There was a time on the campaign trail when Donald Trump was trying to distance himself from Project 2025, but that has long since passed.
The president is now openly bragging about having Project 2025 officials in his administration—and carrying out their goals. Trump announced in a Truth Social post Thursday morning that he’d be meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought—who he boasted was tied to the Christian nationalist agenda—to discuss which “Democrat agencies” would be getting the axe in the coming days.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump posted. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Several senior Trump administration officials have said that mass layoffs are on the horizon for federal employees, now that Congress has initiated a government shutdown.
In a private call Wednesday with members of the GOP, Vought said that “consequential” layoffs would begin in “a day or two,” reported NOTUS’s Reese Gorman.
Hours before the government shutdown over a bipartisan disagreement on funding Trump’s agenda began, the president warned that it would beDemocrats in executive branch agencies who would face the consequences for the congressional failure—even though it is Republicans who currently control every branch of the federal government.
The White House has so far issued internal agency emails and changed the official White House website to place the blame for the bipartisan shutdown fully on Democrats. But that kind of divisive and partisan language not only defies longstanding presidential tradition, but is also in violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, according to ethics experts. It could also be in potential violation of the Hatch Act, which is designed to limit partisan messaging from federal employees.
The post Trump Openly Brags About Having a Project 2025 Creator on His Team appeared first on New Republic.
