Project 2025 Got Their Guy With Trump VP Nominee JD Vance

In response to Donald Trump choosing Project 2025 superfan JD Vance as his running mate, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“When JD Vance joined Donald Trump’s ticket, Project 2025 got their dream candidate that put a ‘broad smile’ on their face because they have been ‘really rooting for’ him all along. Vance has already admitted he thinks their dangerous agenda of undermining our democracy, banning abortion nationwide, and rigging the economy for the ultra-wealthy is full of ‘good ideas’ – but the vast majority of Americans don’t agree. The Trump-Vance ticket will be the most extreme in modern American history, which is exactly why Americans will reject them this November in favor of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ vision for more rights, lower costs, and a stronger democracy.” 

JD Vance praised Project 2025 as having “good ideas,” has cozied up to Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, and has embraced numerous Project 2025 proposals.

Vance: “I’ve reviewed a lot of [Project 2025]. There are some good ideas in there.”

The New Republic: “Project 2025 Leader Is Overjoyed by Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick”

Nick Corasaniti, New York Times: “[Kevin Roberts] reacted to the news [of Vance’s VP selection] ‘with a broad smile on my face’ and said that ‘privately, we were really rooting for him.’”

Gram Slattery, Reuters: “Vance is very close to Heritage and even wrote the forward for a book from the think tank’s president. Project 2025 is of course organized by Heritage.”

Vox: “Kevin Roberts, the president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the driving force behind Project 2025, told Ward that ‘[Vance] is absolutely going to be one of the leaders — if not the leader — of our movement.’”

Vance: “I want to thank especially Kevin Roberts and all the Heritage Foundation for 50 years of incredible work on conservative policy.”

Vance: “I think that what Trump should do, like if I was giving him one piece of advice, is fire every single civil servant… replace them with our people.”

Politico: “The résumés of Vance’s senior staffers read like a phone book for the New Right ecosystem in Washington: the Claremont Institute, American Compass, the Conservative Partnership Institute, Hillsdale College.”

Politico: Project 2025 author and RNC Platform Committee Policy Director Russ Vought is a “close ally of Vance.”

With Vance joining Trump’s MAGA ticket, it’s even clearer that Project 2025 is “undeniably a Trump-driven operation.”

Axios: “This is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025. One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration.”

Politico: “Many of the authors of the blueprint are former Trump officials, and the Heritage Foundation has spent the past year-plus recruiting people to implement the plans within the administration, Scott said.

“‘So they don’t just have a long, sprawling policy document,’ he said, ‘they also have a growing list of staff who are being tested to see if they are loyal to Trump and if they are willing to administer this in his potential administration.’

“While groups like Heritage have put forward conservative policy proposals in the past, Scott said Project 2025 is distinct in that it’s so comprehensive and far-reaching.

“‘It has so many groups contributing to it. It’s the whole conservative policy movement gathered together,’ he said.”

The Week: “Many of Trump’s indicated plans for a second term fall in line with the Project 2025 outline.”

New York Times: “Roberts told me that he views Heritage’s role today as ‘institutionalizing Trumpism.’ This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump’s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that ‘the Trump administration … simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.’”

The more the American people learn about Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, the more they dislike it. 

Navigator Research: “Americans oppose all the key elements in Project 2025, with the greatest concerns around health care, worker’s rights, and dismantling federal programs. Over four in five Americans oppose an array of policies proposed in Project 2025 such as ‘allowing employers to stop paying hourly workers overtime’ … Additionally, four in five oppose ‘allowing the government to monitor people’s pregnancies to potentially prosecute them if they miscarry.’

“Americans’ overall opposition to Project 2025 increases after reading about its specific policy goals.

“Three in five Americans say Project 2025 would benefit the wealthiest Americans, CEOs, and corporations.”

Miami Herald: “As Americans learn more about Project 2025, they become more opposed, poll finds”