Trump implementing Project 2025 despite distancing himself in campaign 

Here’s the thing about Donald Trump and Project 2025: he told the American people one thing on the campaign trail, and now he’s doing the exact opposite in office.  

Flashback to the 2024 election. Trump was asked repeatedly about Project 2025 — a 900-page conservative blueprint written by some of his closest allies. It outlined a sweeping agenda: slashing federal agencies, expanding executive power, banning abortion medication, gutting civil rights enforcement, deporting immigrants on a massive scale, and even politicizing the Census. In short, it was a roadmap for remaking American life.  

But Trump wanted no part of it publicly. Onstage in a debate with Kamala Harris, he insisted, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it.” That was his line. And on June 5, 2024, he doubled down even harder, writing on Truth Social: “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.”  

Fast-forward a little over a year, and the oxymoron is glaring. Yesterday, on that same Truth Social account, Trump bragged: “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought of Project 2025 fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends be cut.”  

That’s not just a casual mention. Russ Vought isn’t a random adviser — he helped build Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation. He literally wrote parts of it. And now he’s advising Trump, in the middle of a government shutdown, on which agencies to axe.  

Let’s be clear: Trump went from saying he had “no idea who is behind it” to handing the pen to its architects. That’s not strategy. That’s fraud. He lied to voters on the campaign trail, and he’s hoping people won’t notice now that he’s in power.  

And what’s at stake here isn’t just political gamesmanship. If implemented, Project 2025 would disrupt nearly every part of American life — health care, education, retirement security, civil rights, reproductive freedom. Harris put it plainly when she responded to Trump’s gloating: “This was always the plan. Project 2025 was Donald Trump’s blueprint to seize unchecked power within the federal government and restrict Americans’ freedoms. And he is implementing it right in front of our eyes.”  

So here’s my lens: Trump isn’t just flirting with Project 2025 anymore — he’s marrying it. And the honeymoon phase means slashing agencies, gutting rights, and reshaping government around his will.  

Donald Trump told Americans he had “nothing to do with it.” But today, Project 2025 is his agenda. And if you’re not paying attention, that lie could cost you more than just trust in a politician — it could cost you your freedoms.  

Lindsey Granger is a News Nation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.