It’s not enough to be afraid of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a blueprint for Donald Trump’s White House return. Terrified is more like it.
Opinion
The 900-page treatise spells out a plan to turn the United States into a MAGA paradise. That may sound like ecstasy to many Wyomingites who gave Trump his largest state margin of victory in his 2020 failed reelection bid, but it would crash the federal government beyond repair.
That wouldn’t be a good look for a state whose budget relies so heavily on funding from the federal government, but Wyoming’s dismal fiscal future is not the scariest thing on the horizon if Project 2025 gains traction.
It promotes an agenda that stands the idea of separation of church and state on its head, and rewrites federal laws to follow the guiding principles of Christian Nationalism. It throws democracy under the bus and takes away freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
Project 25 claims it wants to restore “God-given rights,” but its authors don’t mention those rights would only be guaranteed for those who worship the deity that has the federal government’s stamp of approval.
The Heritage Foundation, a far-right “think tank,” has produced similar manifestos since the 1970s. It must have worked overtime to create a controversial new vision of government that is anti-public education, anti-public health, anti-environment, anti-non-Christians, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigration and anti-federal workers.
What does Project 25 favor in addition to targeting all of the above? Not surprisingly, the plan endorses cutting taxes for the wealthy, matching the primary goal of the first Trump administration. The Heritage Foundation and 100 other right-wing groups that signed on want to finish Trump’s border wall.
Convicted felon Trump backs many of these proposals, including the National Guard and federal agents rounding up and deporting more than 10 million people who aren’t in this country legally. Wyoming residents in favor of kicking out all non-citizens should realize mass deportations will likely include their friends, co-workers and even family members.
Project 2025 wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, end federal public school funding and send the money to private and religious school voucher programs. Wyoming’s Legislature already went down this path by creating “education savings accounts.”
Do you want to enroll your child in Head Start? Forget about it, because the program won’t exist.
Trump has gone to absurd lengths to drive his golf cart away from the stench of Project 2025 as fast as he can because so many of its recommendations are extremely unpopular.
Don’t be fooled; he’s in bed with these guys. “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,” Trump said at a 2022 Heritage Foundation dinner.
His biggest whopper, though, was this denial: “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Really? At least six of his former Cabinet secretaries helped write the document, and 140 ex-staff members joined the effort. If Trump is serious, he has major cognitive problems far worse than President Joe Biden and should be forcefully encouraged by his campaign staff, donors and GOP leaders to drop out of the race for his own health.
Wyoming has a direct connection to Project 2025 and Trump. Kevin Roberts, the first president of Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, resigned and became president of the Heritage Foundation in 2021.
Earlier this month Roberts couldn’t directly talk to Steve Bannon, because the former Trump strategist was in prison instead of hosting his “War Room” podcast. But the vision Roberts shared with Bannon’s audience was frightening and intimidating. He said conservatives “are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will be bloodless if the left allows it to be” (emphasis added).
“I know [Trump] and have been with him personally a few times,” Roberts told WyoFile’s Rone Tempest. “I know him to be genuine and warm and a good friend.” If you want insight into Roberts’ political motivations, I highly recommend Tempest’s profile.
Even if many in Wyoming agree with the policies promoted by Project 2025, the plan’s top-down approach is antithetical to the “live and let live” philosophy that so many Wyomingites follow.
In the interest of keeping this column short, I won’t fully describe all the dangers contained in Project 2025, but this should give you a taste of what’s sparked opposition across the political spectrum:
Project 2025 recommends effectively banning medication abortion, ending access to emergency abortion care, and tracking pregnancy outcomes — including abortion — across the country. It includes “personhood” language and policies that advance the belief that life begins at conception, which could lead to bans on some forms of birth control and assisted fertility treatments like IVF.
It would remove abortion, reproductive rights and reproductive health from every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation and piece of legislation.
Trump is trying to tone down his anti-abortion stance for the election, which means nothing coming from an ex-president who brags his three U.S. Supreme Court appointments were responsible for reversing Roe v. Wade.
Roberts’ Project 2025 foreword takes direct aim at LGBTQ rights by also banning these words in federal documents: sexual orientation and gender identity; diversity, equity and inclusion; and gender equality.
Project 2025 wants to restore a federal policy that bans transgender individuals from serving in the military.
Public librarians and teachers who promote material related to “transgender ideology and sexualization of children” could be jailed, and required to register as sex offenders upon release.
Project 2025 would slash federal Medicaid funding, and add work requirements and lifetime caps on coverage. If Trump successfully repeals the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, 18.5 million Medicare enrollees could lose much-needed savings for prescription drugs.
The Centers for Disease Control would be prohibited from advising school children to wear masks or be vaccinated.
The plan would roll back Biden-era anti-pollution regulations to boost the minerals industry, which would be welcomed by Trump’s MAGA followers here. Trump, of course, failed to revive the coal industry by reversing the Barack Obama administration’s environmental protections, so don’t expect a Wyoming fossil fuels boom.
Kate Groetzinger of the Center for Western Priorities told Wyoming Public Media that Project 2025 would “obliterate” progress that’s been made fighting climate change, and end public land protections. Endangered species protections for grizzly bears and gray wolves would be removed.
Project 2025 would enable Trump to punish political enemies and reward those who are loyal to him. An estimated 50,000 federal nonpartisan civil service workers could lose their job protections and be replaced by specially recruited Trump allies.
The U.S. Department of Justice and all of its investigative agencies would be placed directly under presidential control. The FBI would receive a “top-to-bottom overhaul,” and the president could stop probes of anyone.
Based on its history, the Heritage Foundation is extremely confident about Project 2025, also known as the “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” The foundation claims former President Ronald Reagan carried out 64% of its 1980 proposals.
The Heritage Foundation’s website said the same percentage of its 2016 policy recommendations were implemented by Trump during his single term. He must have been ignorant about where they came from, too.
At a campaign rally, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called Project 2025 a return to America’s dark past. “Now can you believe they put that in writing?” she asked.
No, I can’t. But if the Heritage Foundation openly shares such a shocking anti-democratic plan, what isn’t it telling us about the rest of the dystopian nightmare that’s coming our way?
I can agree with some of this. Not all. Yes, send the illegals back to their own countries, Including all the nationalities of illegals. Yes stop gender changes but leave those LGBTQ alone. Your assuming you know more than you do. Protect our Wild Horses, Wolves and all other wild life. Separate Church and State. Stop DACA altogether. I can’t believe Trump would be so narrow. This would make him as bad as Biden only in reverse. Stop trying to be a Dictators. We need intelligent leaders not ignorant. Dictators.
Take heed, Wyoming. Kerry is absolutely sterling when he says Project 2025 is totally terrible for the Cowboy State. Read it. Project 2025 was published in its entirety last November. If 922 pages of political dogmatism is not your idea of a good summer read, then scope the 28 pages of Chapter 16 in Section 3 beginning on page 517. That’s the P2025 blueprint for the US Department of the Interior, and it was composed by Wyoming’s own arch-villain of public lands treachery , the infamous William Perry Pendley.
I’m surprised Kerry didn’t mention Pendley’s agitprops ( it’s called agitatsiya in the original Soviet fascist lexicon when propaganda become official state policy ). I will not bore y’all by retreading Pendley’s wretched legacy going all the way back to serving the dark lord James Gaius Watt in the Reagan administration as deputy secretary of energy and minerals. He was found guilty by a federal commission of corrupt practices in coal leasing, and his federal career since has been onelong trail of slime, IMHO. His last wretch was somehow being appointed the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management in 2019 under the Trump administration. That was supposed to be a pemporary post until a real director could be confirmed, but Trump made sure that never happened. A federal judge finally had to throw Pendley out of office after 425 days for squatting unconfirmededly. That’s when he decamped to the Project 2025 hegemony.
I truly hope Kerry and the rest of WyoFile do a comprehensive exposé real soon of William Perry Pendley’s legacy and his Project 2025 work, which I consider to be subversive. It’s urgency cannot be understated.
Make your own case.
Dear Mr. Drake.
I was not going to make comments on your opinion piece. There are still some people that don’t comprehend the concept of its your opinion.
I am commenting for two reasons. I just heard on the news that the head of the Project 2025 has stepped down in light of a lot of recent controversy. I hope I made your day. However, it is still dangerous.
My second comment and I’ll make it short is you are not supposed to use pseudo names on this site. I am not sure the person named. “Harold Comes-Last” is real. Maybe he just wants to hide his identity
In reference to project 2025. Trust but verity comes To mind. However, it’s don’t trust project 2025 and then verify that you don’t trust them..
Good God Wyoming…it’s not enough that you want ALL the public lands for your moo moo cows and won’t leave a single blade to the wild horses (which is what started my own personal boycott to red meat. Now you want EVERY single person to be forced to live according to Project 2025.
For the love of God…please vote for someone other than Donny. I know I can’t tell you to vote for Kamala…that isn’t going to happen. I understand that. Perhaps there is another candidate that isn’t being talked about that you could willingly vote for.
Don’t believe for one minute that Trump knows nothing about Project 2025. Many of his former appointees helped write the plan including William Perry Pendley, who is calling for the selloff of public land. If you want insight into how dysfunctional the 1st Trump administration was, please read “Blowback” by Miles Taylor. Among other things, Taylor (a high level official in the administration) describes how Trump wanted to construct a 2,000 mile moat filled with alligators along the southern border and he was serious. Trump is a major threat to democracy and Project 2025 will be his bible.
A reminder that Roberts moved on to the Texas Public Policy Foundation from the WCC for 4 years before he became the director at the Heritage Foundation.
I remember in the ’90’s, and before, when the HF was a legitimate Conservative Think Tank. It was filled with Nobel Prize winners and well respected members of the academic community – Milton Friedman’s U of Chicago economics disciples in particular. But it HAS become “far right” cabal, filled with hack politicians rather than intellectuals. And one that such a highly regarded univiversity as Stanford should be embarrassed to have on their campus.
Thank you. Everyone needs to understand what a threat these far right extremist ideas are to our individual rights and freedoms and American democracy as we know it. Joy Reid of MSNBC is also doing a deep dive into what Project 2025 entails all this week.
Some other things that are very scary..
Does this include National Parks or just other federal/BLM lands? How many acres in WY?
https://accountable.us/project-2025-leader-calls-for-selling-off-public-lands/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEVzDhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQfGtFg6nfbLa-q0RKSn678nXwD9mxkoVHayX5J_JtinqAQ4LtYGecmkEQ_aem_X7zzOqzJgKApgKKvBCTWVg
And getting rid of NOAA and free weather reports…
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/project-2025-verify/project-2025-proposes-dismantling-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-association-noaa/536-2bd4bc29-1454-4305-9036-e026e665dbf6
Scarier than Halloween
The GOP started by saying all the dark, secret stuff out loud (forgetting there is such thing as video) but they still denied and lied about it. Since that didn’t cause a problem with their base (and the GOP establishment in general that sticks with Trump no matter what he does), they are literally writing the dark and secret stuff down and advertising it (and Trump continues to lie about it)! The GOP is telling everyone exactly who they are – the same stuff that used to cause a scandal if it got leaked, is now celebrated! Trump and the GOP are telling America exactly what they will try to do if they gain power again and America needs to wake up and listen!
Folks, it’s all about wealth for the few. They can try to hide it in religion (their religion), but don’t be a sucker.
Why is the Heritage Foundation referred to as “Far Right”?
Why can’t the terms liberal, progressive, conservative or constituional type terms be used instead? Why mislead the reader with descriptions that are deceiving? You should retract this immediately. I’m starting to see this type of terminology used quite frequently in this news outlet.
You’re correct! Better to use a term that more accurately describes their ideology: reichwingers.
In true liberal fashion, Mr. Drake exaggerates what these proposals are along with ignoring how this country was founded and what the Constitution says. First, separation of church and state is nowhere to be found in said document. Second, if you break the law then you have no right to complain when you are removed from “friends, coworkers, family members” status. It happens all the time. Ask anyone currently in jail or prison. None of these federal programs are provided for under the Constitution so therefore, why should we, the taxpayer continue to fund them? Especially when they’ve been proven to be nothing more than bureaucratic, bloated failures. Mr. Drake, enjoy your calling Trump a convicted felon. It won’t last long as his sham trials are falling apart and the convictions won’t stand under appeal of an honest court.
What flavor was the Kool-Aid? With the current makeup of the Supreme Court anything is possible, and bear in mind that all 3 Trump hires lied in their confirmation hearings about Roe and they’ve made it clear that they are actively seeking cases to attack the use of abortion pills, LGBTQ rights, and of course belief that the POTUS is above the law.
And as for your upside done assertion that somehow the intent of the Founders was to create a Theocracy, even the most of the cursory reading of their personal writings would reveal that combining church and state was the thing they feared the most.