President Donald Trump has shifted his stance on Project 2025 — the conservative policy blueprint he previously dismissed — announcing plans to meet with one of its key architects to consider sweeping cuts to federal agencies.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would be meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame,” to review which “Democrat agencies” should be reduced or eliminated. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump wrote. “Maybe this is their way of wanting to quietly and quickly MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The statement marks a sharp reversal from Trump’s repeated efforts during the 2024 campaign to distance himself from Project 2025, a 900-page conservative policy agenda produced by the Heritage Foundation. At the time, he insisted he had “nothing to do with it” and called the document “abysmal” and “ridiculous.”
Despite those denials, several of the plan’s key authors — including Vought, senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr — now hold senior roles in Trump’s second administration. Since returning to the White House in January, the administration has already implemented many of the project’s recommendations, including large-scale cuts to the federal workforce and expanded executive authority.
A blueprint for sweeping conservative reforms
Project 2025 lays out a roadmap for overhauling the federal government along hardline conservative lines, calling for deep reductions in agency power, the dismantling of diversity and inclusion programs, tighter immigration enforcement, and new restrictions on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. The Heritage Foundation’s initiative was designed to prepare a Republican president to “govern from day one.”
The agenda proved deeply unpopular during the 2024 election campaign, with Democrats seizing on it to portray Trump as aligned with far-right interests. Trump at the time dismissed the connection as “pure disinformation,” and his top advisers — Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita — publicly warned Project 2025 organizers not to associate with the campaign.
Policy moves reflect Project 2025’s goals
Since taking office, however, Trump’s actions have increasingly mirrored the plan’s priorities. His administration has already cut more than 200,000 federal positions through the Department of Government Efficiency, though some layoffs have been stalled by legal challenges. During the current government shutdown, the White House has directed agencies to prepare for mass firings rather than temporary furloughs, a departure from past practice.
The administration has also announced the cancellation of $8 billion in green energy projects in Democratic-led states, frozen $18 billion in transportation funding for New York City, and paused $2.1 billion in infrastructure projects in Chicago.
Trump’s latest remarks suggest he is no longer distancing himself from the Heritage Foundation’s playbook — but instead using it as a framework to reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power.
