A couple of weeks ago, Chris LaCivita, a leading member of Donald Trump’s political operation, publicly conceded that he considered Project 2025 a “pain in the ass” for the former president’s campaign. His candid assessment was understandable.
As regular readers know, Democrats have spent much of the year letting the public know about the right-wing policy agenda crafted by the Heritage Foundation — with the assistance of several prominent Trump associates. Given the governing blueprint’s radical provisions on practically every area of public policy, Republicans have started to see Project 2025 as a political albatross.
It was against this backdrop that NBC News reported yesterday:
The Heritage Foundation official leading Project 2025 is stepping down and the group is winding down its policy work following sustained criticism by former President Donald Trump and his campaign. Trump’s campaign said in a statement Tuesday that the announcement should put on notice others trying to link themselves to Trump and that it “welcomed” reports of the group’s “demise.”
In theory, the developments might lead some to believe the Project 2025 fiasco has effectively run its course. The initiative appears to be ending its policy work, and former Trump administration personnel official Paul Dans who served as the director of Project 2025 is stepping down.
In practice, it’s not nearly that simple.
As Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign manager, explained in a statement, “Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot. This is his agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country. Hiding the 920-page blueprint from the American people doesn’t make it less real — in fact, it should make voters more concerned about what else Trump and his allies are hiding.”
The core details of the Project 2025 controversy haven’t changed at all. The right-wing policy agenda was still co-authored by several dozen members of Team Trump. Trump’s running mate, Republican Sen. JD Vance, still wrote a highly provocative foreword to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ forthcoming book. Trump still delivered a 2022 speech at a Heritage Foundation event and said, “This is a great group and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do … when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.”
It’s also still true that the GOP candidate more recently said he agrees with parts of the radical governing plan. Dans still told a right-wing podcast last year that his group has a “great” relationship with the former president and that “Trump’s very bought-in with this.”
What’s more, as The New York Times’ Jonathan Swan explained online, it’s also still true that Team Trump hasn’t prepared for a post-election transition, and if the Republican ticket prevails, the president-elect will still rely heavily on Project 2025.
As a practical matter, the latest developments about winding down the initiative matter very little. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, Project 2025 is wrapping up because it’s already done: The blueprint has been written, its Trump-aligned authors remain positioned to implement the plan if given the opportunity, and the threats posed by Project 2025’s objectives remain real.
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