What is Project 2025? The ‘dystopian’ manifesto for Trump’s second term

A 900-page plan drawn up by former Donald Trump aides and endorsed by a powerful right-wing think tank is giving the former presidenta roadmap for his second administration.

Project 2025 — a blueprint for Trump’s presidency spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and more than a dozen former Trump administration officials — is essentially a wishlist for his administration with plans to expand his executive authority, replace civil servants with ideologically aligned appointees, crush abortion rights and impose an anti-immigrant agenda, among other policies.

But the former president is trying to distance himself from the plan, claiming that he knows “nothing” about it or “who is behind it,” despite its authors coming from Trump’s White House and the GOP’s close ties to the group that launched it.

Project 2025’s core policy book Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise outlines major changes across the federal government, from the White House to lesser-known agencies, with chapters written by former Trump officials.

As The Independent previously reported, the plan would gut checks and balances to give Trump unprecedented, concentrated executive authority over federal agencies. An incoming Trump administration would roll out a blitzkrieg of firings across federal agencies to open the door for an army of loyalists to weaponize the government against his rivals.

The plan recommends abolishing the US Department of Education, slashing funds for federal law enforcement agencies, and subverting agencies that regulate the airwaves and campaign financing to choke out dissent.

That consolidation of power would also insulate him against legal threats and usher in a wave of attacks against immigrants, reproductive healthcare