Project 2025 Chief Steps Down

Reports of project's demise 'would be greatly welcomed,' Trump campaign says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2024 6:37 PM CDT
Project 2025 Chief Steps Down
Paul Dans, director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, speaks at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville earlier this year.   (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

The director of the Heritage Foundation's controversial Project 2025 has stepped down following strong criticism from Donald Trump's campaign. Paul Dans, one of many former Trump administration officials involved in the project, played a leading role in drafting the 920-page blueprint for a potential second Trump term. Kevin Robert, president of the conservative think tank, said they are "sticking to the timeline" of concluding policy drafting after the party conventions, the Hill reports. "We are extremely grateful for his and everyone's work on Project 2025 and dedication to saving America," he said of Dans.

"Our collective efforts to build a personnel apparatus for policymakers of all levels—federal, state, and local—will continue," Roberts said. The project, which proposes, among other things, boosting the power of the executive branch and replacing civil servants with conservative political appointees, has been repeatedly disavowed by Trump, reports the AP. At a rally earlier this month, he said it came from the "severe right" and some of its proposals are "seriously extreme."

  • In a statement, Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said the campaign "has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way."
  • They added: "Reports of Project 2025's demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign—it will not end well for you."
  • The AP reports that Trump campaign reps did not respond to requests for comment on whether the Trump team pushed for Dans to step down.

  • Vice President Kamala Harris has made attacking Project 2025 a key part of her campaign and she is expected to continue doing so despite Dans' exit, CNN reports. "Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot," campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said. "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 Guardian goes into more detail on the project, noting that beyond the policy document, it has created a database of potential personnel for a second Trump administration and proposals to train them in a "Presidential Administration Academy." Some of the policy document's more controversial proposals include banning pornography and reversing federal approval of the abortion pill.
(More Project 2025 stories.)

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