Project 2025 author Paul Dans says Trump's adoption of his ideas are beyond his 'wildest dreams'
Also: ‘Beyond My Wildest Dreams’: The Architect of Project 2025 Is Ready for His Victory Lap (Politico)
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Source: The Independent
Project 2025 author says Trump’s adoption of his ideas are beyond his ‘wildest dreams’
Trump publicly disavowed the conservative blueprint on the campaign trail
Kelly Rissman
in New York
Sunday 16 March 2025 16:25 GMT
Eight months after Donald Trump publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, the conservative blueprint appears to have influenced Trump’s early decisions — a reality that one of the authors says was “beyond his wildest dreams.”
The 900-plus-page policy book details how a second Trump administration could overhaul the federal government as America knew it, like dismantling departments, expanding his executive authority, putting an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and purging the federal workforce and replacing them with political appointees.
On the campaign trail, Democrats warned about the dangers of Project 2025 while Trump repeatedly distanced himself from it. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” he wrote on Truth Social last July.
Later that month, Paul Dans, a lawyer and chief architect of Project 2025, resigned. Now, he says he has no hard feelings and is thrilled that the second Trump administration appears to be following the controversial blueprint.
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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/project-2025-author-trump-administration-b2716124.html
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Source: Politico
‘Beyond My Wildest Dreams’: The Architect of Project 2025 Is Ready for His Victory Lap
Paul Dans, the ousted director of Project 2025, says he’s delighted that Trump is implementing his agenda after all.
By Michael Hirsh
03/16/2025 07:00 AM EDT
Ayear ago, Paul Dans was chief architect of what was shaping up to be the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term. Eight months ago, he was sent into MAGA exile.
Dans was the director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation when, midway through the 2024 presidential campaign, he and his program started to become a huge political liability for Trump. Democrats warned of Project 2025’s “radical” agenda, saying it would mean a ban on abortion, elimination of LGBTQ+ rights, and complete presidential power over federal agencies along with the elimination of some of them, including the Department of Education. At the Democratic National Convention, Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson held up a giant-size replica of the 900-page Project 2025 book and quipped, “You ever see a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Here it is.”
Conservatives began blaming Heritage and Project 2025 for hurting Trump’s election chances. Trump himself repeatedly contended he hadn’t even read Project 2025, claiming on Truth Social that he had “no idea who is behind it.” In an interview with the POLITICO Deep Dive podcast published Saturday, Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita complained that “there was some stuff in there that we were like, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’”
Dans became a sacrificial lamb. Pressured to resign from Heritage, Dans left in a fit of pique at the end of July, and he later criticized LaCivita and campaign co-head Susie Wiles for campaign “malpractice.”
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/16/project-2025-paul-dans-qa-00228890
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