Project 2025: A Manual for the Unmaking of American Democracy
“Project 2025 is among the most profound threats to the American people.” — The People’s Guide to Project 2025
📘 What Is Project 2025?
Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership is a 900+ page blueprint developed by far-right strategists to restructure — or dismantle — the federal government. First published in April 2023, it outlines a sweeping authoritarian agenda under the guise of “efficiency,” but in reality, it targets civil rights, independent agencies, and public-serving institutions.
Since discovering the manual in early 2024, I’ve shared its link countless times, deeply alarmed by how little attention it’s received from the media or Democratic leadership. Despite its openly radical agenda, it has only recently been discussed and has largely flown under the public radar.
🧠 Why Isn’t the Public Alarmed?
It’s all there in black and white — so why aren’t Americans putting it together?
The answer lies in speed, secrecy, and distraction:
The rapid dismantling of federal programs and norms has overwhelmed the public.
Media coverage has been inconsistent or overly cautious.
The regime employs propaganda and opacity to obscure its real motives.
Yes, people are worried about rising grocery bills, foreign policy chaos, and visible purges of immigrants and federal employees — but many don’t see how it all connects. And that’s by design.
Deliberate opacity is a hallmark of authoritarian governance.
🧰 How the Plan Was Built — and Sold
The plan has been in the works for decades. Its execution is aided by:
Right-wing media (Fox News, talk radio, online platforms) masquerading as populist defenders.
Relentless propaganda, repeating lies like “waste, fraud, and abuse” as cover for dismantling protections.
Strategic chaos, moving faster than oversight can catch up.
Refusal to obey legal boundaries, even when directed by the courts.
Key tactics from Project 2025 in action:
Repeat falsehoods loudly and often.
Never admit error.
Inflate minor stories to distract from major corruption.
Launch policies in secret, without explanation or hearings.
Claim a “voter mandate” without proof.
Ignore legal rulings; do it anyway.
💣 What’s on the Chopping Block?
Project 2025 proposes a government for the wealthy, by the wealthy — specifically white, wealthy, Christian Nationalist men. Programs serving the broader public are either eliminated or privatized:
Overseas humanitarian aid is slashed (unless faith-based).
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is dismantled.
Education is being realigned to serve plutocratic and religious priorities (see my 4/30 piece: Our Taxes and Their Religion).
This is more than policy change — it’s resegregation by design.
🕴️ Who’s Really Running the Government?
Although the manual demands loyalty to the Constitution, Trump’s administration has ignored that clause completely:
Immunity from prosecution allows Trump and loyalists to govern without accountability.
Trump is absent and disengaged, spending his time on golf, crypto schemes, and real estate ventures.
Since taking office, Trump’s wealth from illegal crypto alone has ballooned by $3 billion.
Despite Trump’s campaign claim that he had “nothing to do” with Project 2025, his closest allies — Stephen Miller and Russell Vought — are among the plan’s architects.
Miller’s “America First Legal” attacks civil rights head-on.
Vought’s “Center for Renewing America” is installing loyal, unqualified operatives across federal agencies.
Trump doesn’t need to read the manual — he’s living it.
He built the machine. Now it runs itself.
🗂️ Project 2025: Timeline of Strategic Takeover
🔹 Origins and Planning
April 2022: Heritage Foundation launches Project 2025, led by Kevin Roberts.
January 2023: 3-day strategic meeting of ~15 conservative leaders.
Partners: America First Legal (Miller), Center for Renewing America (Vought), Claremont Institute, Liberty University, others.
Goal: “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” — a step-by-step playbook for Day 1 of a GOP presidency.
April 2023: Project 2025 published online.
2024: Infrastructure expansion and recruitment begin.
🔹 Implementation Timeline
January 20, 2025
Trump creates Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to lead the government overhaul. Elon Musk, a civilian, is heading the effort.
Reinstates Schedule F, eliminating job protections for thousands of federal workers.
January–February 2025
Phase 1: DEI programs dissolved across all agencies. Websites scrubbed. Staff terminated.
Phase 2: Federal employees investigated for DEI affiliations — even off-duty.
February 13, 2025
~200,000 probationary federal employees fired, including those from:
Veterans Affairs
Health and Human Services
CDC
FAA
February 19, 2025
Phase 3: Expanded layoffs based on opaque “DEI-related” criteria.
February 23, 2025
Three independent agencies receive mass Reduction in Force notices.
February–March 2025
DOE layoffs impact nuclear security and energy grid stability.
Department of Education cuts 50% of its workforce.
April 8, 2025
National Energy Emergency declared to prioritize fossil fuel production.
May 12, 2025
DOE announces 40+ deregulatory changes, including rollback of:
Energy efficiency standards
Anti-discrimination protections
⚠️ This Isn’t Reform — It’s a Regime Shift
We are witnessing:
Opaque authority
Secret decisions
Untraceable motives
This is not about streamlining government — it’s about eliminating institutions that serve the people and replacing them with unchecked executive power and corporate control.
🔗 Resources & Documentation
🧭 Conclusion: The Clock Is Ticking
Project 2025 is not a “what if” — it’s already happening. Every executive order, layoff, and deregulation echoes from a manual drafted in plain sight. The pieces are in motion. The authoritarian regime has been quietly building its foundation — and we are now living in its superstructure.
We must:
Expose the truth loudly and relentlessly
Push elected officials to act
Support journalists and watchdog groups
Stay vigilant — and never assume “someone else” will stop it
Democracy doesn’t disappear overnight — but it dies fast when no one is watching.