‘I know nothing about Project 2025’: Trump lied about Project 2025, includes plan’s co-creator as cabinet member

There’s a new addition to Trump’s ever growing list of people he claims not to know: her name is Project 2025.

What is Project 2025? Sparknotes recap: Project 2025 is a political initiative created by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, which seeks to consolidate power in the executive branch and reshape America into an ultraconservative dystopia. It aims to strip away the rights of women and LGBTQ people, as well as put an end to programs that support racial equity.

Project 2025 is, in short, very scary. It’s also something Trump apparently knows nothing about, despite the fact that he hired its co-creator Russ Vought to his Cabinet and 64% of its policy prescriptions were included in the Trump administrations’ budget.

Budget was exactly the reason why Russ Vought was brought on. Vought was named as director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, a position he served in during Trump’s previous presidential term. In a Truth Social post announcing his decision, Trump called Vought “an aggressive cost cutter who will help us implement our America First Agenda across all Agencies.”

Vought was responsible for penning the section of Project 2025 that seeks to end the “sprawling federal bureaucracy” that he argues the United States government has become. He’s a man after Department of Government Efficiency nominee Elon Musk’s budget-slashing, economy-breaking heart.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington is less than impressed. The Senator called Vought a “far right ideologue” and warned that he would fight to give Trump “unilateral authority” that would allow the president to “summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants.” Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico equally nonplussed, and called Vought’s agenda to dismantle the federal workforce responsible for Social Security benefits to veteran’s health care one based around “pain itself.”

Despite Voss’ ties to Project 2025 going as deep as a Russian borehole, Trump is apparently ignorant of them. Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the political initiative during his campaign, claiming that he knew “nothing” about it and that he had “no idea” who was behind it. I suppose he just “so happened” to hire Vought, like he so happened to hire his “border czar” Tom Hooman, whose hardline immigration policies are directly in line with Project 2025’s draconian anti-immigration stance. Project 2025 has called for less work visas to be given to migrants, and aims to drastically reduce the number of people granted asylum.

Voss and Hooman aren’t the only Project 2025 affiliates. Trump also intends to bring on Stephen Miller, a longtime crony who served his administration in 2016. Miller is similarly anti-immigration, if his xenophobic “America is for Americans and Americans only,” rhetoric at Trump’s infamous Madison Square Garden rally is to be taken into account. Miller’s own America First Legal nonprofit – designed as the right wing foil of the American Civil Liberties union – was listed as an advisory group to project 2025 until Miller asked the name to be removed due to bad press. I’m sensing an “I don’t know her” pattern here.

Trump has also picked Project 2025 contributor John Ratcliffe to serve as his CIA Director. The project’s chapter on intelligence was penned by Ratcliffe’s then-chief of staff Dustin Carmack, who also served in Trump’s 2016 administration. Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick for FCC chair, wrote Project 2025’s chapter in the FCC himself. Though Trump will never admit it, he’s intimately acquainted with Project 2025. No need for introductions, he and the project’s architects go way back.