What Is Project 2025? Why Is it Being Linked to a Second American Revolution?

Happy Fourth of July, America.

For a country celebrating its revolutionary roots, the latest comments from a prominent right-wing leader were disturbingly on point.

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative D.C.-based think tank The Heritage Foundation, is under fire for questionable remarks he made on The War Room podcast Tuesday in which he threatened a second American Revolution and said like-minded supporters are already in the “process of taking this country back.”

His organization has developed a plan, called Project 2025, that outlines policy changes former President Donald Trump could make, if reelected, that would facilitate a restructuring of the federal government to carry out a conservative agenda.

“We are in the process of a second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” he said.

Roberts spoke about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that presidents are entitled to immunity for official acts taken while president, calling it “vital.” He added that the ruling was encouraging and would help lead to their success. He later clarified his revolution remark in a statement to The New York Times.

“The revolution [would be] to take power back from the elites and despotic bureaucrats,” he said. “These patriots are committed to peaceful revolution at the ballot box. Unfortunately, it’s the left that has a long history of violence, so it’s up to them to allow a peaceful transfer of power.”

Here’s a look at the plan and the controversy surrounding it:

Project 2025 is a nearly 900-page “presidential transition” plan consisting of “four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook,” according to the website.

A coalition of conservative groups organized by The Heritage Foundation developed the plan to “rescue the country.” It includes policy proposals to reshape the federal government, White House staff and Cabinet recommendations, and plans for every federal agency to overhaul and update their goals.

“With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government,” the coalition’s website says.

Part of the plan that has caused the most stir centers around removing employment protections for tens of thousands of federal employees so that they can more easily be fired and replaced with people loyal to the president.

David Richards, head of the political science department at the University of Lynchburg, says the most troubling part of Project 2025 is the effect it would have on civil service.

“For well over a hundred years now, the U.S. government has relied on merit-based appointments to the civil service. That is to say, for most jobs in the government, you have to demonstrate you have the skills necessary to do the job,” he says.

Prior to the early 1900s, many government jobs were filled with political appointments, which led to unqualified people doing the work of government, Richards says.

“Putting back political appointments takes us back to the days of rampant corruption and incompetent government. This would lead to an even more dysfunctional government, a government that could not adequately respond to natural disasters or possibly even to foreign threats,” he says. “It would considerably weaken the government’s ability to function in a way that helps Americans and strengthens the country. Political appointments for most government jobs are simply a bad idea that has already been tried in this country and abandoned over a hundred years ago.”

Additionally, Project 2025 advocates for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, eliminating the Department of Education, a “top-to-bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice – specifically the FBI – and the restructuring and streamlining of the Environmental Protection Agency, among other changes.

Rep. Jared Huffman formed a task force last month to counter Project 2025. The California Democrat called the playbook an “unprecedented embrace of extremism.”

“Project 2025 is more than an idea, it’s a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will,” he said in a statement.

The Trump campaign has not issued an official response to Roberts’ comments about a second revolution. But they said previously that Agenda 47 is Trump’s official platform and plan for if he is re-elected.

Trump’s team in the past has looked to distance him from the Project 2025 policy template – but stopped short of disavowing it.

“The efforts by various non-profit groups are certainly appreciated and can be enormously helpful. However, none of these groups or individuals speak for President Trump or his campaign,” Trump campaign operatives Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement last year when some of the proposals surfaced. “Any personnel lists, policy agendas, or government plans published anywhere are merely suggestions. Likewise, all 2024 campaign policy announcements will be made by President Trump or members of his campaign team. Policy recommendations from external allies are just that – recommendations.”

But Trump has echoed several of the policy priorities during rallies and campaign appearances. And leaders of Project 2025 have close ties to him. Project 2025 Director Paul Dans served as the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, and Associate Director Spencer Chretien served as special assistant to Trump and associate director of presidential personnel.

The Biden campaign responded Wednesday morning to Roberts’ comments: “248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense. …They are dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America,” they said in a statement.