WASHINGTON: As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for 鈥渆xactly what our movement will do鈥� with another crack at the White House.
As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face. He denied knowing anything about the 鈥渞idiculous and abysmal鈥� plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies.
Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as 鈥渂order czar;鈥� and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy.
Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump鈥檚 election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the US government and society.
Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone.
鈥淧resident Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,鈥� said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. 鈥淎ll of President Trumps鈥� Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump鈥檚 agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.鈥�

Here is a look at what some of Trump鈥檚 choices portend for his second presidency.
As budget chief, Vought envisions a sweeping, powerful perch
The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president鈥檚 proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration鈥檚 agenda across agencies.
The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power.
鈥淭he Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President鈥檚 mind,鈥� Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, 鈥渋s a President鈥檚 air-traffic control system鈥� and should be 鈥渋nvolved in all aspects of the White House policy process,鈥� becoming 鈥減owerful enough to override implementing agencies鈥� bureaucracies.鈥�
Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, 鈥渒nows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State鈥� 鈥� Trump鈥檚 catch-all for federal bureaucracy 鈥� and would help 鈥渞estore fiscal sanity.鈥�
In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon鈥檚 鈥淲ar Room鈥� podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to save our country without a little confrontation.鈥�
Vought could help Musk and Trump remake government鈥檚 role and scope
The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025鈥檚 and Trump鈥檚 campaign proposals. Vought鈥檚 vision is especially striking when paired with Trump鈥檚 proposals to dramatically expand the president鈥檚 control over federal workers and government purse strings 鈥� ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a 鈥淒epartment of Government Efficiency.鈥�
Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers 鈥� who have job protection through changes in administration 鈥� as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government鈥檚 roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump鈥檚 changes. Trump can now reinstate them.
Meanwhile, Musk鈥檚 and Ramaswamy鈥檚 sweeping 鈥渆fficiency鈥� mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president 鈥� not Congress 鈥� is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his 鈥淎genda 47,鈥� Trump endorsed so-called 鈥渋mpoundment,鈥� which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary.
Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, 鈥淭he President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 choice immediately sparked backlash.
鈥淩uss Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,鈥� said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman.
Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to 鈥渄ismantle the expert federal workforce鈥� to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans鈥� health care to Social Security benefits.
鈥淧ain itself is the agenda,鈥� they said.
Homan and Miller reflect Trump鈥檚 and Project 2025鈥檚 immigration overlap
Trump鈥檚 protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas. Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various US immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries 鈥� reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example.
Miller is one of Trump鈥檚 longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in US history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump鈥檚 West Wing inner circle.
鈥淎merica is for Americans and Americans only,鈥� Miller said at Trump鈥檚 Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27.
鈥淎merica First Legal,鈥� Miller鈥檚 organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention.
Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump鈥檚 first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump鈥檚 鈥渇amily separation policy.鈥�
Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: 鈥淣o one鈥檚 off the table. If you鈥檙e here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.鈥�
Project 2025 contributors slated for CIA and Federal Communications chiefs
John Ratcliffe, Trump鈥檚 pick to lead the CIA, was previously one of Trump鈥檚 directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document鈥檚 chapter on US intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe鈥檚 chief of staff in the first Trump administration.
Reflecting Ratcliffe鈥檚 and Trump鈥檚 approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a US adversary that cannot be trusted.
Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025鈥檚 FCC chapter and is now Trump鈥檚 pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman 鈥渋s empowered with significant authority that is not shared鈥� with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address 鈥渢hreats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,鈥� specifically 鈥淏ig Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.鈥�
He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and 鈥渆mpower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.鈥�
Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts.