WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who once dismissed Project 2025 as “seriously extreme” during his 2024 campaign, is now leaning hard into its far-right blueprint for overhauling the federal government, huddling with a key architect to plot the elimination of what he calls “Democrat Agencies.”
The pivot, laid bare in a series of Truth Social posts amid the ongoing government shutdown, signals a full-throated embrace of the Heritage Foundation-led initiative’s goals: slashing bureaucracy, consolidating executive power, and purging perceived disloyal elements from the civil service.
Details of Trump’s Agenda
The timing couldn’t be more charged. With federal operations frozen since Tuesday—marking the first shutdown since 2019—Trump seized the moment Wednesday to tout the impasse as a “unprecedented opportunity” for fiscal housecleaning.
“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!” he wrote, blasting Democrats for allegedly prioritizing “healthcare money to illegal aliens” over border security.
By Thursday, Trump had zeroed in on his next move: a sit-down with Russell Vought, the former Office of Management and Budget director and Project 2025’s point man on federal restructuring.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies… he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump posted, leaving little doubt about the agenda.
Vought, a Trump first-term alum who’s long advocated for reining in the “administrative state,” has been at the forefront of the administration’s early cost-cutting blitz, including clashes with Elon Musk’s short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Insiders say Vought’s approach is methodical mayhem. During Musk’s DOGE tenure earlier this year, Vought reportedly told his team, “We’re going to let DOGE break things, and we’ll pick up the pieces later,” according to The New York Times.
Now, with DOGE disbanded after Musk’s abrupt exit in May, Vought is picking up those pieces—and then some.
Trump Administration Eliminates Funding in 16 Blue States
On Wednesday evening, his office announced the cancellation of nearly $8 billion in clean energy projects, yanking funding from 16 blue states that backed a Democratic funding bill Trump opposed.
The hit list includes California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington—all home to Democratic senators who voted against the GOP measure.
Vought framed the pullback on X as a strike against the “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda,” but critics see it as textbook retaliation. “This is Trump weaponizing the shutdown to punish states that didn’t fall in line,” said one Democratic aide, speaking anonymously.
The cuts target everything from solar incentives in sunny California to wind farms in the Midwest, potentially idling thousands of jobs in renewable sectors.
Related: New Study Now Shows a Massive Decline of Women in the Workforce
Project 2025 Details
Project 2025, the 900-page manifesto penned by Trump allies at the Heritage Foundation, has loomed large since its 2023 debut.
It calls for gutting agencies like the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, firing up to 50,000 civil servants via “Schedule F” reclassifications, and installing loyalists across the executive branch.
Trump swatted it away during the campaign, telling Fox & Friends in August 2024 that it was “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal,” and insisting during his September ABC News debate with Kamala Harris that he “knows nothing about Project 2025.”
But actions speak louder. Vought, who penned key sections on budget enforcement, has been a quiet force since Trump’s inauguration, overseeing $9 billion in foreign aid slashes and regulatory rollbacks.
The shutdown—sparked by a Republican demand for $175 billion in non-defense spending cuts—has given him the perfect storm to advance the agenda.
“The Democrats want to give your healthcare money to illegal aliens and open our borders to the criminals of the world, a deadly combination because everybody will come!” Trump railed in another post, tying the impasse to his immigration crackdown.
Democrats Respond
Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, aren’t backing down.
They’ve teed up a clean funding bill for Friday’s vote, loaded with healthcare protections, while accusing Trump of holding the economy hostage.
“This is a Trump shutdown,” Schumer thundered on the Senate floor, vowing to fight the “retaliatory cuts” tooth and nail.
As furloughs mount—up to 800,000 federal workers could be affected—the stakes climb higher.
Economists warn a prolonged standoff could shave 0.5% off GDP, with ripple effects hitting everything from Social Security checks to national parks.
For Trump, it’s a high-wire gamble: Lean into Project 2025’s radical vision to rally the base, or risk alienating moderates ahead of midterms.
With Vought at his side, the president seems all in—betting that “making America great again” starts with a government that’s a whole lot smaller.
Will the President’s plan backfire? Or is there more to it that meets the eye?
Follow us on X: @NezMediaCompany
Opinion: This Government Shutdown is A Strategic Move by Trump to Delay Release of Epstein Files
