Project 2025 is an autocratic (some would say fascist) set of guidelines proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation that would fundamentally alter American government if adopted by the Project’s preferred candidate, former president and convicted felon Donald Trump. It is also heavily tied to Texas politics, where it seems many of these ideas have been workshopped.
The Heritage Foundation is arguably the most powerful conservative think tank in the country, rivaled only by the Federalist Society that handpicks many conservative Supreme Court candidates. Founded in 1973, it’s has typically been the intellectual arm of big business conservative politics. When climate change needed denying or the health risks of smoking downplaying, the Heritage Foundation was there with studies to support it.
That changed in 2021 with the ascension of Kevin D. Roberts to the role of CEO. Before Roberts, the big chair was always awarded to someone with a business background. Roberts was previously on the board for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and he quickly brought many of those attitudes to Heritage.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has been one of the most effective advocates for far-right politics in the Lone Star State. Funded by oil money, it is a prime pusher of climate change denial. However, as it further entwines with Christian nationalist billionaires like Tim Dunn, the message shifted to include pushing school vouchers and extreme opposition to LGBT people.
Texas politics definitely got more authoritarian under Trump. Governor Greg Abbott has been waging what could be called an illegal border war for years in direct opposition to federal oversight. Public schools have been relentlessly pushed to cut curriculum that interferes with Christian nationalist ideas as well as having their funding slashed to send student to private Christian academies. TPPF and Roberts were there the whole time pushing for less democracy.
We see that same tone in Project 2025. It would invest even more authority in the president, allowing him to gut the civil service and fill it with cronies on a whim. This would include law enforcement agencies, regulators, and any other part of the executive branch, essentially allowing the president to wield king-like power.
Also on the menu are calls to infuse public schools with more Christian messaging, prohibit teaching the role of white supremacy in American history, institute a universal school voucher system, eliminate federal oversight on school discrimination, and do away with the entire Department of Education.
For many voters, Project 2025 has been like the discovery of a secret plan to overthrow the democracy. For Texans, it reads like yesterday’s news. Roberts has always dreamed of a world that looks more like an Eastern European dictatorship than a liberal democracy, and took every step he could in Texas to make that happen. One could argue that he succeeded as far as he could with the federal government looking over his shoulder.
Project 2025 is the next step in that process, as logical as meteor’s path and twice as devastating if it lands. Should Trump get elected, Republican-dominated Texas will be the blueprint for the administration to come.