Former President Donald Trump's aides have long worried about his being tied to Project 2025, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN, explaining why the Republican felt the need to distance himself from what is widely viewed as a far-right blueprint for his second term.
Penned by the conservative Heritage Foundation and boosted by Trump aides such as Stephen Miller, Project 2025 outlines a hard-right plan to purge the federal government of career civil servants, among a slew of other controversial provisions. In recent weeks it has been highlighted by President Joe Biden's campaign, which has sought to tie it to Trump despite it not being directly authored by his campaign, Haberman noted, saying Trump's staffers “have actually been frustrated by” it, Mediaite reported.
The New York Times reporter explained that Trump can try to distance himself from the initiative, but his campaign's close ties to the authors will make any attempt difficult to believe.
Trump can say he "has nothing to do with this," Haberman said. "But then everybody’s going to fact-check that statement and it has just made this into a bigger deal. So, this is exactly what Trump’s advisers had been concerned about for some time. Is this statement going to make this go away? It doesn’t really seem like it.”
Trump attempted to distance himself from Project 2025 after, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, received flack for claiming that the U.S. is currently in a “second American Revolution” that will only be “bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Trump wrote: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
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