OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:10 PM – Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Paul Dans, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” has stepped down amidst backlash from former President Donald Trump, who has been accused by Democrats of working in cahoots with the proposal.
The Project 2025 proposal was launched in April 2022 and is essentially a 900-page conservative playbook for a hypothetical second Trump presidential term. However, Trump had no involvement in the plan and he has since asserted that a number of the suggestions would not fly in his administration.
Trump disavowed Project 2025 after being linked to the conservative blueprint by Democrat officials. A main Democrat talking point is that Project 2025 is an “anti-democracy, pro-fascism” manual.
Meanwhile, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, Trump campaign leaders, issued a joint statement regarding the news of Dans’s departure from the project.
“Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign – it will not end well for you,” the campaign leaders said.
Additionally, a Tuesday statement by Harris’s campaign manager, Julie Chaves Rodriguez, stated: “Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot. This is his agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country.”
Trump previously took to Truth Social to issue his own personal statement, distancing himself from the project.
“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” Trump said.
Trump also made it a point to distance himself from the initiative following Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts’s comments on a “second American Revolution” on Steve Bannon’s radio show, which drew backlash from Democrats and fueled left-wing conspiracy theories that a second Trump presidency would result in fascism.
Soon after, Roberts tried to better explain his remarks from the show in an email on Wednesday, explaining that people “are in the process of carrying out the Second American Revolution to take power back from the elites and despotic bureaucrats.”
“These patriots are committed to peaceful revolution at the ballot box,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, it’s the Left that has a long history of violence, so it’s up to them to allow a peaceful transfer of power.”
The announcement from Roberts came on Monday, which also confirmed Dans’s departure from the project.
“Under Paul Dans’ leadership, Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people. This tool was built for any future administration to use.”
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