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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. 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 Project 2025’s ties to Trump’s cabinet nominations, the Heritage Foundation’s support for the radical Convention of States movement, and how Los Angeles is bracing itself for the onslaught of Project 2025 policies aimed at education, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ youth.
Trump’s Cabinet: The Project 2025 Connection Raises Alarms
Despite Donald Trump’s campaign trail attempts to distance himself from the controversial Project 2025 blueprint, and claims by his staff that they would ban individuals with links to the project from his administration, his recent administration picks reveal deep connections to the hardline conservative manifesto. His transition team’s earlier claims that Project 2025 was “radioactive” now appear to have been mere election season rhetoric.
Here’s who’s in and how they connect to the controversial project:
Russell Vought, the chief architect of Project 2025 and a leading advocate for Christian Nationalism in government, has been nominated by Trump to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget — a role Vought envisions as “the President’s air-traffic control system” with unprecedented power to override federal agencies.
Stephen Miller, tapped as deputy chief of staff for policy, maintains close ties through his America First Legal Foundation, which initially served on Project 2025’s advisory board. Miller, a white nationalist known for devising Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies, even appeared in the project’s promotional materials.
Brendan Carr, nominated to chair the FCC, could have a “chilling effect” on television news networks. Carr authored the project’s chapter on communications policy, advocating for aggressive control over tech platforms and limiting their content moderation and immunity protections — paving the way for government censorship of online speech.
Tom Homan, the designated “border czar,” contributed directly to Project 2025 while serving as a Heritage Foundation fellow, where he published inflammatory rhetoric about immigration and attacked bipartisan reform efforts.
John Ratcliffe, picked to lead the CIA, played a central role in developing Project 2025’s intelligence reform recommendations while at Heritage. A contributor to Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, Ratcliffe’s quotes reveal an aggressive stance toward China and push for centralized control over intelligence agencies.
Karoline Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary, appeared in Project 2025 training videos, despite publicly claiming the project had no connection to Trump while serving as his campaign’s national press secretary.
Mike Huckabee, selected as ambassador to Israel, actively worked to rehabilitate Project 2025’s image by interviewing its architect, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, as negative press mounted.
J.D. Vance, Trump’s vice president, maintains a close relationship with Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts, even writing the foreword to Roberts’ post-election book advocating for radical conservative reform.
These appointees represent different aspects of Project 2025’s comprehensive approach: from communications control (Carr) to intelligence consolidation (Ratcliffe) to immigration enforcement (Homan), to national expenditures (Vought.) Their collective presence indicates a coordinated effort to implement the project’s agenda across multiple federal agencies simultaneously.
The Convention of States Movement: From Fringe to Mainstream
The Convention of States (COS) movement, once considered a fringe constitutional effort, has evolved into a well-funded campaign with increasingly extreme goals to alter the Constitution and concerning ties to Christian Nationalism. The effort would theoretically lead to a Constitutional convention, which organizers say is mandated by Article V of the Constitution if two-thirds of state legislatures vote for it. COS argues that if they get those votes, Congress must hold a Constitutional convention and amendments would then be passed if voted for by three-quarters of the states.
With Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ recent endorsement calling it the “last best hope,” the movement has gained unprecedented mainstream conservative legitimacy while maintaining radical objectives, Politico reports. “The conservative movement in America is united around COS and recognizes the need to rein in an out-of-control federal government which will never restrain itself,” the organization wrote when announcing Roberts’ endorsement.
The movement’s true aims, revealed through their 2023 Colonial Williamsburg simulation, includes proposed Constitutional amendments that would:
- Make federal borrowing nearly impossible, effectively ending Social Security and Medicare.
- Eliminate most federal regulatory bodies including the EPA and FDA.
- Allow states to nullify federal laws with a simple majority.
- Dramatically restrict the Commerce Clause to prevent federal oversight.
- Impose Congressional term limits.
- Abolish the federal income tax.
The elevation of Mike Johnson to House Speaker has energized the movement. While Johnson hasn’t explicitly endorsed COS as Speaker, he was a vocal supporter as a state legislator, calling it “the measure of last resort” and working behind the scenes to advance the cause in Louisiana. The Heritage Foundation reversed its longtime opposition to COS after Johnson became Speaker.
The movement has gained significant momentum. So far, 19 states have passed COS petitions; seven additional states have passed it through one legislative chamber, and 18 states have active legislation pending.
The movement’s structure would give each state equal voting power, with delegates chosen by state legislatures rather than by popular vote. Their proposals would dramatically restrict federal authority over regulation, taxation, and social programs while empowering states to override federal laws.
The Heritage Foundation’s endorsement under Roberts marks a shift in establishment conservative thinking. As John Malcolm of Heritage explained regarding their reversal: “The situation on the ground at the moment is favorable to conservatives.” The movement has received major endorsements from prominent conservatives including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and the Koch-affiliated American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Project 2025 supporter.
The Convention of States Project has received significant funding from conservative donors, with groups linked to the Koch brothers and other major conservative donors contributing over $12 million between 2010 and 2018. The Mercer family has donated at least $500,000 to the effort.
This mainstreaming of constitutional revision, backed by evangelical advocacy and well-funded conservative organizations, represents a coordinated effort to fundamentally reshape American governance through an untested and potentially unlimited constitutional convention process.
Los Angeles Stands Against Project 2025 Despite Trump’s Mixed Signals
In a bold move that speaks volumes about mounting concerns over Project 2025’s influence, Los Angeles has positioned itself as a sanctuary city for LGBTQ+ youth and immigrants, The Advocate reports. The city’s decisive action, including a unanimous city council vote, comes despite Trump’s public attempts to distance himself from the controversial initiative on the campaign trail.
The disconnect between Trump’s campaign rhetoric and his actions has become increasingly apparent through his nomination choices. While downplaying connections to Project 2025, Trump has consistently elevated individuals with direct ties to both the Heritage Foundation and the project’s framework.
Project 2025’s 922-page policy blueprint, developed by the Heritage Foundation, advocates for dramatic reversals of civil rights protections and proposes dismantling key federal departments, including the Department of Education. These proposals have alarmed civil rights advocates and educational institutions alike, prompting the Los Angeles Unified School District to take unprecedented preemptive action.
“We know what’s coming,” School Board President Jackie Goldberg stated plainly, highlighting the disconnect between public disavowals and behind-the-scenes preparations. “They’ve said what’s coming, and we want to tell our students and their families and all of our personnel that you are welcome here.”
The school district’s emergency resolutions directly challenge Project 2025’s core tenets, particularly its proposed dismantling of civil rights protections. These actions reflect a growing awareness that despite public distancing from Trump during the presidential campaign, the project’s influence continues to shape policy planning at the highest levels.
Los Angeles’ comprehensive response includes specific protections against using city resources to aid in prosecuting families seeking gender-affirming care, effectively creating a firewall against potential federal overreach. This builds upon California’s existing sanctuary state status, established by Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of SB 107 in 2022.
What makes Los Angeles’ response particularly notable is its timing — acting against a framework that technically remains unofficial, yet whose influence is evident in policy proposals and appointment choices. The city’s preventive measures suggest that local governments are taking Project 2025’s potential implementation seriously, regardless of public disavowals.
The initiative’s more extreme elements, including proposals to reshape federal agencies and roll back decades of civil rights progress, have prompted this unusual level of preemptive resistance from major urban centers. Los Angeles joins other cities like Kansas City, Sacramento, and San Francisco in establishing protective measures against potential federal policy shifts.
This growing network of sanctuary cities represents a coordinated response to what many view as Project 2025’s most concerning aspects — its comprehensive blueprint for reversing civil rights protections and restructuring federal oversight of education and immigration. The contrast between campaign trail rhetoric and actual policy planning has created an environment where cities feel compelled to act defensively, even before specific policies are implemented.
In Their Own Words:
“This is the fight that is necessary. The fight in front of us. The largest deportation force in American history. Mass deportations will be enacted, and every measure and every form of government will work collaboratively to get it across the finish line. And it’s going to be a massive information warfare project.”
—Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk on his November 20, 2024 podcast.
“If you are getting in the way of the execution of the federal laws, the American people want these foreigners removed from our homeland. And that’s what they’re gonna get.”
— Ibid.
“The deportations will occur. And if you’re a foreigner, you might just wanna get out of the country, self-deport, save yourself the humiliation. Because Tom Homan, Steve Miller, ICE, ATF, the federal marshals, the National Guard, they are coming for you. And you are not safe in this country.”
— Ibid.
