Explore Our Latest Project 2025 Updates
Project 2025 Is Here.
With Trump’s return to the presidency, Project 2025, a 920-page plan spearheaded by the powerful and extreme far-right Heritage Foundation, is becoming a reality. More than 100 far-right organizations support this blueprint for autocracy, which now appears to be an important source for Trump’s proposed policies, despite his repeated disavowal of Project 2025 during his campaign. Multiple nominees for the new administration have direct ties to the effort.
Project 2025’s stated goal is to create an “ideal” America that would see women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, people of color, and others deprived of their hard-won constitutional rights and the erosion of environmental and education protections. It also advocates for a frightening centralization of power in the executive branch, something Trump is keen to achieve. Read GPAHE’s full analysis of Project 2025 and the groups behind it.
GPAHE monitors how Project 2025 is becoming a reality and reports on the ties between the project and the administration, and its impact on the American people and democracy. We track Project 2025 activities at the federal, state, and local level, and their plans for an authoritarian and Christian Nationalist America.
This week we look at a new report from the Heritage Foundation attempting to redefine feminism along authoritarian lines, Costco’s refusal to eliminate DEI programs after coming under attack from a Project 2025 supporter, and how Border Czar and Project 2025 co-author Tom Homan may be positioning himself to not only enact draconian deportation policies, but also enrich his friends and colleagues.
Wolves in Feminist Clothing: Heritage’s ‘New Feminism’ Masks Old Controls
The Heritage Foundation, architects of Project 2025’s blueprint for authoritarian governance, has launched another assault on modern women’s rights under the guise of “pro-woman feminism.” Their agenda is laid bare in a new report, authored by Erika Bachiochi, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which Heritage published on December 31, 2024. “Feminism, understood as the peculiar modern ideology of the 20th century, has reached its self-destroying zenith in the erasure of woman in gender ideology and in the putative ‘right’ to intentionally end the life of one’s developing unborn child,” the report claims.
The language in the essay entitled “Rights, Duties, and Relations: Toward a Pro-Woman Feminism for the 21st Century,” directly plays into Heritage’s attempt to curtail the fundamental rights women have gained over the past century. The report goes on to declare that “this form of feminism is not worthy of the name” and calls for “a new feminism” that “understands that rights are intrinsically linked with responsibilities.” Behind this seemingly reasonable language about “responsibilities” lies a darker agenda — using the concept of obligation to justify restricting women’s fundamental autonomy.
The attack on modern women’s rights becomes even more explicit as the document unfolds. It laments that “Today, the very phrase ‘women’s rights’ is all too often taken as inclusive of or even synonymous with the ‘right’ to intentionally end the life of one’s dependent unborn child… [and] the ‘freedom’ to exit or enter the legal category of ‘woman’ as one wills.”
The document’s religious undertones reveal its authoritarian bent. It asserts that “No longer viewed as having been made in the image and likeness of God, neither women nor men are cherished as uniquely rational creatures, accountable to the God who loved them first, and thereby responsible to others.” This selective deployment of religious language serves to justify restrictions on women’s autonomy while conveniently ignoring broader religious teachings about social justice.
Perhaps most cynically, the report attempts to position itself as protecting women from exploitation while advocating for policies that would restrict their fundamental rights. Heritage’s report claims that under modern feminism, “Now, the healthy bodies of girls (and boys) are rendered infertile through transgender treatments and surgeries, and are bought, sold, and otherwise violated through rampant pornography, surrogacy, sex trafficking, prostitution, and, in some places in the world, forced marriage. Ideological ‘feminism’ often cheers much of this dehumanization.”
The document’s vision aligns perfectly with Project 2025’s broader authoritarian agenda. While claiming to protect women’s interests, the Mandate for Leadership advocates restricting fundamental rights that women have fought decades to secure, such as repercussions for sexual discrimination in the workplace, sexual assault and harassment protections introduced by President Biden in his shoring up of Title IX, and the right to reproductive freedoms, which Project 2025 would limit under a Department of Health reenvisioned as a “Department of Life” while defunding Planned Parenthood.
By co-opting the language of protection and dignity while promoting policies that would limit women’s choices, Heritage has created a sophisticated trojan horse for regressive policies.
Not in Our Warehouse: Costco Defies Project 2025’s DEI Rollback
As Project 2025 advances its mission to eliminate “woke” ideologies and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs from American life, Costco has emerged as a rare holdout against a coordinated conservative campaign that’s already claiming major corporate scalps. The warehouse retailer’s defiance of Project 2025-aligned pressure comes at a crucial moment, as America’s largest private employer, Walmart, dismantles its diversity programs in what conservative activists view as a watershed victory.
The showdown between Costco and the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a Project 2025 supporter and partner in the “Stop Corporate Tyranny” coalition, exemplifies the broader battle over corporate diversity initiatives. NCPPR claimed DEI policies posed a financial and legal risk to Costco’s shareholders. While most companies retreat from DEI commitments under mounting pressure, Costco’s board explicitly calls out what it describes as anti-DEI activists’ hidden agenda. “The proponent professes concern about legal and financial risks to the Company and its shareholders associated with the diversity initiatives,” the board wrote. “The proponent’s broader agenda is not reducing risk for the Company but abolition of diversity initiatives.”
Project 2025’s campaign against corporate diversity programs has gained significant momentum through a sophisticated network of conservative organizations and activists. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an anti-LGBTQ+ legal powerhouse wielding a $102 million war chest and an extensive network of attorneys, has provided crucial legal architecture for corporate DEI rollbacks. The organization’s influence extends from the Supreme Court, where former ADF attorney Amy Coney Barrett now serves as Justice, to Congress, where another ADF alumnus, Mike Johnson, holds the Speaker’s gavel.
ADF’s legal victories, particularly the landmark 2023 Supreme Court decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis have strengthened protections for businesses making decisions based on religious or ideological grounds. These precedents create legal cover for companies seeking to modify or abandon diversity programs, effectively serving as Project 2025’s judicial foundation for enforcing its agenda.
Targeted social media campaigns against DEI have also helped force policy reversals at companies including McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and Tractor Supply Company, providing a template for conservative activists targeting other corporations.
Against this backdrop, Costco’s resistance stands out for its directness. When the National Center for Public Policy Research submitted a shareholder proposal demanding an evaluation of “risks” associated with maintaining DEI efforts, Costco’s board not only rejected it but exposed what it characterized as the organization’s true motives.
“The proponent professes concern about legal and financial risks,” Costco’s board stated in its December proxy statement, “but the proponent’s broader agenda is not reducing risk for the Company but abolition of diversity initiatives.” The board unanimously recommended shareholders vote against the proposal, marking one of the strongest corporate responses to Project 2025-aligned pressure.
The contrast with Walmart’s retreat is stark. On November 25, 2024, Walmart announced significant rollbacks to its diversity programs, including scaling back DEI initiatives and reducing diversity-focused hiring programs. The decision effectively abandoned the company’s previous $100-million commitment to its Center for Racial Equity, established in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police.
Costco’s resistance suggests limits to the anti-DEI campaign’s effectiveness. The retailer maintains that its diversity initiatives directly contribute to business success, a position supported by Conference Board data indicating companies with diverse management teams demonstrate 19% higher innovation-driven revenues and are 35% more likely to exceed industry median financial returns.
Costco’s strong business performance appears to validate its stance. The company recently set a U.S. record with $2.9 million in first-day sales at its new Pleasanton, California, location and is proceeding with ambitious expansion plans for 29 new stores in fiscal year 2025.
The company’s robust defense of diversity programs demonstrates that resistance to the anti-DEI movement remains viable for companies willing to weather political pressure, even as Project 2025 claims victories in its broader campaign to reshape American institutions.
Border Profits and Policy: Trump’s Border Czar Wrote the Deportation Plan He’ll Execute
While Tom Homan says there’s “no conflict of interest” in his consulting firm’s federal contracting work, as Rolling Stone reports, newly uncovered documents reveal how deeply the incoming border czar’s business interests are entwined with the policies he’ll oversee. His firm, Homeland Strategic Consulting LLC, hasn’t just secured “tens of millions of dollars of federal contracts” for clients — it actively promoted Trump’s endorsement while Homan helped craft Project 2025’s blueprint for the mass deportations he will soon implement.
According to documents reviewed by Accountable.US, Homan’s consulting firm markets itself using video endorsements from Trump, positioning Homan as a bridge between private contractors and lucrative government deals. The firm’s website prominently features photos of Homan with Trump while touting its ability to help clients “win government contracts.”
Beyond his consulting work, Homan serves as a strategic advisor for the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), an industry group of homeland security contractors. He sits on the editorial board of GTSC’s publication, Homeland Security Today — which conveniently gave him their “Most Valuable Player Award” in 2018 as he transitioned from government service to the private sector.
However, it’s Homan’s role as a Heritage Foundation visiting fellow and contributor to Project 2025 that raises the most serious questions about these overlapping interests. As a key author of the project’s Mandate for Leadership, Homan wrote the chapter on immigration and helped design the very deportation infrastructure his private clients may compete to build. The blueprint calls for immigrant roundups and detention camps — precisely the kind of operations, such as private prisons, requiring extensive contractor support.
Homan’s nonprofit work adds another layer of complexity. His tax-exempt organization Border911 held a sold-out fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in April 2024, featuring Trump and a $100,000 “presidential” sponsorship tier. The group has promoted Homan’s appearances at Republican political events, including a state party convention that sold VIP reception access with him — activities that may conflict with its 501(c)(3) status.
While Homan claims he has “recused himself from any involvement, discussion, input, or decision of any future government contracts,” he declined to name his clients. He told Rolling Stone he “will be filing all appropriate documents as required by ethics rules including financial disclosures.”
As Trump’s pick for border czar awaits his return to government service, Homan’s overlapping roles raise serious questions about who stands to profit from the policies he helped design. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint he co-authored could become more than just a policy document — it may be a roadmap for directing government contracts to an industry where Homan has spent years building connections.
