In 2024, Donald Trump denied multiple times he had anything to do with the conservative policy agenda known as Project 2025, going so far as to claim he’d never read the Heritage Foundation’s 900-plus-page book of policy recommendations that’s sold itself as a blueprint for the “next conservative President.”
But an early barrage of executive orders signed by the president in the first weeks of his second term align with many ideas promoted in Project 2025.
In some cases, overlap is to be expected — Project 2025 outlines some standard Republican policies and builds on some of the ideas Trump has proposed and talked about over the years, like tougher border enforcement, slashing regulations and lowering taxes. Other policies Trump has acted on predate Project 2025, as well.
But, as an analysis conducted by Bloomberg corroborates, more than 30 of Trump’s 47 early executive orders show clear parallels with Project 2025, some of which the president didn’t address or talk about much on the campaign trail.
Continue reading to learn more about Project 2025, who’s behind it and how the Trump administration seems to be echoing some of the specific ideas that appear in the document.
Who’s behind Project 2025?
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published the sprawling manifesto in April 2023.
The project has claimed to not speak for any presidential candidate, though last year it said it believed Trump would win and could “decide which recommendations to implement.”
Despite Trump saying he had “no idea who is behind” Project 2025, journalist Judd Legum was the first to report that 31 out of the 38 people who helped write and edit the book served in Trump’s first administration or were nominated to positions in it.
This is also not the first time the Heritage Foundation has created a presidential “transition project.” The first such project was published in 1981 ahead of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
“By the end of that year, more than 60 percent of its recommendations had become policy,” the foreword of Project 2025 reads.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly said he has nothing to do with Project 2025 and believes “some of the things that they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous.”
“People who advised him, on his team, would have searched for the Heritage Foundation’s report and found those recommendations that aligned with Trump’s policies,” Donald Abelson, academic director of the Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement and professor of political science at McMaster University told Global News, calling the overlap between Trump’s executive orders and Project 2025 “unsurprising.”
However, Ableson says it’s likely true Trump did not directly read the report, pointing to its sheer size.
“People very close to him would have looked at his priorities and then they would have gone to the [Project 2025] playbook and looked at how Project 2025 would have shaped those proposals,” he explained.
What is outlined in Project 2025?
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Notably, Project 2025 advocated for the dismantling of the Department of Education, bringing the Department of Justice (DOJ) under presidential control, criminalizing abortion drugs and abolishing the Federal Reserve, among many other suggestions.
To help achieve this dramatic reshaping of the U.S. government, the project recommended that thousands of federal workers be fired and conservative appointees take their place. The initiative went so far as to release an online questionnaire, vetting individuals for a “Presidential Personnel Database” that the next president can use to staff the federal bureaucracy.
“Our goal is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State,” the project proclaimed on its website.
The overlap between Trump’s executive orders and Project 2025
While Trump has taken steps so far that are not explicitly mentioned in Project 2025, like attempting to curb birthright citizenship, declaring a national emergency and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, there are scores of parallels or outright mirroring between his early executive orders and Project 2025 recommendations, including ending certain international agreements, loosening environmental regulations and scaling back on or dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“There’s no balance anymore and he feels liberated, he feels emboldened and he feels untouchable and thinks he can do anything and get away with it, and that’s very frightening,” said Ableson.
“At this point for Trump it’s all about signalling his intentions, he likes getting people nervous, he likes exploiting people who are vulnerable — this is all part of his strategy. If people thought he was untethered the first go-around, they haven’t seen anything,” he warned.
“He’s got a conservative court, he’s got a majority in both the House and the Senate, he’s emboldened by the fact he never spent time in jail, although he was a convicted felon, he was pretty much given a free pass. Here’s a person, now, who feels untouchable and wants to do whatever he can in four years.”
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
Evan Vucci / The Associated Press
Freezing federal job hiring
On page 79, Project 2025 proposed a freeze on “all top career-position hiring” to “prevent ‘burrowing in’ by outgoing political appointees” and noted that several recent presidents began with hiring freezes.
The White House, meanwhile, has ordered a hiring freeze on all federal civilian employees in the executive branch, barring national security, law enforcement, military or immigration position hires.
Declaring a gender binary
On page 450, Project 2025 recommended that Health and Human Services cancel programs that recognize transgender people and, on page 489, that Health and Human Services “proudly state that men and women are biological realities.” The blueprint also recommended, on page 104, barring transgender troops from serving in the armed forces and expelling anyone currently serving who identifies outside of male or female.
Trump signed an executive order declaring there are “two sexes, male and female” and that “sex” is not a synonym for gender identity. He also rescinded protections put in place by the previous administration that allow transgender Americans to serve in the military, and also barred the use of pronouns “that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex.”
Cutting off gender-affirming care
On page 485, Project 2025 proposed that the government withdraw all guidance to teens seeking “gender-affirming care” or “gender transition.”
Trump ordered an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors, including hormones and puberty blockers, calling it the “end of chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
Allowing unvaccinated troops back into the military
On page 103, Project 2025 addresses troops who were discharged for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination during the mandated period. The blueprint recommends allowing those troops to be reinstated.
A White House executive order will reinstate those discharged for refusing to get the vaccine, and will also allow discharged members to return to their previous rank and receive back pay from the time they were not actively serving.
Withdrawing from the WHO and Paris climate agreement
Project 2025 proposed, in multiple ways and on multiple pages, ending programs designed to meet the Paris climate agreement, with the goal of ceasing a “global, climate-themed agenda” and the “perceived threat of climate change.”
The blueprint also proposed reducing support, “including withdrawal,” from the World Health Organization, on page 191.
Trump’s White House has started the process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, including financial commitments and related agreements, and is also withdrawing from the WHO.
Suspending refugee admissions and asylum claims
Project 2025, on page 178, proposed curtailing the number of refugees admitted under the U.S. Refugee Admission Program, as well as proposing that the government raise the standards for “credible fear of persecution at the southern border,” on page 148.
Trump, on Jan. 20, signed an executive order suspending the Refugee Admission Program, with the possibility of renewal of the program every three months, based on advice from the secretary of state. Trump also signed an order suspending all asylum claims at the southern border until he’s confident that “the invasion at the southern border has ceased.”
Upping security and militarization at the southern border
On page 555, Project 2025 proposed increased security along the border with Mexico, recommending that the National Guard and active-duty personnel be sent to assist in arrest operations, particularly with drug cartels.
Trump, meanwhile, went further than Project 2025’s recommendations, declaring a national emergency and ordering the Defense Department to send troops and National Guard members to the border to deal with any potential illegal aliens, not just criminal gangs.
Ending DEI programs
At the very top of its blueprint, on page 3, Project 2025 proposed getting rid of the terms “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) from every single federal contract, grant, rule, regulation and piece of legislation.
Trump signed an executive order ending DEI programs, activities, mandates and policies at the federal level, as well as some federal contractors, calling them “radical and wasteful.”
Drilling in Alaska
On page 523, Project 2025 proposed that the government open up oil and gas drilling and exploration access in Alaska’s wilderness, “to establish a competitive leasing and development program.”
The White House’s executive order, signed by Trump, now directs federal agencies to expedite oil and gas project permits in the northernmost state, giving priority to liquefied natural gas projects.
A ticking clock and a matter of ego
Aaron Ettinger, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University, says that while Trump is distinctive in the sheer amount of executive orders signed in the first days of his term and the enormity of their implications, it boils down to part strategy, part ego.
“Trump is, if nothing else, predictable. He’ll do what makes him look like a winner and implementing the sweeping programs in Project 2025 is an easy pathway to looking like a winner,” Ettinger told Global News in an email, citing the free-wheeling and off-the-cuff promises Trump often made on the campaign trail.
Other experts agree that the president is likely feeling the pressure of a ticking clock and a final term.
“Trump, given the fact he’s now a lame duck president…he can’t seek re-election again, he can’t pull — although I’m sure he would love to — a [Russian president] Vladimir Putin and be president for life, that’s not going to happen,” said Ableson.
“So, he is in a rush to make good on his campaign promises, he’s thinking about his legacy, he’s thinking about throwing as much red meat to his base as possible.”
Greg Anderson, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta, agrees, adding that Trump is also likely feeling the pressure of upcoming reviews from the American public.
“Trump is in some sense already a lame duck president. He doesn’t have a lot of time to get some things done. Midterms and a referendum by voters on how he’s doing are not far away.”
