Trump Touts His Administration’s Ties to Project 2025 After Claiming He Had ‘No Idea’ Who Was Behind It

President Donald Trump is now openly acknowledging his administration’s ties to Project 2025, one year after claiming to know nothing about it.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, the president posted to Truth Social about a meeting he had with Russ Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, the Christian nationalist policy guidebook that made headlines during Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Vought, 49, has served as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget during both of Trump’s presidential terms.

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump, 79, wrote.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” he continued. “They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Project 2025 became the nickname for the Heritage Foundation’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” a 900-page manifesto compiled by the conservative think tank in partnership with more than 100 other conservative organizations.

Though Trump’s most recent post broadcasted Vought’s contributions to Project 2025, the president spent a considerable amount of 2024 trying to downplay his association with the people behind the plan. He often referred to the document as “extremist” on the campaign trail, after polling showed how unpopular its proposals were.

In a Truth Social post on July 5, 2024, Trump wrote, “I know nothing about Project 2025. 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.”

Later that month, during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., he reiterated that he wasn’t behind or even supportive of the plan.

“Some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25,” he told the crowd. “They’re very, very conservative. They’re sort of the opposite of the radical left… You read some of the things, and they are extreme. I mean, they are seriously extreme. I don’t know anything about it. I don’t want to know anything about it.”

Despite his statement, a large portion of the people affiliated with Project 2025 were former Trump staffers, and many of the plan’s architects have since been installed in Trump’s second administration.

Trump was also well-acquainted with the Heritage Foundation at the time of his denial: He was provided a similar “Mandate for Leadership” back in 2016, and enacted nearly two-thirds of the group’s proposals within his first year in office.

Since Trump took office in January 2025, a website called Project2025Tracker.org has been keeping an eye on how his administration is working to fulfill 318 objectives laid out in the far-right blueprint, which include cutting Social Security and Medicare, banning books about slavery and gender studies, eliminating marriage equality, stacking courts and congressional committees with Trump loyalists, eliminating birthright citizenship and more.

So far, the website estimates the project is 48% complete, and many actions to advance Project 2025’s goals were taken in the first few days of Trump’s second term.

The ongoing government shutdown, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, may also give the Trump administration, and Vought, the opportunity to make political gains.

Politico recently reported that the OMB head directed federal agencies “to use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force,” essentially calling for mass firings in the event of a shutdown rather than just temporary furloughs.

Following Vought’s guidance, federal departments began making action plans. On Sept. 26, the Department of Labor released a “Plan for the Continuation of Limited Activities During a Lapse in Appropriations,” detailing how various government offices would cease to operate entirely during the shutdown, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Vought has continued the work that Elon Musk began during his brief tenure with the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year.

As director of the OMB, Vought has eliminated hundreds of regulations on the environment, health, transportation and food and worker safety, halted the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and sought to cancel billions in foreign aid.

“At the heart of Mr. Vought’s plan, associates say, is the intentional engineering of a legal battle over Congress’s power to decide how government money is spent, potentially creating a new legal precedent for the president to block spending on any programs and policies he dislikes,” The New York Times reported.