What is Project 2025? The controversial plans linked to Donald Trump’s presidency
With Donald Trump preparing to return to the White House, attention has turned once again to Project 2025 – controversial plans for government linked to the president-elect.
The 922-page blueprint for government could reshape American democracy, it has been claimed.
It was written by an influential conservative thinktank, the Heritage Foundation.
It sets out policy proposals for a Republican win in the US presidential election, which was achieved when Mr Trump took Wisconsin yesterday morning, taking him past the 270 electoral college vote required for victory.
What policies are included in the document?
The document proposes a four pillar approach – the first sets out policies to be enacted, the others how those policies will be put in place.
This includes setting up a list of personnel who it says will be willing to move to Washington to form “an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State”.
At its heart, it says, is the need to “restore the family” to the centre of US life, recommending that once a conservative president is inaugurated “Federal power must… be wielded to reverse the crisis and rescue America’s kids from familial breakdown.”
The policy agenda includes criminalising pornography, disbanding the departments for education and homeland security and overhauling the FBI.
It rejects the concept of abortion as healthcare and proposes the rollback of LGBTQ+ rights, ending climate projections and using the military to tackle large-scale protests.
On immigration, the blueprint calls for the largest deportation in history, a policy for which Donald Trump has also expressed his support.
The database of personnel willing to help deliver Project 25 would create a pool of politically-appointed civil servants, who would be trained via an online presidential academy.
A 180-day action plan for how the government would achieve its goals is the fourth pillar of the project.
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What is the Heritage Foundation?
The Heritage Foundation, based in Washington DC, was founded in 1973.
Its mission upon its creation was to mould America into a more Christian, conservative country.
“Essentially, what this boils down to is a vision of the country that privileges and prioritises Christians,” said US historian Dr Kristin Kobes Du Mez.
In 1981, the foundation wrote its first manifesto, which promised to roll back the state and unleash free market capitalism, the same year in which, in the January, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president.
One of the report’s authors says in its introduction: “By the end of that year, more than 60% of its recommendations had become policy.”
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What has Trump said about the document?
Donald Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025 during the election campaign, but the president-elect has previously spoken at Heritage Foundation events.
In April 2022, he said: “This is a great group and they’re going to lay the groundwork in detailed plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.”
But in a rally this summer, he said the project had been designed by some on the “severe right”, and in September’s presidential debate he said he had “nothing to do with Project 2025”.
What have the Democrats said?
During the election campaign, the Democrats used Project 2025 as a major political attack point.
President Biden said the project would “destroy America”, while vice president Harris called it “extreme” and said would “weaken the middle class”.
Would such a large number of political appointees be possible?
Many positions in the US administration have to be vetted and go through a series of rounds of approval before they can be appointed.
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Some have questioned whether a plan to put such a large number of politically aligned appointees into positions across government would be possible.
Javed Ali, a security analyst and former senior director of counterterrorism under Donald Trump, told Sky News: “Depending on who is prefered by [Trump], will they go through the traditional process by which you have to be presidentially appointed, confirmed by the US senate, go through an extensive background investigation process to get your security clearance? Those are all things that have stood the test of time.
“If President Trump wants to bypass those, I’m not sure of the legal basis on which he can operate, or if there is some executive basis he might have as commander in chief, but that will be a fascinating aspect of this.”
US
Donald Trump plans to hit Canada with new tariff – while warning of blanket hike for other countries
Donald Trump has said he plans to hit Canada with a 35% tariff on imported goods, as he warned of a blanket 15 or 20% hike for most other countries.
In a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the US president wrote: “I must mention that the flow of Fentanyl is hardly the only challenge we have with Canada, which has many Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers.”
Mr Trump’s tariffs were allegedly an effort to get Canada to crack down on fentanyl smuggling, and the US president has expressed frustration with Canada’s trade deficit with the US.
In a statement Mr Carney said: “Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1.”
He added: “Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America. We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries.”
Mr Trump has sent a series of tariff letters to 23 countries so far, including one putting a 50% tariff on Brazil in part for the ongoing trial of its former president Jair Bolsonaro for trying to stay in office after he lost the election in 2022.
Mr Trump was similarly indicted for his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020.
The higher rates would go into effect on 1 August.
Shortly after Mr Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs on 2 April, there was a huge sell-off on the financial markets. The US president later announced a 90-day negotiating period, during which a 10% baseline tariff would be charged on most imported goods.
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But in an interview with Sky News’s partner network NBC News, Mr Trump said he plans to impose higher blanket tariffs on most US trade partners.
“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” he said.
He added: “I think the tariffs have been very well-received. The stock market hit a new high today.”
The US and UK signed a trade deal in June, with the US president calling it “a fair deal for both” and saying it will “produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income”.
Sir Keir Starmer said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, adding: “So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength.”
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The US president also teased a “major statement” he will make on Russia over its war with Ukraine.
“I’m disappointed in Russia, but we’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday.”
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It comes as Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said a new round of talks between Moscow and Washington on bilateral problems could take place before the end of the summer.
A Palestinian activist who was detained for over three months in a US immigration jail after protesting against Israel is suing Donald Trump’s administration for $20m (£15m) in damages.
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil have filed a claim against the administration alleging he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his role in campus protests.
The 30-year-old graduate student at Columbia University told Sky News’s lead world presenter Yalda Hakim being detained by ICE agents in March “felt like kidnapping”.
He described “plain-clothed agents and unmarked cars” taking him “from one place to another, expecting you just to follow orders and shackled all the time”, which he said was “really scary”.
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Mahmoud Khalil reunites with family after release
Mr Khalil said he was not presented with an arrest warrant and wasn’t told where he was being taken.
He said the detention centre he was taken to was “as far from humane as it could be” and “a place where you have no rights whatsoever”.
“You share a dorm with over 70 men with no privacy, with lights on all the time, with really terrible food. You’re basically being dehumanised at every opportunity. It’s a black hole,” he added.
Mr Khalil said he would also accept an official apology from the Trump administration.
The Trump administration celebrated Mr Khalil’s arrest, promising to deport him and others whose protests against Israel it declared were “pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity”.
Mr Khalil said after around 36 hours in captivity he was allowed to speak to his wife, who was pregnant at the time.
“These were very scary hours, I did not know what was happening on the outside. I did not know that my wife was safe,” he said.
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‘Absolutely absurd allegations’
Mr Khalil said administration officials had made “absolutely absurd allegations” by saying he as involved in antisemitic activities and supporting Hamas.
“They are weaponising antisemitism, weaponising anti-terrorism in order to stifle speech,” he said. “What I was engaged in is simply opposing a genocide, opposing war crimes, opposing Columbia University’s complicity in the war on Gaza.”
A State Department spokesperson said its actions toward Mr Khalil were fully supported by the law.
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Asked about missing the birth of his son while he was in prison, Mr Khalil said: “I don’t think there’s any word that can describe the agony and the sadness that I went through, to be deprived from such a divine moment, from a moment that my wife and I had always dreamed about.”
Meanwhile, the deportation case against Mr Khalil is continuing to wind its way through the immigration court system.
Donald Trump has praised the Liberian president’s command of English – the West African country’s official language.
The US president reacted with visible surprise to Joseph Boakai’s English-speaking skills during a White House meeting with leaders from the region on Wednesday.
After the Liberian president finished his brief remarks, Mr Trump told him he speaks “such good English” and asked: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”
Mr Trump seemed surprised when Mr Boakai laughed and responded he learned in Liberia.
The US president said: “It’s beautiful English.
“I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
Mr Boakai did not tell Mr Trump that English is the official language of Liberia.
The country was founded in 1822 with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and freeborn black citizens from the US.
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Mr Trump promised the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau a pivot from aid to trade at the surprise meeting.
He described the countries as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people”.
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Later asked by a reporter if he’ll visit the continent, Mr Trump said, “At some point, I would like to go to Africa.”
But he added that he’d “have to see what the schedule looks like”.
Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, promised to go to Africa in 2023, but only fulfilled the commitment by visiting Angola in December 2024, just weeks before he left office.
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