Project 2025 Is NOT Trump's; He Has His Own Agenda47 and the RNC Platform. (Dispelling some of the outright lies and obfuscations about Project 2025.)
Was there this much hand-wringing when the Center for American Progress offered progressive recommendations to Obama?
There is much pearl-clutching and hand-wringing from the left side of the aisle regarding Trump’s supposed upcoming implementation of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project, if he resumes the presidency. Now of course, the media and Trump’s enemies declare that it is Trump’s Project 2025, but both Trump and the Heritage Foundation have declared that it is not his—even though some of the 400 contributors to Project 2025 have been a part of Trump’s previous administration, and there is some overlap with Trump’s Agenda47 campaign and the RNC platform.
On its face, there is nothing wrong with a conservative outfit wanting to see a Republican president validate their suggestions; just like there is nothing wrong with a liberal outfit, e.g. the Center for American Progress working with Obama, wanting the same from a Democrat president. To wit:
From Brave’s AI, Leo: “The Center for American Progress (CAP) was founded in 2003 [by John Podesta] as a progressive think tank to provide long-term leadership and support to the progressive movement. During President Barack Obama’s administration, CAP played a significant role in shaping policy and providing intellectual resources to the White House.” [My bold.]
From CAP’s website: “…Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.”
CAP even developed a manual, Change For America fashioned after the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership:
There is nothing new under the sun.
The book, Mandate for Leadership, from which Project 2025 is derived is, at its core, a comprehensive list of conservative recommendations that the Heritage Foundation and its partners offer to Republican presidential candidates. From Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts: “Mandate for Leadership was published in January 1981—the same month Ronald Reagan was sworn into his presidency. By the end of that year, more than 60 percent of its recommendations had become policy—and Reagan was on his way to ending stagflation, reviving American confidence and prosperity, and winning the Cold War.” [My bold.] And wonder of wonders: the sky did not fall. If anything, those suggestions may have arguably helped to propel Reagan to a landslide victory for his second term—winning 49/50 states.
With the insertion of conservative principles in the public square comes backlash and incorrect information purposefully spewed to confuse the citizenry. Mainstream media’s misinformation regarding Project 2025 and Trump’s role in it (actually lack thereof) is yet another example of their desperation to do everything within their power to prevent him from winning the presidential election.
Below is a list of INACCURATE Project 2025 talking points that have ricocheted across the media and social media landscape, frightening those people who believe the veracity of what the corporate media outlets are discharging. The Heritage Foundation refutes and/or clarifies each one in detail below.
Click on the link for additional debunking: The Truth About Project 2025
If you would like to take a look at the entire 922-page PDF of Mandate for Leadership of which Project 2025 is derived, here is the link:
All 922 pages of the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise
Below is a 10-minute Morning Wire podcast with guest Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation.
An excerpt from the podcast: “The point is not to get unanimity of opinion. The point is to present a menu of options. And if the president chooses one of those options, for him and for his advisors to know, there's actually not just a plan, but there is support from the conservative movement…”
From Morning Wire: Combatting Controversy: Project 2025 Explained | RNC Extra, Jul 18, 2024
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If you would like to know EXACTLY what Trump has stated and committed to, look no further than the RNC Platform and his Agenda47.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITEE PLATFORM
DONALD J. TRUMP’S AGENDA47
All of the below statements are from Donald Trump’s website (donaldjtrump.com) and are listed under the Agenda47 tab figured prominently on the front page. Each statement has an accompanying video.
Agenda47 (website)
[Agenda47] President Donald J Trump Declares War on Cartels
Agenda47: Ending Veteran Homelessness in America
Agenda47: No Welfare for Illegal Aliens
Agenda47: The American Academy
[Agenda47] President Trump's Message to America's Auto Workers
Agenda47: President Trump's Pledge to Homeschool Families
Agenda47: President Trump's 10 Principles for Great Schools Leading to Great Jobs
Agenda47: America Must Have the #1 Lowest Cost Energy and Electricity on Earth
Agenda47: Returning Production of Essential Medicines Back to America and Ending Biden’s Pharmaceutical Shortages
Agenda47: President Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Human Traffickers
Agenda47: Rescuing America's Auto Industry from Joe Biden's Disastrous Job Killing Policies
Agenda47: Rebuilding America's Depleted Military
Agenda47: Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions
Agenda47: Protecting Americans by Taking on Big Pharma and Ending Global Freeloading
Agenda47: Cementing Fair and Reciprocal Trade with the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act
Agenda47: Using Impoundment to Cut Waste, Stop Inflation, and Crush the Deep State
Agenda47: Addressing Rise of Chronic Childhood Illnesses
Agenda47: Ending the Scourge of Drug Addiction in America
Agenda47: Day One Executive Order Ending Citizenship for Children of Illegals and Outlawing Birth Tourism
Agenda47: Protecting Students From the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions
Agenda47: Ending the Nightmare of the Homeless Drug Addicts and Dangerously Deranged
Agenda47: Liberating America from Biden's Regulatory Onslaught
Agenda47: Firing the Radical Marxist Prosecutors Destroying America
Agenda47: President Trump's Plan to Dismantle the Deep State and Return Power to the American People
Agenda47: Ending Biden's War on the Suburbs That Pushes the American Dream Further From Reach
Agenda47: Joe Biden Has Been a Disaster for the Economy
Agenda47: Preventing World War III
Agenda47: A New Quantum Leap to Revolutionize the American Standard of Living
Agenda47: Reversing Biden's EO [Executive Order] Embedding Marxism in the Federal Government
[Agenda47] Reclaiming America's Independence by Slashing Biden's Disastrous Trade Deficits
Agenda47: President Trump's New Trade Plan to Protect American Workers
Agenda47: President Trump Continues to Lead on Protecting Americans from Radical Leftist ESG Investments
Agenda47: President Trump Announces Plans to Stop the America Last Warmongers and Globalists
Agenda47: President Trump Announces Plan to End Crime and Restore Law and Order
Agenda47: President Trump on Making America Energy Independent Again
[Agenda47] Stopping Chinese Espionage
[Agenda47] President Trump Will Build a New Missile Defense Shield
[Agenda47] President Trump Calls for Immediate De-escalation and Peace
[Agenda47] President Trump's Plan to Protect Children from Left-wing Gender Insanity
[Agenda47] President Trump's Plan to Save American Education and Give Power Back to Parents
[Agenda47] We Must Protect Medicare and Social Security
[Agenda47] President Trump Will Stop China From Owning America
[Agenda47] President Donald J Trump Calls for Probe into Intelligence Community’s Role in Online Censorship
[Agenda47] Total Ban on Taxpayer Dollars Used to Free Illegal Aliens and Criminal Penalties for Administrative Non-compliance
[Agenda47] President Donald J Trump Free Speech Policy Initiative
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I appreciate The Conservative Compass’s Substack about the misinformation regarding Project 2025; it includes additional points that I have not covered. Well worth the read.
Here are a several articles and fact-checks, some from the above Substack, if you want to go deeper:
Project 2025: Are Biden campaign warnings about plan for Trump election win correct?—Politifact
Project 2025: Fact-checking Democrats’ misleading and overly dramatic claims.—Washington Examiner
Fact check: Harris falsely claims Project 2025 blueprint calls for cutting Social Security—CNN
‘Tis an election season, y’all. Buckle up.