On The Left Hook, Media Matters' Julie Millican explains the deep ties between Project 2025 and Trump world

Written by Media Matters Staff

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From the September 4, 2024 edition of The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali

JULIE MILLICAN (VICE PRESIDENT, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA): Project 2025 and the Mandate for Leadership – there is no daylight between that and the Trump – past Trump administration, current Trump campaign, potential future Trump administration. They are one and the same. So this idea, and anybody who tries to take Trump or his cronies seriously when they claim they have nothing to do with this and don’t know anything about it, it’s a farce.

31 of the 38 people who drafted or edited the Mandate for Leadership worked for the Trump administration.

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You have to look no further than Russ Vought, for instance as far as exposing the farce that is this idea that Trump has some distance and doesn't know anything about Project 2025.

Russ Vought was the head of the Office of Management and Budget under the Trump administration, he was the one who was responsible for Trump’s Schedule F executive order in the waning days of the Trump administration which would have given Trump the ability to fire nonpolitical career civil servants.

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Russ Vought is now – not only did he write a chapter of the Mandate for Leadership, he is part of the Trump again and he is the one who put together, was nominated to put together the Republican National Committee’s policy proposals, he also is drafting the very secretive part of Project 2025, the 180-day plan to actually implement all of this stuff, and he’s been caught on camera with undercover reporters being very open that Trump knows all about this. They work hand-in-hand on this stuff, Trump’s totally bought in on all the policies and he’s just currently distancing himself from the brand.

So I think we should take these people at their words. Kevin Roberts has admitted that Trump is just distancing himself for political reasons, they all know, everybody knows, so the media shouldn’t play along with this, it is a farce.