Trump says some parts of Project 2025 are ‘very good’ but he’s ‘never seen it’
In one of the most bizarre sequences of events, former US President Donald Trump has contradicted himself once again in a recent statement. Claiming to have disowned Project 2025 during his 2020 re-election campaign, he now apparently sees no issue with recruiting individuals involved in the right-wing policy blueprint for leading roles in his administration. But what’s behind Trump’s sudden change of heart?
During the 2020 campaign, Trump publicly expressed his disdain for Project 2025, calling it a “product of the radical right.” He questioned the inclusion of certain principles, such as work requirements, eliminating the Head Start program, and criminalizing pornography. Trump even said that some of the included ideas were “abhorrent” and that no one should be associated with them.
Fast-forward to today, and Trump appears to have reversed his stance. Speaking about the same individuals that were involved in Project 2025, he made a point to highlight people like Russ Vought, Brendan Carr, Peter Navarro, John Ratcliffe, Pete Hoekstra, Monica Crowley, who were all involved in either writing or contributing to Project 2025. Why the sudden shift in judgment?
When asked directly about how he would utilize these personnel, Trump was evasive and unclear. He reiterated that he never read nor reviewed Project 2025, claiming to have barely paid attention to the document itself. However, he couldn’t help but mention things he liked from the Project, such as the inclusion of Law and Order-like policies. He even mused that Democrats should’ve adopted some of the blueprints’ more mainstream initiatives.
It seems that politics is a game of semantic gymnastics for Trump – where he can change directions with ease and abandon what he once believed. Was Project 2025 suddenly transformed from an abominable creation of the far-right to a valuable insight for the nation? Possibly in Trump’s eyes, maybe not in anyone else’s. As he continues his post-presidency, America will have to wait for more clarity on what new policies will come to fore under his influence. Until then, one thing stands clear: in the word of Trump, nothing about Project 2025 holds a candle to his supreme judgment.
