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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.
“It’s actually way beyond my wildest dreams,” Dans told Politico, when asked if Trump was diverging from his vision. “It’s not going to be the easiest road to hoe going forward. The deep state is going to get its breath back. But the way that they’ve been able to move and upset the orthodoxy, and at the same time really capture the imagination of the people, I think portends a great four years.”
Trump, through the Department of Government Efficiency, has slashed departments and fired tens of thousands of federal workers. He has signed an executive order terminating “DEI” policies. He seems to be laying the groundwork to expand executive authority, suggesting that the president cannot violate the law, declaring himself a “king” while some of his closest allies have suggested “impeaching” judges who rule against his administration.
He said Trump told the truth on the campaign trail, that he had absolutely nothing to do with the blueprint. “Project 2025 was done outside of President Trump,” Dans told the outlet.
Although Dans disagreed that the Trump administration’s plans and Project 2025 are “one and the same,” he believes “directionally, they have a lot in common, but so do great minds.”
Dans continued, giving a nod to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who has been tapped to lead DOGE’s mass firings and slashed contracts: “We had hoped, those of us who worked putting together Project 2025, that the next conservative president would seize the day, but Trump is seizing every minute of every hour. I’m not sure that you’d be able to implement Project 2025 without Donald Trump’s ability to bring people together and Elon Musk’s ability to focus the direction of the work.”
He said he’s not looking for a job, since he already works as an attorney and is a father to four kids. But he added: “Should President Trump or his team need me, I will gladly answer the call.”
