Experts say Project 2025 is a ‘radical transformation of American political life'

Vice President Kamala Harris has raised the issue and former President Donald Trump has distanced himself from it.  

But what is Project 2025?

It’s a 900-plus page plan from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation that lays out a plan “for conservative victory through policy, personnel and training.”

It’s normal for think tanks across the political spectrum to create plans and model policies, but political science professors say Project 2025 goes further.

“It would basically kneecap the U.S. government,” University of Connecticut Professor Manisha Sinha said.

Quinnipiac University Professor Wesley Renfro agrees, saying the plan would strip some of the checks and balances within the Executive Branch meant to limit a president’s authority.

“It would really be a radical transformation of American political life in a really unprecedented way,” Renfro said.

The plan would eliminate the Department of Education and completely overhaul other federal agencies, perhaps most notably the Justice Department.

One major change would reclassify thousands of civil servants to make them political appointees.

This would make it easier for a president to hire and fire them, something Sinha warned could allow a president to weaponize federal agencies against political opponents.

She said this is how authoritarians, such as Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Ogban, silence critics and retain power in a democracy.

“It would take us to a very dark place of global authoritianism,” Sinha said.  

The plan also calls for a ban on gay marriage and significant limitations to abortion access; it would remove the commonly-used pill misoprostol, for example.

The plan also calls for more data collection around abortion, something that concerns access advocates.

Project 2025 seeks to privatize care provided by the Veterans’ Administration and Medicare, and remove Medicare’s ability to negotiate prescription drug prices.

Harris referenced Project 2025 in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s debate, but Trump was quick to deny any involvement.

“I haven’t read it, I don’t want to read it purposefully, I'm not going to read it,” he said. “This was a group of people who came up with ideas – some good, some bad.”

Connecticut Republican Chairman Ben Proto, who was part of the platform committee at the party’s convention, also said Project 2025 is not Trump’s plan.

“I know what’s in the platform and it is nothing like what’s in Project 2025,” Proto said.

Several of advisors, cabinet members and campaign workers under Trump were involved in drafting Project 2025, though. Critics say the former president would still adopt it if elected.

“Much of what’s in there is his – what would have been his position in the past,” Connecticut Democratic Chairman Nancy DiNardo said.

Professors also say it could be difficult to undo Project 2025 if Trump is elected and able to install part or all of the plan.

For starters, Sinha said Trump could use loyal employees to try and silence opponents.

Renfro, meanwhile, said a conservative leaning U.S. Supreme Court could uphold policies based on Project 2025 if a future president were sued over changes.

He also said it’s bad for the country when a president makes dramatic changes, followed by similar large reversals under a subsequent administration.

“It makes it very difficult to actually govern, it makes it difficult for the economy to prosper,” Renfro said.