If you spent any time online during the last election cycle, you couldn't escape it. That massive, 900-page blue book. The one everyone from late-night hosts to your uncle on Facebook was arguing about. People called it a "dystopian manual" or a "blueprint for a revolution." I'm talking about Project 2025. And, more specifically, the weird, back-and-forth dance between Donald Trump and the people who wrote it.
Honestly, the whole thing felt like a high-stakes game of "who do you know?"
For months, Trump insisted he had "nothing to do" with it. He even called some of the ideas "abysmal." But then you look at the names on the masthead. You see the people getting corner offices in the West Wing now that it's 2026. It starts to look less like a random coincidence and more like a pre-game strategy session. Let’s get into the weeds of Trump’s ties to Project 2025 and see where the campaign rhetoric ends and the actual governing begins.
The "I Don’t Know Them" Defense vs. The Guest List
During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s strategy was basically to put as much daylight between himself and the Heritage Foundation as possible. He posted on Truth Social that he didn't know who was behind the project.
That was a tough sell.
Why? Because the math didn't add up. We’re talking about a document where at least 140 people who worked in the first Trump administration had a hand in writing it. That’s not a "fringe group." That’s his entire former staff.
Take a look at some of the heavy hitters:
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- Russ Vought: He was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Trump. He also wrote the chapter in Project 2025 about the Executive Office of the President. Today, he's back at OMB, basically running the "nerve center" of the government.
- Stephen Miller: Trump’s long-time advisor and the architect of his most famous immigration policies. His group, America First Legal, was a formal partner of Project 2025.
- Brendan Carr: A sitting FCC Commissioner who wrote the Project 2025 chapter on—you guessed it—the FCC. Trump eventually tapped him to lead the agency.
It’s kinda like saying you don’t know the people at your own high school reunion. Sure, maybe you didn't organize the catering, but you definitely know the guys in the yearbook.
When Personnel Becomes Policy
There’s a famous saying in Washington: "Personnel is policy."
It means that it doesn't really matter what a candidate says on a debate stage if the people they hire to run the agencies are all reading from the same playbook. In this case, that playbook was the "Mandate for Leadership."
By mid-2025, the overlap became impossible to ignore. A report by Time Magazine found that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s early executive actions in his second term mirrored or partially mirrored the exact proposals found in Project 2025.
We’re seeing this play out in real-time with things like:
- The Department of Education: Project 2025 called for shuttering it. In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order to do exactly that, moving authority to the states.
- Schedule F: This was the plan to reclassify thousands of civil servants as "at-will" employees, making them easier to fire. Russ Vought was the primary architect of this idea. It was a cornerstone of the Project, and it’s now a cornerstone of the current administration’s "DOGE" (Department of Government Efficiency) efforts.
- The Comstock Act: While Trump distanced himself from a federal abortion ban, Project 2025 suggested using this 19th-century law to block the mailing of abortion pills. This remains one of the most contentious "will-they-or-won't-they" points of the current administration.
Why the Disavowal Happened
You might wonder why Trump bothered denying the connection if he was going to hire the authors anyway.
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Politics. Plain and simple.
Project 2025 became a "boogeyman" for the Democrats. It was unpopular in the polls because of its stances on things like IVF, birth control, and cutting overtime pay. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, didn't help matters when he talked about a "second American Revolution" that would stay bloodless "if the left allows it to be."
That kind of talk is a PR nightmare for a campaign trying to win over moderate suburbanites. So, Trump did what he does best: he distanced himself from the "brand" while keeping the "content."
The Legacy of the "Mandate for Leadership"
This isn't actually a new phenomenon. The Heritage Foundation has been writing these "Mandates" since the Reagan era.
Back in 1981, Reagan’s team took about 60% of their ideas from the Heritage playbook. Trump did something similar in 2017. The difference this time was the scale and the transparency. Project 2025 wasn't just a list of ideas; it was a $22 million operation that included a "LinkedIn for Conservatives" database to vet 20,000 potential staffers for loyalty.
Trump once told a Heritage dinner in 2022 that the group was going to "lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do." It's hard to get more direct than that.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People often think Project 2025 is the Trump campaign. It’s not.
The campaign had its own official platform called "Agenda 47." There are places where they disagree. For instance, Trump’s stance on tariffs is often more aggressive than some of the traditional free-market conservatives at Heritage would like.
But the "ties" aren't about every single policy matching up. It’s about the infrastructure. Heritage provided the troops, the training, and the legal justifications for expanding presidential power.
Actionable Insights: How to Track the Influence
If you want to know how deep Trump’s ties to Project 2025 actually go, don’t look at the speeches. Look at the paperwork.
- Monitor the Federal Register: This is where executive orders and rule changes are published. When a new rule comes out, cross-reference it with the "Mandate for Leadership" (it’s still available online). You’ll often find the wording is strikingly similar.
- Follow the Appointments: Watch the deputy and sub-cabinet levels. The big names like Pam Bondi or Tom Homan get the headlines, but the "Schedule F" reclassifications happen at the mid-level.
- Watch the Courts: Many of these Project 2025-inspired moves, like dismantling the Department of Education, are currently tied up in legal challenges. Groups like the ACLU and various State Attorneys General are using the Project 2025 text as evidence of "intent" in their lawsuits.
The reality of the situation is that Project 2025 provided the "how" for Trump’s "what." It was the engine under the hood. Whether or not he liked the name on the manual, he’s definitely using the parts.
Next Steps for Staying Informed:
To truly understand the current shift in Washington, your best bet is to look at the "DOGE" (Department of Government Efficiency) reports. Most of the workforce reductions they are proposing aren't new—they are direct carry-overs from the personnel chapters of the Project 2025 handbook. Comparing those two documents will give you a clear map of what's coming next for the federal workforce.