Boost for Project 2025 Radical shift to the right and presidential power in the USA
Donald Trump is using the budget freeze in the USA to push forward his agenda. Project 2025, a roadmap for a radical shift to the right and a concentration of power in the presidency, is also back in the spotlight.
04.10.2025, 20:26
05.10.2025, 09:01
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- US President Trump is moving ever closer to the plans of Project 2025.
- Project 2025 envisages, among other things, the dismantling of parts of the US federal authorities and the dismissal of thousands of employees in favor of Trump loyalists.
- The budget freeze gives Trump and his budget chief Vought further decision-making power.
During the election campaign, Donald Trump distanced himself from Project 2025, even claiming that he knew nothing about the conservatives' roadmap for his second term as president. Now, in the midst of the US budget freeze, the US President is openly approaching the plans. And Russ Vought, one of the masterminds behind Project 2025, is in a key decision-making role.
On his website Truth Social, Trump announced a meeting with his budget chief Vought, "made famous by Project 2025", he wrote. The meeting would be about decisions on which "of the many Democratic agencies, most of which are political scams", Vought would recommend cuts. And whether these should be temporary or permanent.
Project 2025 envisages, among other things, the dismantling of parts of the US federal agencies and the dismissal of thousands of employees in favor of Trump loyalists. The catalog, which is seen as a blueprint for a sharp shift to the right in the government's course, was a warning sign for the Democrats during the election campaign as to what Trump could implement.
His campaign team, on the other hand, vigorously distanced itself from the more than 900-page catalog. "I don't know anything about Project 2025", Trump emphasized in July 2024, for example. "I have no idea who is behind it." He disagreed with some points, some were absolutely ridiculous, he explained. "Whatever they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them."
While many of the measures listed were largely in line with Trump's proposed agenda, such as curbing immigration or dismantling government agencies, other points were included that the then presidential candidate had never put on the agenda. These included issues that Trump's team had tried to keep out of the election campaign, such as the withdrawal of approval for abortion drugs.
The campaign team had made it very clear "that Project 2025 has nothing to do with the campaign, does not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way," it said in a campaign memo. "Reports of the end of Project 2025 would be greatly appreciated and should serve as a warning to any person or group attempting to misrepresent their influence on President Trump and his campaign - it will not end well for you."
Plans from Project 2025
However, co-authors of the catalog submitted by the Heritage Foundation were then given key positions in Trump's second administration. These include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Border Patrol Commissioner Tom Homan and Vought as budget chief.
It is good to see how much of the catalog is now being implemented, explained the project manager at the time, Paul Dans. "We are very proud of the work that has been done for one specific purpose: that a doer like President Trump gets started on day one."
Since taking office in January, Trump has pursued plans that were also implemented in Project 2025. These include the expansion of presidential power and mass redundancies at the authorities. The budget shutdown now appears to be accelerating the advancement of the agenda.
Vought's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has already instructed agencies to prepare for further mass layoffs. The budget freeze has also been used to slow down Democratic-driven projects, such as green energy and transportation.
All of this coincides with efforts to concentrate power in the presidency, as Project 2025 did. In his chapter of the document, Vought made it very clear that he was in favor of more direct exercise of power by both the president and the OMB director. The OMB should become "powerful enough" to "overrule the bureaucracy of the executive agencies."
Vought has a plan, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah commented on Fox News Channel a few days ago. "And this plan will give Trump even more power. It's going to be the Democrats' worst nightmare."
The budget freeze gives Trump and his budget chief more decision-making power, affirmed House Speaker Mike Johnson. The decision means that the legislature has been practically eliminated. The Democrats had thus "handed the president the keys to the kingdom".
The constitution does not give the White House such power, countered Shalanda Young, OMB Director under Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. It was obvious that the Trump administration had been following in the footsteps of Project 2025 all along, she explained. The Democrats' accusations during the election campaign were therefore correct. "I think the Democrats were right," she said, "but that doesn't help you feel better." For her, anger and annoyance remain. After all, it had been said time and again "that this document would not be the centerpiece of the government".
