Washington, D.C. — A new issue brief from the Center for American Progress Action Fund shows that despite Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance’s efforts to distance themselves from Project 2025, they’re not running away from the proposals in the far-right playbook. In fact, Trump and Vance’s policy proposals and statements on the campaign trail are frequently even more radical than those housed in Project 2025. This report details five examples:
- Democracy: Project 2025 lays out a plan to consolidate power in the presidency by destroying the system of checks and balances, but Trump’s proposals take it further. His plans would use the government to go after anyone he disagrees with; suppress the vote and change election rules; and scapegoat vulnerable communities to foment division—all hallmark policies of authoritarian regimes like those of Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Adolf Hitler of Germany.
- Bypassing Congress to consolidate power: Core to Project 2025’s radical vision is an extreme interpretation of a conservative legal theory called the “unitary executive theory.” This theory sees the freedom of independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve from the White House as illegitimate and would bring them under the direct control of the president. Trump’s proposals would go even further. He’s vowing to illegally use impoundment—a process where the executive branch refuses to spend money in the way Congress appropriates it—to challenge congressional authority even further.
- Education and public health: Project 2025 calls for drastic reforms that would significantly harm education in America. Once again, Trump has gone even further in recent months, saying he would cut federal funding for public schools that have vaccination requirements. Trump’s plan would leave local public school districts with an impossible choice: lose all federal funding, which in some cases may make up nearly 20 percent percent of their education budget, or eliminate vaccine requirements, see waves of illness, and possibly bring back eliminated diseases such as measles or polio.
- Taxes: Project 2025 proposes radical tax policies such as lowering the corporate tax rate to 18 percent and also seeks to replace individual and corporate taxes with flat consumption taxes in the longer term. Trump, meanwhile, has gone further, saying he wants to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, which amounts to about a $50 billion tax cut for the Fortune 100. If he instituted a 20 percent tax on imported goods as he has suggested he might, it would cost the typical American family nearly $4,000 per year.
- Workers and the labor movement: Project 2025 would undermine the right to form and join unions, weaken collective bargaining power, and make it harder for workers to fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Yet Trump’s disdain for the labor movement goes beyond what is outlined in Project 2025. He recently praised Elon Musk for his antiunion stances, has advocated for firing striking employees, which is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act, and repeatedly brags about withholding earned overtime pay from his employees.
“Project 2025 is a far-right authoritarian playbook that would rip away fundamental rights and enact an agenda that would harm all Americans. But Donald Trump, JD Vance, and MAGA Republicans have doubled down on the policies in the playbook—or in several instances gone even further than what Project 2025 calls for,” said Kelly McCoy, senior director of broadcast communications at CAP Action and co-author of the brief. “These policy plans put the freedoms and rights that the American people hold dear at extreme risk.”
Read the brief: “5 Ways Donald Trump’s Plans Are Even More Extreme Than Project 2025” by Kelly McCoy and Will Ragland
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Jasmine Razeghi at [email protected].