What is Project 2025? The proposed policy that could change the world as we know it.

"He's telling us he'll be a dictator. HE'S TELLING US. America wake up," Illinois politician Joe Walsh wrote on X in July last year.

His reaction came after Trump gave a speech to Christians in Florida, telling them they "won't have to vote anymore" if he became president.

"Get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It'll be fixed, it'll be fine, you won't have to vote anymore," Trump said. "We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

Congressman Adam Schiff wrote, "This year democracy is on the ballot, and if we are to save it, we must vote against authoritarianism. Here Trump helpfully reminds us that the alternative is never having the chance to vote again."

These are dramatic comments, but they paint the picture of the rising panic in the United States about what a second Trump presidency will look like for the country.

Trump has since clarified that Christians are one of the lowest voting demographics and that he was telling them to vote "just this once". Meant to reassure the country, his follow up explanation didn't relax many.

"That statement is very simple. I said, 'Vote for me, you are not going to have to do it ever again.' It is true. Because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group. They don't vote! And I'm explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote," he said.

"Don't worry about the future. You have to vote on November 5. After that, you don't have to worry about voting anymore, I don't care... The country will be fixed. And we won't even need your vote anymore, because frankly, we will have such love. If you don't want to vote anymore, that's okay."

Trump was officially elected to the oval office on Wednesday November 6, and has already given his victory speech saying, "And frankly this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country.".

These alarming comments come after a document called Project 2025 went viral for its extremely conservative blueprint, designed for a Republican candidate to transform America as we know it.

Here's what we know about it, and whether or not Trump intends to follow it now that he is the 47th president of the United States.

What you need to know about Project 2025.

It's rare that a policy document in the annals of a US think tank gets global, viral attention. But that is exactly what is happening with Project 2025, which has become a hot topic in political circles and is sparking widespread concern.

Project 2025, a comprehensive plan to reshape the American government, names a series of far-reaching proposals and movements that would change the way the country governs itself.

It's something we should understand, because let's face it, what happens in America impacts us all.

If you've heard this buzz term, but aren't sure what it means, we've got you covered.

Mamamia's twice-daily news podcast The Quicky's Claire Murphy recently interviewed Foreign Policy magazine's Amelia Lester about the potential implications of Project 2025.

This is what we found out.

Listen to this episode of The Quicky on Project 2025 here. Post continues below.

What is Project 2025?

Project 2025 is a detailed 920-page blueprint created by a conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation.

It outlines a sweeping overhaul of the executive leadership in the US Government if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election.

As Murphy puts it, "It outlines the aspirations, of a large group of Republicans for the Heritage Foundation, one of the US most influential conservative policy groups.

"The hope is that this handbook will be handed to [Trump's] administration to hit the ground running."

This 'roadmap' for the Republican administration covers everything from policy to personnel selections for government agencies and a playbook for actions to be taken in the first 180 days in office.

"It outlines every policy area you could imagine for a government down to who should be appointed in what roles and their budgets," explains Murphy.

Who wrote Project 2025?

A tweet from Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind Project 2025. Image: Instagram/heritagefoundation.

Project 2025 is the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation, a prominent think tank with conservative values. It's led by two former Trump administration officials, Paul Dans, the former chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management and Spencer Chretien, former special assistant to President Trump.

They helm the ship, but it has contributions from over 100 conservative groups, which form an advisory body.

As Lester explains, "Each chapter has been written either by those who had a high level role in the previous Trump administration, or who will likely have a role in his second should he win in November."

However, President Trump has distanced himself from the controversial project, saying he doesn't know anything about Project 2025. That is despite CNN reporting that 240 people involved in Project 2025 have ties to Donald Trump.

"He's trying to distance himself and say they do not speak for him," says Lester, adding that many of the policies in the project would not be widely accepted by the American public. "[Yet] when the party met at the recent Republican National Convention, there were many policies discussed that are mirrored by Project 2025."

What are the policies in Project 2025 at a glance?

Pro-choice campaigners protest against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Image: Getty.

In a speech, congresswoman Ayanna Presley outlined her view on the policies in the playbook.

"The Department of Education would be eliminated, cutting students off from civil rights protections and ending essential 'title one' funding for K through 12 schools," she says.

"The Department of Justice would go on a 'murdering spree': would rush to use the death penalty and expand its use to even more people.

"Project 2025 not only calls for national book bans in schools but also creates a list of banned words. Here are just a few of the words on the list: diversity, gender, reproductive health and, of course, conservatives want to ban the word abortion."

While those words may be hyperbolic, the document does call for major governing changes very quickly.

Murphy adds that some of the policies include "stripping the FBI" from being able to investigate cases where misinformation has been fed to the public.

"It suggests increasing prosecutions against providers of abortions, including those who send out the abortion drug in the mail," she says.

Then, there is the overhaul of the public service, slimming it down and replacing roles.

"They hope to replace federal civil service employees with conservative placements, something Trump ordered in 2020 but left office before it could be implemented," Murphy explains. Biden later rescinded that order.

"They also want to ensure the leadership of departments like Health, for those who hold pro-birth and anti-LGBTQIA+ values.

"They would like to deport all illegal immigrants including the group known as 'The Dreamers' who were brought into the country as children."

Thomas Homan, who served during the Trump Administration as Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and contributed to the Project 2025 document, said, "They ain't seen sh*t yet. Wait until 2025. Trump comes back in January, I'll be on his heels coming back and I will run the biggest deportation operations the country's ever seen."

Thomas Homan has promised to deport immigrants if Trump is elected. Image: Getty.

A dive into the details of Project 2025.

1. Abortion.

This was a big topic in the election, especially as Kamala Harris, a pro-choice campaigner, was up against Trump. She's been an outspoken advocate and defender of reproductive rights.

While the Republicans are mostly pro-life, Lester says that Trump has been "deliberately vague about abortion this election cycle."

"He wasn't [vague] in 2016," she says. "He stood on the debate stage in 2016, and said that he was going to appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court who are going to overturn Roe v Wade, and therefore restrict women's access to abortion services. And he did exactly that."

"Now, on this year's debate stage, when he was debating Joe Biden, he essentially said that he would leave it up to states to decide what to do about abortion, it was definitely a sort of dial back from what he'd been seeing in 2016. And that's because he recognises that it's a losing strategy."

But what does Project 2025 say?

According to Lester, "It advocates for prosecuting anyone who mails abortion pills, which is really important in the States, because that's how a lot of pregnant people in states with new abortion bans are getting around those bans.

"It doesn't go so far as to say there should be a federal abortion ban with no exceptions. And my view is I think the reason why they didn't want to write that down on paper is because they recognise that really would be electorally disastrous for Trump to be affiliated with it."

However, the Heritage Foundation has called for a 'heartbeat abortion ban' nationwide, meaning that once a foetus has a heartbeat there can be no abortions with no exceptions. This is usually around 5-6 weeks gestation.

2. Democracy.

While Lester won't call what Project 2025 outlines a 'dictatorship', as this would suggest the military are in cahoots with the right wing blueprint, she will say that the project gives the president an "unprecedented amount of power."

"It advocates for a stripping away of the public service, it would be about two thirds the size that it is right now," she says.

"And this is part of the whole obsession that the right has developed over the last 10 years or so, with the so-called 'Deep State'.

The 'Deep State' refers to a conspiracy theory that career employees inside a government conspire against an elected leader's agenda, and it's something that Trump supporters have previously claimed happened to him.

That, in part, would explain why Project 2025 may choose to reshape and 'dismantle' the perceived powers behind this conspiracy.

3. Religion.

While America does not have 'separation of church and state' written into the constitution, the First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

This is supposed to prevent governments favouring one religion over another and prohibit the government from creating an 'official religion'.

Yet, Project 2025's manuscript points to a move towards Christian beliefs being enshrined in policy.

"Rather than call it a Christian agenda, I would call it a religious rights agenda," says Lester. "Certainly the people doing it are Christian, but I think there's plenty of Christians in the United States who would want to distance themselves from the particular brand of Christianity that's being pushed here."

In line with the religious values, the Project also calls to outlaw pornography and imprison its creators and distributors.

"I think that porn sites are probably among the most visited sites on the Internet. And I'm also pretty sure that Donald Trump is not going to, in fact, ban all pornography when he comes into office. But just that point alone gives you a sense of how deeply unpopular I think a lot of this is going to be across the board: across blue states and across red states," Lester adds.

Are there any myths about Project 2025 to debunk?

While there is a lot to take in about Project 2025 and its policies, there has also been a rumour mill spouting policies that aren't actually in the manuscript.

Lester explains, "So for instance, it does not call for the ending of no-fault divorce. I have seen that that's been an idea that's been circulating online, and it does not call for the end of marriage equality.

"[But], it does put in place all sorts of restrictions and curtailments on the rights of transgender Americans, and on LGBTQI+ Americans generally."

What happens now Trump is president?

Trump has distanced himself from the changes outlined in the Project 2025 blueprint, but we will have to wait and see if he does in fact cherry pick the makers of it to join him in government.

How far this document will influence his presidency remains to be seen, but from Trump's victory speech, where he says that his campaign has been a 'movement' of a magnitude that's never been seen before in the US, it's clear that he wants change and will bring it in fast.

With republican control of the senate, there is one less barrier from stopping Trump and his party moving ahead with the changes they intend to make.

He has been deliberately vague about exactly what those are. Whether or not they will take the shape of Project 2025, we do not know.

Feature image: Getty.