MSNBC's Chris Hayes explains the inextricable links between the Trump campaign and Project 2025
Hayes: “The more they insist they have nothing to do with it, the more evidence we seem to get of just how closely aligned they are because, well, they are”
Published
Citation From the August 15, 2024, edition of MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes
CHRIS HAYES (HOST): But the 2016 playbook didn't work in 2020 and I don't think it's going to work this time because he has been president. People forget this, but, I swear to god, it's true. Four whole years. He's got a record. He left office with tens of thousands of people dying every week of the virus he told them to inject bleach to cure. The economy in once-in-a-lifetime tatters. A single, signature piece of legislation, trillions of dollars in tax cuts for corporations and rich people.
And in addition to that dismal record, we have this expansive, 900 page document laying out exactly what Trump and his cronies are going to do if they get back into power. You've probably heard it. It is called Project 2025 and its proposals are deeply unpopular with voters. Don't take my word for it, they've polled it.
One recent poll found that large majorities of Americans oppose the key pillars of the project. That includes 68% who oppose replacing career government officials with political appointees, 72% oppose restricting a woman's right to contraception, 64% oppose eliminating the Department of Education.
Trump world is rightly freaking out about Project 2025 and attempting to distance themselves from it. Which is a tough order when you've been photographed flying on a private plane with the architect of the whole movement. The Trump campaign manager, Chris LaCivita -- although I guess he isn't anymore, I don't know -- he tried in this memorable moment from the Republican National Convention.
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The more they insist they have nothing to do with it, the more evidence we seem to get of just how closely aligned they are because, well, they are.
Today, a British nonprofit called Center for Climate Reporting published a video of a secretly recorded interview they conducted with one of the sort of key authors of Project 2025. We've covered this guy before.
The man's name is Russell Vought. He served as Donald Trump's director of Office of Management and Budget, which is a really key job in the White House. He now leads the Center for Renewing America, part of a network of conservative advocacy groups staffed by former and potentially future Trump administration officials. Vought is also the policy director for Trump and the Republican National Committee's 2024 National Platform Committee.
The Washington Post reports that "Vought wrote the chapter on the executive office of president in the Project 2025's 920-page blueprint and he is developing its playbook for the first 180 days." He is also "poised to steer this agenda from an influential perch in the White House, potentially as Trump's chief of staff, according to some people involved in discussions about a second term."
So, not a kind of arm's-length guy, not just some "rando" off the street, right? Now, take a listen to what Vought told the two men he thought were relatives of a conservative donor about Donald Trump's involvement with Project 2025 and his plans.
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Vought also roundly dismissed concerns about Trump trying to separate himself from the project.
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Why would he be? Vought explained that he has the former president's trust and his ear.
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Now, we should say we reached out to Vought, the organization he leads and the Trump campaign for comment. We haven't heard back, but a spokesperson for Vought's nonprofit did tell CNN a statement: "It would've been easier to just do a Google search to 'uncover' what was already on our website and said in countless national media interviews, but thank you for airing our perfect conversation emphasizing our policy work is totally separate from the Trump campaign, as we have been saying."
A senior advisor for the Trump campaign said in part, "President Trump's campaign made it clear that only President Trump and the campaign and not any other organization or former staff represent policies for the second term." Clearly they feel the need to misdirect voters about what they would do when they're back in the White House to have any shot of winning this election, but they just keep getting caught.