Introduction
In April 2023, the Heritage Foundation unveiled Project 2025, a sprawling 900-page manifesto designed to reshape the federal government from the inside out. Framed as a "presidential transition project," it was intended to prepare a future Republican administration—presumably under Donald Trump—with a ready-made plan to deconstruct and reconstruct American governance. Now, with Trump having reclaimed the White House in 2024, Project 2025 has morphed from blueprint to reality. The question is no longer if it will be implemented, but how far it will go, and what it means for democracy.
What Has Already Been Implemented?
Since Trump's return to office in January 2025, his administration has rapidly executed substantial portions of the Project 2025 agenda:
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Civil Service Overhaul: The reinstatement of Schedule F has allowed the purging of thousands of career civil servants, effectively replacing neutral bureaucrats with partisan loyalists. A newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has enacted sweeping layoffs and job freezes, gutting regulatory agencies from within.
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Climate and Environmental Deregulation: The U.S. has once again withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement. The EPA has faced crippling budget cuts and has seen the rollback of dozens of Obama-era regulations. National monument protections have been reduced, and FEMA's flood insurance programme is on the chopping block.
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Leadership Realignment: Key Project 2025 architects like Russ Vought, John Ratcliffe, and Peter Navarro have been installed in influential positions. The personnel strategy is a central pillar of the project—"personnel is policy"—and this has now been fully embraced.
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Executive Orders and Legal Restructuring: Trump has signed over three dozen executive orders that directly align with Project 2025's objectives, including curbing the powers of the Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
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Detention and Deportation Infrastructure: The Department of Homeland Security has begun mass detentions and deportations, with reports emerging of makeshift camps operating in remote locations with little oversight. Human rights organisations have raised alarms, likening the facilities to early-stage concentration camps. Multiple whistleblowers claim detainees have gone missing, with no records of where they were transferred, if at all. Legal experts argue that many of these deportations violate constitutional protections and international human rights standards.
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Targeting of Judicial and Political Dissent: Trump and his allies have increasingly used threats and intimidation against judges, governors, and political opponents. Public statements warning officials not to "get in the way" have been accompanied by loosely veiled promises of legal action or arrest. While blatantly unconstitutional, these tactics have gone largely unchecked, spreading a climate of fear across all branches of governance.
What’s Ongoing?
The implementation is far from over. Major components of Project 2025 are actively being executed:
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Dismantling the Department of Education: Funding is being slashed, and responsibilities are being devolved to the states. Conservative curriculum reforms are underway, echoing Christian nationalist experiments already piloted in states like Oklahoma.
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Privatisation Push: From public lands to federal buildings and even education vouchers, the administration is pushing a neoliberal agenda of mass privatisation.
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State-Level Testbeds: Project-aligned states are acting as laboratories for federal policies. In Oklahoma, religious charter schools, Bible-centric curricula, and police-embedded classrooms are already being normalised.
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Expansion of Detention Camps: The administration is rapidly expanding detention facilities. These are becoming flashpoints for protest activity across the country. Footage and testimonies of abuse, poor conditions, and legal black holes have begun circulating online, fuelling both outrage and direct action.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the following steps appear imminent:
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Expanded Use of Schedule F: This policy will be used to grant Trump broader authority to purge dissenters and expand loyalist control.
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Deconstruction of Independent Agencies: Project 2025 explicitly targets so-called "deep state" institutions. Next up are the Federal Reserve, CDC, and even the National Institutes of Health.
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Insurrection Act Preparation?: Many observers warn of a darker trajectory. Trump's framing of opposition protests as domestic terrorism may lay the groundwork for invoking the Insurrection Act, potentially granting him near-martial powers.
Public Resistance and Protest Movements
Protests against Project 2025's implementation have erupted in major cities, with more planned throughout the summer. Civil rights groups, climate activists, federal worker unions, and educational advocates are mobilising against what they see as a hostile takeover of American institutions. Organisers have warned that attempts to suppress dissent through force will only escalate tensions.
The deportations and camps are becoming the rallying cry of a new protest movement. From student groups to religious leaders, a broad coalition is demanding the immediate release of detainees and transparency on who has disappeared. In several cities, demonstrations have turned violent, escalated by aggressive federal crackdowns, raising fears that this unrest could be used to justify invoking the Insurrection Act.
International Reaction
European allies have expressed unease at the U.S.'s democratic backsliding. NATO members fear American disengagement, while human rights watchdogs are sounding alarms about authoritarian drift. As Trump tightens his grip, the U.S. risks international isolation and diminished global credibility.
Gary’s Soapbox Comment
Let’s not beat around the bush: this isn't just about bureaucracy. Trump is testing the limits of legality to provoke unrest—deliberately. Why? Because chaos is the perfect smokescreen. If the streets erupt, Trump can claim emergency powers, invoke the Insurrection Act, and turn the United States into a de facto dictatorship. Kamala Harris was right when she warned: he will send the military after you. His endgame isn't smaller government or Christian values—it's control. The plan is laid out in black and white in Project 2025. And if we're not careful, that document won’t just be a political manifesto—it’ll be a user manual for Trump’s rise to Dictator.
