Miami (Associated Press) Donald Trump He distanced himself from Project 2025 on Friday. Major reform proposals The federal plan, drafted by longtime allies and former administration officials, was released days after the head of the think tank behind the plan suggested a second American Revolutionary War was likely.
“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I don’t agree with some of the things they say and some of the things they say are totally ridiculous and disgusting. I wish them the best of luck in whatever they do, but I have no affiliation whatsoever with them.”
922-page plan outline Dramatic expansion He plans to curtail presidential powers and fire up to 50,000 government employees and replace them with Trump supporters. President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has sought to bring more attention to the agenda as he tries to hold onto Democratic support, especially after his disastrous debate defeats.
Trump He outlined his own plan. If elected to a second term, Trump plans to reshape his administration, including launching the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and imposing tariffs on all imports. His campaign has previously warned outside allies not to act as mouthpieces for former president Trump and suggested efforts to wait out the transition would be futile.
Kevin Roberts, President, The Heritage Foundation President Trump said Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast that Republicans are “trying to take back this country.” Former Virginia Rep. Dave Brat hosted the show in place of Bannon, who is serving a four-month prison sentence.
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“We are in the process of a second American revolution, but it will be a bloodless revolution if the left allows it,” Roberts said.
The comments were widely shared online and drew a strong rebuke from the Biden campaign, which issued a statement saying Trump and his allies were “dreaming of a violent revolution that would destroy the very concept of America”.
Project 2025 includes former government officials among its associates: The project’s director is Paul Danz, who served as chief of staff for the Office of Personnel Management under the Trump administration, and Carolyn Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, appeared in one of the Project 2025 videos.
John McEntee, a senior adviser and former director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel in the Trump administration, told the conservative news site The Daily Wire earlier this year that the Project 2025 team would integrate much of its work into the campaign after the summer, when Trump will announce his transition team.
Trump’s comments about Project 2025 came ahead of Republicans meeting next week to begin drafting their party platform.
Project 2025 is preparing its own 180-day policy plan for the next administration, which will share the Republican president’s priorities behind closed doors rather than in public. Russ Vought, a key Trump ally who has contributed to Project 2025 and is drafting this final pillar, also sits on the Republican National Committee’s platform committee.
A spokesman for the initiative said Project 2025 is not tied to any particular candidate or campaign.
“We are a coalition of over 110 conservative organizations making policy and personnel recommendations to the next conservative president,” the statement said. “But ultimately it will be the president-elect, who we believe to be President Trump, who decides which recommendations to implement.”
The Democratic National Committee said the project and the Trump campaign are part of the same “MAGA operation.” A Biden campaign spokesman said Project 2025 staffers are also leading the Republican policy platform.
“Project 2025 is an extreme policy and personnel strategy for President Trump’s second term that should terrify the American people,” Amar Moosa said.
On Thursday, as the country celebrated Independence Day and Biden prepared for television interviews after his halting debate performance, the president’s campaign posted to X a scene from the dystopian TV drama “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In it, women dressed in the show’s red dresses and white hats stand in formation by a reflecting pool with a cross across from where the Washington Monument would be. The story revolves around women who are stripped of their identities under a totalitarian regime and forced to bear children for other couples.
“4th of July according to President Trump’s Project 2025,” the post read.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York and Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
