If you followed the US presidential campaign trail this year, chances are you've heard of Project 2025.
The almost 1,000-page document was frequently name-dropped as a warning from Democratic politicians and shunned by now-president-elect Donald Trump just as often.
With the president-elect in the midst of appointing his new cabinet, speculation is rife over whether the controversial blueprint for his second term will be enacted.
Here's a guide to what's in the document.
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership, which debuted in April 2023, is a proposed conservative presidential transition handbook.
It has been presented as a direct response to Trump's frustrations over the hurdles his agenda faced during his first term.
The project is made up of four main pillars:
Reuters reports that before Trump was even re-elected, associates began drafting executive orders and agency regulations that could be used to quickly implement the policies once he takes office.
Who created Project 2025?
Spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 was led by two former Trump administration officials: Paul Dans and Spencer Chreitien.
Mr Dans ultimately stepped down from his role in late July after the policy guide had become the focus of attacks by Democrats during the lead-up to the election.
At the time, the Heritage Foundation said Mr Dans' work had always been due to end around then.
But a former aide said it was almost certain Trump's campaign had forced the shake-up.
The list of people who contributed to Project 2025 extends further than just Mr Dans and Mr Chreitien, though.
Several of Trump's allies, including three of his former cabinet secretaries, contributed to the policy guide with essay chapters.
The Heritage Foundation has drawn up similar policy blueprints for incoming Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980.
What does Project 2025 entail?
The manifesto lays out a number of controversial conservative policies, including a nationwide ban on abortion and dismantling the Department of Education.
Here are some of the key proposals put foward for each policy group.
Abortion
While Project 2025 doesn't call for a nationwide ban on abortions, its proposals would substantially limit women's access to them.
It argues abortion is not healthcare and government funding that in any way supports such procedures "violates the conscience and religious freedom rights of Americans who object to subsidising the taking of life".
Key policies include:
- Page 6: Providing federal and state support to alternative options to abortion, especially adoption
- Page 455: Ramping up abortion surveillance
- Page 473: Reverse interpretations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act that protect doctors when performing abortions deemed necessary to save a woman's life
- Page 458, 485: Revoking approval for medications used in non-surgical abortions and some emergency birth control medications
- Page 486: Ensuring training for abortions for medical professionals is offered on an opt-in basis, rather than opt-out
- Page 266: Minimise support for abortions in international organisations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organisation
- Page 260: Discontinue international aid provisions to non-government organisations that help provide access to abortions
Bureaucracy
Project 2025 calls for the president and Cabinet to slash regulations and the number of federal employees.
It aims to stack bureaucratic roles with Trump loyalists in order to extend his power as president.
"The Administrative State is not going anywhere until Congress acts to retrieve its own power from bureaucrats and the White House," Heritage Foundation president Kevin D Roberts wrote in his foreword.
"But in the meantime, there are many executive tools a courageous conservative president can use to handcuff the bureaucracy, push Congress to return to its constitutional responsibility, restore power over Washington to the American people, bring the Administrative State to heel, and in the process defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America."
Key policies include:
- Page 20: The new administration should fill its ranks with political appointees early on
- Page 71: Reform performance appraisals to make federal employees easier to fire
- Page 78: Reduce the number of federal employees to cut civil service expenses
Climate and Energy
Project 2025 would stop efforts to reduce pollution and encourage more emissions.
The policy guide's chapter on the Department of Energy was penned by Bernard L McNamee, who has worked for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is known to spread misinformation about climate change.
In it, he says the national laboratories have been too focused on climate change and renewable energy.
And in his chapter on the Department of Agriculture, Daren Bakst laments climate change and environmental issues being prioritised over agricultural requirements.
Key policies include:
- Page 59: Reshape the US Global Change Research Program and related climate change research programs to reduce regulation around environmental policymaking
- Page 293: Remove the US from any association with UN and other efforts to push sustainable development schemes related to food production
- Page 365: Adopt an "all of the above" policy that encourages all forms of energy production, including fossil fuels
- Page 365: Repeal subsidies for renewable energy manufacturers
- Page 368: Remove 'carbon management' from the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management's title and purpose
- Page 369: Eliminate political and climate change-related interference in the Department of Energy's approvals of natural gas exports
- Page 378: End the focus on climate change and green subsidies
- Page 408: Block environmental issues such as climate change from being cited as a reason to stop fossil fuel projects
Education
Much of Project 2025's proposed education policy hinges around dismantling the federal Department of Education and allowing states to "lead".
Its authors argue federal education policy should be limited to "empower students and families, not government".
Key policies include:
- Page 319: The federal Department of Education should be eliminated
- Page 320: Student loans and grants should be restored to the private sector
- Page 322: Restore state and local control over education funding
- Page 326: Phase out Title I funding, which goes to low-income schools
- Page 482: Eliminate the Head Start program, which funds early childhood education for low-income families
Foreign affairs and defence
In his chapter on the Department of Defense, former secretary of defence Christopher Miller says the US military has become a "deeply troubled institution".
Mr Miller proposes four priorities to overhaul the department:
- Re-establish a culture of command accountability, non-politicisation and war-fighting focus
- Transform the armed forces for "maximum effectiveness"
- Provide support to the Department of Homeland Security's border protection operations
- Demand financial transparency and accountability
Key policies include:
- Page 94: Modernise and expand nuclear arsenal
- Page 94: Require US allies, including Australia, Japan and NATO members, to take on more responsibilities in security alliances
- Page 94: Support greater spending and collaboration by Taiwan and allies in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan and Australia, to create a collective defence model
- Page 94: Sustain support for Israel
- Page 102: Bolster recruiting and retention programs, including by expanding military recruiters' access to schools
- Page 104: Reverse policies that allow transgender people to serve in the military
- Page 104: Improve support to military families, including allowances and employment opportunities
- Page 105-6: Expand intelligence and security portfolios
- Page 117: Adopt an offensive posture in the United States Space Force
Health
In his chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services, attorney and former Office of Civil Rights director Roger Severino argues in favour of a market-based approach to healthcare.
That is, encouraging competition between providers and pharmaceutical companies to bring about better services and products.
Key policies include:
- Page 450: Remove abortion and euthanasia from health care definitions
- Page 461: End embryonic stem cell research, which uses embryo cells that form in the first week of pregnancy
- Page 470: Allow low- and moderate-complexity laboratories greater regulatory flexibility for clinical testing
- Page 475: Announce the non-enforcement of the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccination mandate on hospitals
- Page 476: Pay damages to all medical professionals who were dismissed for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19
Justice
In his chapter on the Department of Justice (DOJ), lawyer Gene Hamilton claims the executive branch has "lost its way" in recent years and has "forfeited the trust of large segments of the American people".
He says the incoming conservative administration must prioritise reforming the DOJ, including the FBI, to advance national interest.
"At a practical level, not reforming the Department of Justice will also guarantee the failure of that conservative Administration's agenda in countless other ways," he writes.
Key policies include:
- Page 549: Conduct a review of all publicly available policies, investigations and cases, ending any that run contrary to Trump's policies
- Page 550: Prohibit the FBI from engaging in activities related to combating the spread of misinformation by Americans not tied to criminal activity
- Page 551: Carry out staff cuts at the FBI's headquarters
- Page 553: Pursue legislation that encourages the prosecution and sentencing of violent crimes
- Page 554: Enforce the death penalty for crimes involving violence against and sexual abuse of children
- Page 555: Finish the south-western land border wall and take a "creative and aggressive approach" to minimising crime along the border
- Page 567: Assist the Department of Homeland Security in obtaining information about undocumented migrants in sanctuary cities
- Page 567: Consider overturning every immigration decision rendered by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has served under the Biden administration
The LGBTQIA+ community
Throughout their lengthy policy guide document, the Project 2025 authors make numerous false or unfounded claims about the LGBTQIA+ community in an effort to substantiate their proposals.
Nearly every chapter calls for efforts to promote diversity and recognise LGBTQIA+ people to be curtailed.
It also calls for the incoming conservative administration to protect the ability of Americans to refuse to participate in same-sex marriages or gender-affirming care.
Key policies include:
- Page 4: Cease the use of a variety of terms in government contracts, grants, regulation and legislation, including: sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender awareness and gender-sensitive.
- Page 474: Remove Medicare coverage for gender-affirming care
- Page 475: Remove gender identity and sexual orientation from the Department of Health and Human Services' definition of 'sex'
- Page 481: Maintain faith-based groups' eligibility to receive Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Program grants, even if they deny the right of same-sex marriages
Trade
Project 2025 contains two chapters dedicated to trade policy, written by former White House Trade Council director Peter Navarro and Competitive Enterprise Institute chief executive Kent Lassman.
In his Case for Fair Trade, Mr Navarro focuses particularly on trade with China, arguing for 18 policies aimed at throttling the state's influence in the US.
Some of those include:
- Page 782: Use the US Reciprocal Trade Act to minimise trade deficits
- Page 789: Expand tariffs on China at rates that would "block out" Chinese-made goods
- Page 789: Prohibit Chinese state-owned enterprises from bidding on US government contracts and Chinese investment in high-technology industries
- Page 789: Ban all Chinese-made social media apps, including TikTok and WeChat
Meanwhile, Mr Lassman considers the "nuts and bolts" of trade in the US in his chapter, The Case for Free Trade.
A handful of arguments in his chapter appear to contradict that of Mr Navarro's.
While Mr Navarro argues for expanding tariffs on China, Mr Lassman calls for tariff relief.
"We are five years into the biggest experiment with tariffs since the Great Depression, and the results are in: The new tariffs raise consumer prices for ordinary Americans by about $1,200 per household every year and benefit only a small number of special interests," Mr Lassman writes.
"Steel and aluminium tariffs, enacted on national security grounds, angered allies.
"Beijing made not a single substantive reform in response to four rounds of tariffs plus an attempted Phase One agreement."
Some of his suggestions include:
- Page 800: Implement tariff relief to counteract inflation
- Page 800: Remove supply chain restrictions
- Page 800: Enact mutual recognition policies that approve products already deemed safe by allies to reduce regulatory costs
- Page 801: Rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Does Trump endorse Project 2025?
Not exactly.
In the numerous times he was asked about it while campaigning, Trump claimed to "know nothing" about it and said he had "nothing to do with it".
Trump put out his own policy platform ahead of the Republican National Convention in July this year.
And while he has endorsed various policies that are central to Project 2025, like eliminating the Department of Education, he has disagreed with others, such as whether to continue support for Ukraine.
Some of his cabinet picks would also suggest parallels between Trump's platform and Project 2025.
Notably, the president-elect has tapped Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney-general, who he says will root out "systemic corruption" in the Department of Justice and return it "to its true mission of fighting crime and upholding our democracy and constitution".
That's in line with the over-arching goal set out by Mr Hamilton in his Project 2025 chapter.
But the policies Trump and Mr Gaetz intend to use to arrive at that outcome remain to be seen.
So why are we talking about it?
Trump may have tried to distance himself from the mandate while campaigning, but Democratic politicians say that doesn't mean he won't carry it out.
Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, frequently noted "when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they plan on using it".
And since Trump was elected, comments by some prominent conservatives have led social media users to be concerned Project 2025 may be around the corner.
In the days following Trump's re-election, conservative political commentator Matt Walsh posted to Twitter: "Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol".
Commentator Benny Johnson also chimed in with a post of his own, saying "it is my honour to inform you all that Project 2025 was real the whole time."
And on-again, off-again Trump ally Steve Bannon further stoked concern by brandishing a hard copy of the Project 2025 policy guide in a livestream on his War Room podcast as he celebrated Trump's win.
Will Project 2025 be enacted?
While Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, many of its contributors are in the president-elect's orbit.
Here are the Project 2025 authors who were Cabinet officials in Trump's first term:
- Christopher Miller served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center
- Benjamin Carson served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Russell Vought served as director of the Office of Management and Budget
Mr Vought's influence goes further, though.
Following his contribution to Project 2025, he was named policy director of the Republican National Committee that developed Trump's new policy platform.
Connections to Trump don't end there, either.
A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him contributed to the blueprint, including Project 2025 director Mr Dans and John McEntee, one of Trump's most trusted aides.
Mr Vance has his own connections with Project 2025 as well.
Dawn's Early Light, a book recently released by The Heritage Foundation president Kevin D Roberts, features a foreword by the vice-president-elect.
So while Trump hasn't outwardly supported Project 2025, speculation that its policies will still be enacted continues to swirl, due to the influence of his inner circle and controversial cabinet picks.
It's an outcome Mr Dans hopes for.
Earlier this year, he told the ABC's Four Corners his team had ongoing connections with Trump's campaign.
"We have integration with folks on the campaign. The reality is … we often supply ideas and ultimately we hope to offer personnel suggestions," he said.
"This is really going to be the engine room for the next administration.
"Many of these folks served and will be called upon to serve again."
Editors’ note (21/11/24): This story has been updated to include the full wording of a tweet by conservative commentator Matt Walsh.
