GOP nominee Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, a conservative policy document that was meant to guide how the next Republican president should act, and what they should pursue, in the White House.
That got a little harder for him this week when his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, attended a fundraiser with a former adviser to the White House who has said he’s in support of many of the ideas contained in Project 2025.
The luncheon, which was held in Austin, Texas, earlier this week, was hosted in part by Brooke Rollins, who serves as the head of the America First Policy Institute.
Previously, Rollins was the director of the Domestic Policy Council and was also chief strategist during the Trump administration. She recently told Politico that the ideals her organization laid out were meant for not just whoever is in the White House in 2025, but for the next four administrations following that, too.
The Democratic Party was quick to jump on Vance attending the fundraiser with Rollins, an apparent supporter and “architect” of Project 2025. They alleged that just by attending the fundraiser with Rollins, Vance was confirming that the Trump campaign was taking advice from people directly involved with Project 2025.
In a statement, Aida Ross,a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said:
“JD Vance is continuing to embrace a dangerous, anti-choice agenda today at a fundraiser in Texas with a Project 2025 architect whose organization is ‘helping to implement’ the Project 2025 agenda that includes a national abortion ban, with or without Congress.
“While women’s lives are on the line in Texas as a result of MAGA Republicans’ extreme ban, the Trump-Vance ticket is showing the American people that, if given the chance, they’ll put our basic rights at risk and rip away our reproductive freedom.”
Project 2025 is a more than 900-page document that was made public more than a year ago. However, it became a focal point for Democrats in their attacks against Trump this past summer.
Liberals have said that Trump is likely to use the document as a blueprint for how he’ll run the country should he win the presidency.
The Republican National Committee did not officially release it, though many of Trump’s former associates were involved in crafting it.
Like Trump himself, the AFPI distanced itself from Project 2025. Instead, the group presented a vision it has for another Trump administration.
As Rollins said earlier this month:
“It’s not just about 2025. It’s about ‘29 and ‘33 and ‘37.”
Among the many things that Project 2025 calls for is a federal government that’s much smaller and that expands the power of the executive branch.
It also calls for big changes in social policies, including rights for the LGBTQ+ community, and also for restrictions to be placed on some health-care services such as reproductive health.
