The clock is ticking, and with President Donald Trump’s recent inauguration, it is vital Americans are educated on Project 2025 and what it may mean for the country’s future. There are various sources of information on its proposals, but it isn’t easy to find one that is unbiased and highlights the project’s primary concerns. So, I wanted to break Project 2025 down by highlighting the leading causes of concern for young adults in today’s America.Â
What is Project 2025? Who came up with it?
To put it simply, Project 2025 is a 922-page policy “wishlist” that serves as a sort of guidebook on what the next president of the U.S. should do to negate the “damage” that has been done by the democratic politicians in the country. The proposals in this document serve as a blueprint for Republican presidential candidates to restructure and delegate more power to the executive branch.Â
Project 2025 was created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank group in Washington, D.C. More than 100 conservative groups, along with many who worked in the former Trump administration, came together to compile the proposals in an attempt to restructure the federal government. However, despite Republicans backing Project 2025, Trump himself disavowed the proposals during his campaign.
“They’ve been told officially, legally, in every way, that we have nothing to do with Project 25,” Trump said back in August. “They know it, but they bring it up anyway. They bring up every single thing that you can bring up. Every one of them was false.”
Trump’s campaign has stated that the 2025 administration would ban those involved in the project from taking up a position of power. However, with the election over, Trump nominated many of Project 2025’s top authors and contributors for his cabinet.
Expected to lead the Office of Management and Budget is Russ Vought, who served as OMB director during Trump’s first administration. Vought served as one of the top architects for Project 2025 and was heavily involved in constructing the project, writing an entire chapter titled “Executive Office of the President.”
Stephan Miller has been chosen to serve as the White House deputy chief of staff for policy in addition to the president’s homeland security adviser. Miller was featured in a Heritage Foundation video promoted on its website.
Another mention is Karoline Leavitt, who was chosen to serve as the White House Press Secretary. Leavitt is credited with being an instructor for Project 2025 and, funnily enough, has tried to distance the Trump campaign from the proposal despite her connection to it.
Now that we have some background information on who wrote Project 2025 and Trump’s stance on it, let’s highlight some of the critical policies that could potentially go into effect.
- Government
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A significant policy highlighted in Project 2025 proposes that the entirety of the federal bureaucracy should be placed under the president’s control. This includes agencies like the Department of Justice. In doing so, this policy creates the idea of a “unitary executive theory, ” meaning that the president is given complete and total authority over the executive branch. The proposal also plans to terminate thousands of government employees and have them replaced by appointees who would be chosen by the current president.
Additionally, Project 2025 includes a proposal that urges the closure of the Department of Education by cutting off funding. 1965 Title I provides financial assistance to schools in high-poverty areas and districts. The project aims to eliminate the funding provided by Title I entirely.Â
- Abortion
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Project 2025 aims to ban medical abortions nationwide. The Heritage Foundation calls for the FDA to ban abortion medication by taking away the approval of mifepristone and misoprostol, the two pills administered when a woman has an abortion. It also proposes for the DOJ to make the mailing of medication abortion pills and supplies a crime.
Concerning emergency abortions, Project 2025 hopes to dismantle the abortion protections that are provided under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. This means that hospitals would have to deny emergency and life-saving abortion care to pregnant women who need it.
Project 2025 would also require a registry of all abortion data, which would include what state the resident seeking an abortion lives in and why they sought abortion care in the first place.Â
- Immigration
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Project 2025 would drastically reshape the current U.S. immigration system. In short, many of the policies within the project aim to initiate mass deportation throughout the country. Under the proposal, states and localities that aid in funding legal services for immigrants would see their funding cut dramatically. This means that the state would not grant those who could not afford an attorney in their trials.
Vetting requirements for attorneys and organizations would also become stricter, making it more challenging to represent immigrants. The red tape that many legal professionals would have to cut to represent immigrants would grow into a wall, blocking many immigrants from hiring and retaining their attorneys.
Possibly one of the most extreme policies the project wants to implement is the expedited removal policy, which would allow the government to deport people without allowing them to have a court hearing. This policy also permits immigrants to be arrested, removed, and detained without a warrant first being approved.Â
Project 2025 is a series of policies that I cannot force you to believe to be right or wrong. As a reader and human being, everyone is entitled to form and express their own opinions. How you view these policies is up to your discretion. I merely aim to shed light on a few main topics that many young voters in America care about deeply and passionately. Nobody knows if Trump plans to proceed with Project 2025, but we will find out soon.