Originally by Steve Rabey at baptistnews.com
Think tank policy proposals come and go, usually with little impact. But the 900-plus page Project 2025 is in a league of its own, thanks to a cooperative Trump administration and Supreme Court decisions that support its agenda.
Six months into President Donald Trump’s second term, more than 40% of Project 2025’s goals already are implemented, fulfilling the subtitle of David A. Graham’s book, The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America.
“I’ve been surprised by how successful it has been,” Graham said. “Long term, the most important thing is Trump’s reshaping of the federal government.”
Trump is instituting changes that could be difficult for future administrations to unwind by shrinking or eliminating some agencies and putting others under greater presidential control.
Graham finished his book manuscript before Trump’s January inauguration. He briefly wondered if Project 2025 would amount to anything. Since then, it has been win after win for the Heritage Foundation’s conservative blueprint for Trump 2.0.
Its success thus far is due to a gung-ho president, a compliant Congress, a supportive Supreme Court and an administration staffed with “a lot of people in the right places who feel really strongly about these things,” including Russell Vought, an evangelical Christian who is director of the Office of Management and Budget, Graham said.
A dozen evangelical groups were among the more than 100 conservative organizations contributing to Project 2025, including Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and Eagle Forum.
Heritage has offered up policy proposals every four years, starting with 1981’s Mandate for Leadership, some of which was implemented during the Reagan administration. Project 2025 was Heritage’s effort to regain some of the power and influence it had lost over the years.
Mission accomplished, and then some. “It’s actually way beyond my wildest dreams,” said one of Project 2025’s key authors.
David A. Graham
Graham says Project 2025’s influence on Trump 2.0 is unprecedented in the history of think tanks and conservative advocacy.
“The ambition of Project 2025 is much grander than anything the Reagan administration was attempting,” said Graham, a staff writer with The Atlantic. Importantly, that grand vision is accompanied by a detailed plan for putting it into effect throughout the federal government.
America and the world are being reshaped by Project 2025, Graham argues. While some changes will take time to manifest, drastic cuts to USAID already have harmed health and mortality around the globe.
In Texas flood country, people who’ve lost homes can see how cuts to FEMA mean slower and diminished deployments of federal workers to their disaster zone. Phone calls to FEMA went unanswered after contract workers were let go just before the flooding.
Elsewhere, Americans are most likely to feel the effects of Project 2025’s recommendations when they try to get help from a Veteran’s Administration facility, enroll at a public university, try to use Medicare or Medicaid benefits or learn of someone they’ve known for years arrested and taken away.
Cuts to America’s scientific establishment may be long-lasting, particularly when it comes to climate researchers. Foreign countries are hiring top U.S. scientists.
“You can’t put the reverse switch on that,” Graham said.
Historically, Heritage has championed small government and limits on executive power. But Project 2025 called for a maximalist president, and Trump has risen to the opportunity.
It would require a lot from Congress for it to reassert its constitutional authority and reclaim some of the expansive power Trump has claimed for himself. Graham is not optimistic.
“I haven’t seen any time in history when that process has been reversed.”
“I haven’t seen any time in history when that process has been reversed,” he said.
Some of the groups that contributed to Project 2025 have seen their policies supported by the Supreme Court, according to an analysis by the business outlet Forbes.
“Groups involved with controversial right-wing agenda Project 2025 were broadly successful at the Supreme Court this term,” said Forbes, citing 30 cases, including 12 important cases: “The Supreme Court favored interests pushed by Project 2025-linked groups in eight of the 12 major cases Forbes analyzed, including cases that limited court rulings against President Donald Trump, allowed restrictions on transgender health care, upheld Texas’ age verification law, killed Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers, expanded tax exemptions for religious charities, allowed restrictions on Planned Parenthood funding, allowed parents to opt kids out of LGBTQ books in schools and upheld the federal government’s TikTok ban.”
Among the groups filing briefs were Christian groups, including the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women for America, Defense of Freedom Institute, Eagle Forum, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Family Policy Alliance, Family Research Council, National Religious Broadcasters, and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Forbes reported.
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