | You might want to run this
up the chain to the boss, - 4:04 | because it’s starting
to feel personal. - 4:07 | No tax evasion,
no bankruptcies, - 4:09 | no weird hairstyles, no one who
had a cameo in Home Alone 2, - 4:13 | and definitely,
definitely nobody - 4:16 | who constantly brings up
Hannibal Lecter like it’s - 4:18 | a real person.
- 4:21 | But hiring standards
aside, these videos - 4:24 | also delve into Project
2025’s agenda and policies. - 4:28 | And for a party
that’s recently been - 4:30 | fighting back against
allegations that they’re weird, - 4:33 | this won’t help.
- 4:35 | Hi, I’m Katie Sullivan.
- 4:37 | I’m just a normal
American woman. - 4:44 | Are you sure?
- 4:47 | ‘Cause now that you
said it, I’m wondering. - 4:50 | Hi, I’m just a normal American
woman wearing normal woman’s - 4:55 | skin, as we normal women do.
- 4:58 | OK, you were being normal.
- 5:01 | I’m just a normal
American woman. - 5:04 | But to the left, that
makes me a cis gendered, - 5:08 | ethno imperialist birthing
person with pronouns - 5:12 | she/her, whew.
- 5:14 | Oh, my God.
- 5:18 | Is every sentence
going to be like this? - 5:20 | I’m sitting in a chair, or
as the left would call it, - 5:24 | a quad leg-abled, upcycled,
non-binary, wood-based - 5:27 | booty ally.
- 5:30 | [APPLAUSE]
- 5:37 | OK, got it, she
doesn’t have pronouns, - 5:39 | but that’s all
culture war stuff. - 5:41 | What about something
less personal and more - 5:43 | policy, like climate change?
- 5:45 | And remember, don’t
make it weird. - 5:47 | Climate change
allegedly, is everywhere. - 5:50 | This is an issue
to pay attention - 5:52 | to, as it has infiltrated every
part of the federal government. - 5:56 | Now, when I think
of climate change, - 5:59 | I immediately think of
population control, don’t you? - 6:05 | No.
- 6:06 | No, I don’t.
- 6:08 | No, I don’t think of
population control - 6:10 | when I think of climate
change, you weirdo. - 6:14 | I think of forest
fires and Smokey - 6:15 | Bear and his tight
little bear bod, - 6:17 | like a normal American woman.
- 6:21 | So, what makes
these videos clear, - 6:23 | is that Project
2025 plans to remake - 6:26 | the entire federal
government into an organ - 6:29 | of the conservative movement.
- 6:30 | But because they know
how unpopular that is, - 6:33 | they’re also teaching
their recruits - 6:34 | how to keep it a secret.
- 6:36 | What you probably want to
do, is if you need to resolve - 6:38 | something, you’re probably
better off going down - 6:41 | to the canteen, getting a cup
of coffee, talking it through, - 6:44 | and making the decision, as
opposed to sending him an email - 6:46 | and creating a thread
that accountable.us - 6:50 | or one of those other groups
is going to come back and seek. - 6:52 | And you’re going to
have to explain why, - 6:54 | why you’re withholding it, and
you’re going to fight in court. - 6:56 | It’s going to be
a lot of expense. - 6:58 | It’s an email that’s better
resolved with a meeting. - 7:00 | Hmm, yeah, yeah, gotcha.
- 7:03 | No paper trail.
- 7:04 | You’re recording this, right,
sound, audio, we’re rolling? - 7:07 | Good, good, good, good.
- 7:08 | By the way, this video might
actually bring Project 2025 - 7:12 | to a screeching halt, because
I don’t care how badly you want - 7:15 | to ban abortion, if
you have to physically - 7:18 | meet someone for coffee to do
that, yech, [BLEEP] that, no. - 7:21 | No, let them have their rights.
- 7:23 | Let them have it.
- 7:25 | Now, again, there are
23 of these videos. - 7:29 | And we’re not going to
show them all to you. - 7:30 | But there is one more
that we found exclusively. - 7:33 | And it was made for one
particular government employee. - 7:37 | Hi, President Trump.
- 7:38 | I’m Benson Winchester IV,
Director of Project 2025. - 7:42 | I’m introducing myself, because
obviously, we’ve never met. - 7:46 | You might be asking yourself,
what’s my role in Project 2025? - 7:50 | And I’m here to tell you
that as president, your role - 7:52 | is not to worry about it.
- 7:54 | On the day you take
your oath of office, - 7:56 | Project 2025 will
get right to work, - 7:58 | so you can go back
to the golf course. - 8:00 | You might hear some noise
from the White House basement - 8:02 | while we install the IVF
prisons and migrant fight pits, - 8:06 | but don’t worry, because we’re
also installing a new pinball - 8:09 | machine in the Oval Office.
- 8:12 | Oh, Elvira!
- 8:13 | Win my pinball on that.
- 8:15 | Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
- 8:16 | While you have fun at state
dinners and pardoning turkeys, - 8:19 | we’ll get to work demolishing
the Department of Education, - 8:22 | the EPA, and the National
Oceanic and - 8:24 | Atmospheric Administration.
- 8:25 | The what?
- 8:27 | Don’t worry your pretty
little head about it. - 8:29 | Just sign on a few dotted lines
and then it’s time for some TV. - 8:32 | Oh, Sean Hannity?
- 8:34 | I wouldn’t mind
pinballing that. - 8:36 | Bing, bing, bing,
bing, bing, bing. - 8:38 | Now, you might have heard a
ridiculous rumor that our plan - 8:40 | calls for banning pornography.
- 8:42 | Well, rest assured, this
will not apply to you. - 8:45 | In fact, as part
of our plan, we’re - 8:47 | going to give all the porn
that we confiscate to you. - 8:52 | Enjoy, big guy.
- 8:53 | That about wraps it up.
- 8:54 | If you have any
questions, don’t ask them. - 8:56 | Just know that Project 2025
is the future of America. - 9:00 | Isn’t that right, Alexi?
- 9:02 | It is a future that
can’t be stopped. - 9:05 | A future of blood
and sword, a nation - 9:08 | stripped of its decadence
while its people run screaming - 9:10 | to their doom, their children
onto seven generations, - 9:14 | cursing our names,
and the dark Messiah, - 9:16 | Trump, that brought about
this glorious ecstasy. - 9:19 | Thanks, Alexi.
- 9:21 | [MUSIC PLAYING]
- 9:22 | [CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
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