A version of the 2025 draft is being held during the Democratic National Convention in August. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption
Toggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP
This story originally appeared as part of NPR’s live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from NPR head to our Live Updates page.
One phrase you’ve probably heard a lot this election cycle is “Project 2025.”
He points to a controversial plan drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation to reform the American government. The 900-page document lays out a roadmap for reorganizing the federal government to advance a conservative agenda.
Democrats have repeatedly sought to tie Trump to the more controversial aspects of the plan, while Trump has sought to distance himself from it.
While Trump has sought to deny a connection between the two, there is a lot of overlap between Project 2025 and his agenda. It proposes mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants. So does Trump.
Trump has called for cuts to federal agencies such as the Department of Education. Project 2025 calls for its removal.
“He has expressed an interest in adopting certain parts of it, and in other parts, he believes that is too extreme for the nature of his potential future management, and we at the Heritage Foundation find that to be sufficient,” said Sarah Parshall Perry, chief legal officer. A colleague at the Heritage Foundation told NPR.
But there are also differences. On abortion, for example, Project 2025 goes further than the restrictions Trump said he would go.
“If President Donald Trump is a successful candidate here and wins the general election, there are some parts that he will be eager to embrace based on the statements he has already made in the overall context,” Perry said. “And there may be other parts he doesn’t want to have anything to do with.”
