Implementing Project 2025 remains a work in progress. Here's why.
TODAY'S STARTING POINT
Reducing the federal workforce. Deploying soldiers to the southern border. Abolishing diversity, equity, and inclusion offices within the government.
All are moves President Trump has made in his first six weeks back in the White House. They're also key goals of Project 2025, a roughly 900-page conservative blueprint for governing that Trump's far-right allies published in 2023. Despite insisting that he had 'nothing to do with' it during the campaign, Trump is now borrowing heavily from the project and has installed
So if Project 2025 is a blueprint, what might Trump do next? My colleague Alyssa Vega has been trying to answer that question. She
1. He needs help
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Most of Trump's actions so far have been unilateral. He has issued scores of executive orders, more than any other recent president. But if Trump wants to achieve other Project 2025 goals, he will need Congress's help. Yet Republicans control Congress by narrow margins. In the House,
That could make it hard to fulfill several of the project's tenets. Both the project itself and Trump's nominee to lead the federal Department of Education say that abolishing it
Trump may also need help from the third federal branch if he hopes to outlaw pornography and jail its producers, another Project 2025 goal. Under a Supreme Court case from 1973, most pornography is protected by the First Amendment. But if the justices were to overturn that ruling, the landscape could change.
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2. Passing the buck
Polls show that some of the provisions Trump has enacted, like targeting transgender athletes and seeking to build a border wall, are fairly popular. Others are not. Some experts think Trump is dodging those less-popular policies or trying to shift responsibility for them elsewhere.
Take abortion. Project 2025 calls for restricting mifepristone, an abortion pill. But so far, Trump hasn't done so, despite pro-life groups' pleas. 'I think he is being strategic in terms of the ways in which he is looking to Project 2025,' said Tatishe Nteta, who teaches political science at UMass Amherst. 'He knows that there may be some third rails that may be in that playbook.'
Still, there could be other ways to check off the project's more controversial goals. Republican state attorneys general have sued to revoke mifepristone's FDA approval, even though the drug is safe, and the case remains active.
3. Just wait
The wheels of American politics grind slowly, and it may only be a matter of time before Trump achieves more of Project 2025.
The project calls for letting adoption and foster care services refuse to work with LGBTQ couples. Doing so, it says, would mean having the assistant secretary for Financial Resources at the Department of Health and Human Services overturn a federal rule from 2016.
But right now, there is no assistant secretary for Financial Resources. The Senate hasn't yet confirmed the administration's nominee for that position,
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4. Divided attention
The world throws up endless distractions and crises that administrations must manage, and presidential attention is a finite resource. So even if Trump wanted to become a Project 2025 completist, he may run out of bandwidth.
Events often waylay presidents' best-laid plans. Barack Obama and Joe Biden both tried to pivot US attention away from the Middle East, only to be sucked back in by the Arab Spring, the rise of ISIS, and the war in Gaza. In 2020, as Trump tried to focus on his re-election, he instead faced a once-in-a-century pandemic and the largest racial-justice protests in US history.
'It's very much like Mike Tyson said: 'Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,'' said Nteta. 'That is the presidency in a nutshell.'
Already, Trump has spent significant time on other priorities, like tariffs, the war in Ukraine, and trying to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal. So don't be surprised if events overwhelm his focus on Project 2025.
What's next?
Even if Trump doesn't tick off every one of its provisions, the ethos behind Project 2025 — limiting government's size and scope while increasing the president's power — remains a roadmap to a future many conservatives want. ' The reality of where the United States is, and where it's going, can be seen in that document,' Nteta said. 'It is the culmination of decades of discussion, decades of debate, decades of fighting within the conservative movement.'
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In some cases, Trump has gone above and beyond. Project 2025 outlines a surgical approach to trimming, streamlining, and reorganizing specific government agencies. Instead, Trump and Elon Musk
For now, it seems likely that the project's fingerprints will continue to show up in the administration's actions. 'You can't surround yourself with the tentacles of Project 2025, and effectively copy and paste plans from the playbook, and pretend that you have nothing to do with it,' Seeberger said.
Read more:
I recommend exploring Alyssa's tracker of
🧩 6 Down:
| ☀️ 30°
POINTS OF INTEREST
The Burren in Somerville's Davis Square.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Boston and New England
I remember that white stuff:
Yes, New England
Music vs. housing:
Patrons of The Burren in Somerville's Davis Square worry that the iconic Irish bar may be at risk because of a developer's plans to build an apartment tower. (
But is it rent control?
On the campaign trail, Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft likes to talk up rent control. Here's
Speaking of Wu foes:
City Councilor Ed Flynn is one of the mayor's harshest critics. But his colleagues are baffled by his moves to stall
Lousy housing:
Boston's public housing is
Running for their lives:
Trump administration
Spirit of '25:
Historic sites in Massachusetts expecting millions of visitors for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution are reeling from the administration's
Freedom Trail
Pod Save USAID:
After a Pod Save America podcast host criticized Elon Musk over cutting federal aid, Musk said funding had been restored to a Rhode Island nonprofit
About face:
Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's vaccine-skeptical health secretary, called a measles outbreak in Texas that killed an unvaccinated child 'not unusual.' Yesterday, he praised the measles vaccine in a Fox News op-ed. (
Fort Trump?
The president announced a US 'crypto strategic reserve' that will stockpile bitcoin and ethereum, boosting cryptocurrency prices. Critics say it risks losing billions in taxpayer money. (
'I heard somebody who thinks he's king:'
Gov. Maura Healey recounted
Standing down:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Cyber Command to stop planning offensive cyber operations against Russia. (
'Go ski in Russia:'
Hundreds
The Nation and the World
'Me too' redux:
Even as Andrew Cuomo started campaigning for NYC mayor Sunday, one of the women who accused him of harassment while he was governor penned an essay saying that the city 'deserves better.' (
Pope improving:
Francis was in stable condition without mechanical ventilation Sunday as he recovers from a respiratory crisis and pneumonia. (
Gaza stalemate:
Israel said it wouldn't let aid into Gaza, accusing Hamas of refusing to extend the ceasefire and threatening a return to fighting. (
BESIDE THE POINT
🗓️
Boston at a bargain:
Among this week's events, you can watch a reenactment of the town hall after the Boston Massacre or
❤️
Love Letters:
They haven't talked in 13 years.
🍳
Shell game:
Egg prices are up. But in some ways it's weird they were ever cheap. (
🏷️
No labels:
High grocery prices have shoppers opting for generics, benefiting chains like Costco that have in-house brands. (
😋
Eat it and freeze it:
These ingenious molds make batch cooking a breeze. (
📽️
Watch this:
Want more Oscars? These nominees
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