The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is one of the most harrowing potential outcomes of a Donald Trump win later this year, yet in classic Trump fashion, he has somehow managed to offer something even worse.
Project 2025 has been causing waves over the past few weeks as Trump’s Democratic opponents use it as a rallying cry to get people out to vote against the former President and convicted felon. The proposal, which runs at nearly a thousand pages and argues for the restoration of the family at the heart of American life, dismantling the state until it is at its barest, and bringing God back into public life (yes, we are aware of the contradictory nature of those two statements, and no, we don’t think the people shaping Project 2025 care about the hypocrisy) is so divisive that even Trump has distanced himself from it, which says a lot. Of course, the former Apprentice host stating he knows “nothing” about Project 2025 might just be his dementia rearing its head, or him simply rejecting something as he feels he won’t get enough credit for it.
While he might be lukewarm on Project 2025, the Republican candidate and his team have been more than happy to promote Agenda 47, so named as Trump would become the 47th president if he wins in November. This is a series of wide ranging policy goals that encompass some great ideas, like ending veteran homelessness in America, some pie-in-the-sky promises, like promising the lowers cost for energy and electricity on earth, and some truly insane proposals, like promoting homeschooling in all parts of the country.
Like most things Trump says, a lot of what makes up Agenda 47 is nebulous at best, and completely unachievable at worst. The proposals appear to have been put together via Truth Social poll, and, like Trump himself, are completely lacking in coherence, other than an aim to turn America into a hellish backwater that would make Atwood’s Gilead seem like a feminist utopia.
With that said, Agenda 47 can be broadly split into a few categories. These include: fearmongering about immigrants; railing on about free speech while also proudly discussing how to silence dissenting voices; the dismantling of the education system to ensure a slew of brainwashed voters for years to come; xenophobia; impossible promises about trade and the economy; and incorporating as many right-wing buzzwords into policy as possible.
The phrases “radical Marxist prosecutors,” “deep state,” and “quantum leap” all appear, too. Like many aspects of a Trump presidency, if it wasn’t so horrifyingly close to coming to fruition, it would be hilarious.