Project 2025, also known as the ‘2025 Presidential Transition Project’, is a document published by the ‘Heritage Foundation’, a Washington D.C. based conservative think-tank. Essentially, Project 2025 is a list of recommendations for Donald J. Trump if he wins the 2024 election, providing a blueprint for his presidency. In the words of the project, authors express recommendations along “four broad fronts that will decide America’s future”, they are listed as being:

• Restore family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children.
• Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people.
• Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats.
• Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely-what our Constitution calls “Blessings of Liberty.”

Overall, these seem like great things. Who doesn’t want to protect children? Who doesn’t want to defend the United States’ sovereignty? Since these are things that most people can agree with, what is all the fuss regarding Project 2025 about?

The controversy regarding Project 2025 stems from the details and policies within the project. Some have referred to Project 2025 as ‘Christian Fascism’ and believe that it targets minorities, green energy, immigrants, women, and other groups. This controversy has also led to Donald Trump trying to distance himself from the project, claiming that he “Knows nothing about it”, despite many of the project’s promoters being associated with Trump and his campaign. So, how does one come to a conclusion that the aforementioned fronts will result in a Fascist America that will somehow become a hell for minorities, women, and immigrants? The answer lies in the project’s details, and who made the project. The project covers many areas, and would be far too long for one article, therefore this will cover the following:

• Who made Project 2025?
• Project 2025’s Plan For Education & Schools
• Project 2025’s Plan for Climate Change & Energy
• Donald Trump’s views on the project

Who made Project 2025?

Project 2025 is the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts. Roberts has stated that he views the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025’s role as “Institutionalizing Trumpism.” Therefore despite Trump claiming he is not aligned with Project 2025, Roberts appears to be intent on laying out the foundation for a future Trump administration. Roberts has also received criticism for his praise of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been described as a ‘Proto-Fascist’ for his close ties to Vladimir Putin and nationalist views.

Another key individual in Project 2025, is Russ Vought. Russ Vought is the policy director of the Republican National Committee. He is an Islamophobe, self-described “Christian Nationalist”, and garnered much negative attention when he wrote in 2016 that Muslims “Do not simply have a deficient theology, they do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his son, and they stand condemned.” A very cheerful fellow indeed. Mr. Vought believes that reasons for things such as Trump’s border wall failing is not due to it being an unfeasible idea, but rather due to “Disloyalty” within the government, and that the government must be purged of opposition to the President.

Finally, we have John McEntee. Initially, he was a personal aide and body man to Trump in his 2016-2020 administration, yet was fired in 2018 due to issues regarding gambling, yet then rehired by Trump shortly after and was promoted to Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. In the final year of Trump’s administration, McEntee began to administer ‘Loyalty Tests’ in attempts to remove individuals within the Executive Branch who opposed Trump’s policies. Recently, he has started a conservative dating app called ‘TheRightStuff.’ He has also recently taken to TikTok to promote himself and his app. This account gained widespread controversy when he shared a video in which he claimed that he gave counterfeit money to homeless people in hopes they would be arrested when they went to use it. Although he stated that it was merely a joke, it does give a sense as to what kind of person he is. In 2020, he falsely claimed that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to overturn election results, and promoted numerous conspiracy theories regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

Education & Schools

Concerning education, most notably Project 2025 seeks to make drastic changes to education and public schools. Some of these changes include…

• Abolishment of the Head Start Program.
• Ban children who are not enrolled in summer school from receiving summer school lunches.
• Remove all references to “reproductive rights”, “reproductive health”, etc.
• Remove all references to “gender equality”, “gender equity”, etc.
• Ban DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) programs in schools.
• Revoke the National Education Association, the largest teacher union’s public charter.
• Require teachers to expose LGBTQ+ children to their parents if the child wishes to be called by a different name or different pronouns.
• End Student Loan Forgiveness.
• Abolish the Department of Education.

So, what if all of this is implemented?

For starters, the subsidized education of 860,000 poor children aged 3-5 will cease nationwide due to the abolishment of the Head Start Program, as the program subsidizes the education of these children.

As for the part regarding children not enrolled in summer school, many poor families use summer school lunch programs to ensure that their children are fed in the summer, even if their child is not enrolled in summer school. However, the Project 2025 authors believe this turns schools into a “Federal catering program.” So, sorry to all the poor families who are struggling to afford to feed their kids, but surely those kids can wait three months to eat.

The authors of Project 2025 claim that promotion of gender equality, gender equity, diversity, equality, inclusion, reproductive rights, reproductive health, etc., are used to “deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.” Therefore, they wish to see these terms banned. What would the affects of such a ban be? Simply put, schools would not be allowed to teach any of the aforementioned items. Being a school that teaches and values diversity, equality, and inclusion, this would render Jesuit Dallas’ curriculum regarding social justice to be illegal. It would also render teaching the history of women’s rights and notable feminist figures, illegal. Given that it also bans the teaching of reproductive health, it would also ban teaching proper sex ed. Furthermore, programs similar to Jesuit Dallas’ Global Inclusion Office would be rendered illegal due to a ban on DEI, along with student-led clubs that promote diversity and inclusion such as Muslim Student Associations and Multicultural Societies. As this would ban terms such as ‘Equality’, it would by extension ban teaching civil rights history, individuals such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the history of slavery, and other major factors in American history.

The authors of Project 2025 wish for the nation’s largest teacher’s union, the National Education Association (NEA), to have its public charter revoked. Their reasoning, is that the NEA lobbies for more funding towards education, therefore increasing government spending. During the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, the NEA advocated for keeping schools closed in order to help prevent the virus’ spread, and now Project 2025 cites this as a reason why the NEA should have its charter revoked. The project also claims that the NEA “promotes radical racial and gender ideologies.” Given the aforementioned examples of Project 2025 calling for the banning of DEI and the term ‘gender equality’ in schools, it can be inferred that what the authors actually mean is that the NEA promotes teaching racial equality and gender equality, and the idea that LGBTQ+ people deserve rights; and that this is somehow a reason the NEA should have their charter revoked. This appears less like wishing for the betterment of students, and more like attempting to ensure the voice of opposition is not heard. By revoking the NEA’s charter, it also puts the rights of teachers at risk, as the union is used to campaign for things such as better wages for teachers.

Climate Change & Energy

Project 2025 denies the effects of Climate Change almost wherever it can. One prominent example is saying outright “The aid industry claims climate change causes poverty, which is false.” According to the UN Refugee Agency, the warming of the planet has caused arable land to diminish along with available water, which in turn causes starvation, dehydration, and a lack of resources and income in third-world countries such as Mali and Iraq. This has also caused ‘Climate Refugees’ to begin fleeing nations suffering from rising temperatures. Some nations are at risk of complete extinction, such as the Maldives which is currently sinking.

Anyways, what are Project 2025’s policies regarding climate change and energy? The project seeks to do nothing to combat the ongoing climate crisis, however, it does state its intentions to…

• Abolish the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA)
• Abolish the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. (EERE)
• Rescind all climate policies from foreign aid programs.
• End subsidies for green energy.
• Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances.
• End all programs designed to advance the Paris Climate Agreement.
• Expand oil drilling in areas such as Alaska.
• Expand use and production of Fossil Fuels.

It goes without saying that such policies would be disastrous for the environment and for billions of lives, however, what exactly does this all entail?

Concerning NOAA, NOAA houses many other government agencies such as the National Weather Service, National Ocean Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Oceanic & Atmospheric Research, and others. Project 2025 states that these will either be dissolved, privatized, or transferred to other agencies. Doing this would to put it lightly, spell absolute disaster for climate research and oceanography. NOAA provides weather reports, water reports, publishes navigational information for shipping, and their data is used by public, private, and academic organizations. All of this research, and future research, will be put at risk if NOAA is eliminated.

All other points listed can be summarized as “Stop or significantly lessen funding for green energy, promote fossil fuels.” Currently, fossil fuels are without a doubt the driving factor in climate change, and are responsible for millions of deaths a year worldwide, with the National Institute of Health stating that 5.13M deaths are attributable to fossil fuels. According to NASA, if current trends continue, more heat waves can be expected, which put global agriculture at risk. By promoting fossil fuels and preventing the funding of green energy, more will die. By increasing oil drilling in Alaska, the fragile Arctic environment is put at risk, along with the habitats of countless organisms. And, by rescinding climate policies from foreign aid programs, it essentially prevents the government from factoring in climate change when providing foreign aid, and prevents them from giving foreign aid to assist nations suffering from climate change.

To summarize, Project 2025’s policies on climate change would essentially contribute to what could potentially render the human race extinct.

Donald Trump’s Views on the Project

Being so controversial, Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from the project. Despite this, signs point to him actually supporting it.

As stated before, individuals involved in Project 2025 such as John McEntee were apart of Trump’s 2016-2020 Administration. McEntee however, is not the only one. A CNN review found that at least 140 individuals involved in Project 2025 worked in Trump’s administration, and in a recording of Russel Vought meeting with relatives of a conservative donor, Vought stated Trump was “Very supportive of what we do” when speaking of Project 2025. By all means, all signs point to Trump knowing full well of Project 2025’s policies and in favor of at least a significant amount of them.

In Conclusion

If Project 2025’s proposals were to be passed, it would spell doom for the United States, and potentially the world. Some have described it as being ‘Fascist’ due to its policies, and even a number of conservatives have turned their backs to Project 2025. Although there is no guarantee that Trump will win this year’s election, and no guarantee Project 2025’s proposals would pass even if he does, the risk is far too great. Project 2025 extends far beyond constitutional conservatism, and is rather something that can put the constitutional freedoms of Americans at risk.