A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump swore he had nothing to do with the conservative policy agenda known as Project 2025. He even called the proposals absolutely ridiculous. Just two weeks in office, he's enacting a whole bunch of the policies outlined in their 900-page playbook. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez has been looking at where the policies align and where they do not. So, Franco, in case people forgot, remind us what Project 2025 is.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Yeah, A. Project 2025 is a plan, pulled together by a number of conservative groups and headed by the think tank The Heritage Foundation. It had some pretty extreme proposals. And during the campaign, it really kind of turned into this flashpoint with Democrats zeroing in on some of those extreme measures, and - which went viral, as well. And all the hubbub really led Trump to kind of disavow the whole thing.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, many of the policies though, are popping up in Trump's early nominations and executive actions, so tell us more about the overlap you're seeing.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. The overlap is in personnel as well as policy. Many former Trump officials were involved with it and are getting into office again. Russ Vought, for example, was one of the key authors of Project 2025. He was also Trump's budget director in the first administration, and he's been tapped to return in the same job as director of the Office of Management and Budget. And while he's not yet confirmed, Vought has already played a key role in some of the president's biggest directives that are creating a lot of confusion, such as the order to pause federal funding. Of course, that order was rescinded, but the idea came from Project 2025. Also part of Project 2025 was the proposal to end birthright citizenship, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Project 2025 also offers detailed plans to reshape the federal workforce, including instituting a firing - hiring freeze and reclassifying workers.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, I mean, Franco, almost all presidents get policy ideas from think tanks, so why...
ORDOÑEZ: Right.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Should any of this matter?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, that is very true. I mean, I think the part of this that got so much attention was Trump's disavowal of the plan. Critics are basically accusing Trump now of a bait and switch. That said, politically, it's also given Democrats a little bit of life to attack the president, especially as it related to the chaos created by the funding freeze. I mean, here is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that what Democrats warned about before is now coming true.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHUCK SCHUMER: Plain and simple, this is Project 2025. Project 2025 by another name.
ORDOÑEZ: And he's arguing that, for this reason, this is why senators should block Russ Vought from being confirmed. Though, A, I do find that hard to see actually happening.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So what's the White House saying about the overlap?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, I mean, they're sticking to what they've always said - that the president, even as a candidate, had nothing to do with Project 2025 and that he's simply carrying out the promises he made on the campaign trail. And I'll tell you, when I speak to Republicans, many of them argue, so what, if there is some overlap.
Ryan Williams is a longtime Republican strategist. He says issues like DEI and reworking the federal government are things that Trump ran on, that he spent millions in ad money promoting, like two genders.
RYAN WILLIAMS: There is some overlap with Project 2025, because they're basically just standard conservative views of how the government should be changed. The more controversial points of Project 2025 focused on by the Democrats really were on social issues.
ORDOÑEZ: And what he's talking about there are some of the specific proposals in Project 2025 that Trump has so far avoided, such as extreme measures to curtail abortion rights.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So you mentioned the things where they align. Where do they differ?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, the plan also calls, for example, dissolving the agency in the Commerce Department that handles climate, oceans and weather. Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick to lead the department, this week, actually bucked to that idea saying he won't try to dismantle the agency. You know, we also talked about abortion before. Some allies push Trump to install a vocal anti-abortion rights person to a top job. Trump resisted. So while there is a lot of overlap that critics are seizing on, there are some differences to point out. But it's only been two weeks.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Thanks for outlining the differences.
ORDOÑEZ: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
