At least five authors of the right-wing Project 2025 plan for a second Trump term a history of racist writing or white supremacist activity, according to an analysis by USA Today.
Project 2025, the 900-page transition plan from The Heritage Foundation, presents a radical, conservative vision for the American government, one that shifts power away from “Leftist elites” and the “deep state," according to its website.
“One of the things that you see when you read Project 2025 is not just the racist dog whistles, but some ideas that were exactly lifted from some of the most extreme white supremacists ever,” author and historian Michael Harriott told USA Today.
Among the authors found to have racist connections in USA Today’s analysis is Richard Hanania, who wrote white supremacist essays under a pseudonym for years, an investigation by The Huffington Post previously revealed.
In his writings, Hanania, who is a visiting scholar at the University of Texas, said he supported eugenics and forced sterilization of low-IQ people, who he wrote were mostly Black.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has connections to Hanania, referring to him as a “friend” and “really interesting thinker” in a 2021 podcast interview.
Corey Stewart, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2018, is another Project 2025 contributor who has long been associated with white supremacy. A champion of “protecting” the Confederacy, Stewart has described his role in politics as “taking back our heritage.”
“That flag is not about racism, folks, it’s not about hatred, it’s not about slavery, it is about our heritage,” Stewart said at a 2017 speech in Virginia, defending the Confederate battle flag. At the same event, he called Virginia “the state of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.”
Another contributor, Michael Anton, a former national security official in the Trump administration, wrote in an anonymous essay that the “ceaseless importation of foreigners” means the U.S. population grows “less Republican” and “less American” every year, according to reporting by USA Today.
Other contributors found to have ties to racist writings include Stephen Moore, who joked about Trump “removing the Obamas from public housing” when he took office, and Jason Richwine, who in his PhD thesis argued that Latino immigration should be limited based on intelligence levels, USA Today reported.
“No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against,” Moore wrote.
Among other demands, Project 2025 calls for the dismantling of diversity initiatives, a crackdown on immigration and disbanding the Department of Education. In recent weeks, Trump has sought to distance himself from the radical manifesto.
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