During his presidency, Donald Trump enacted 64 percent of The Heritage Foundation’s 2015 “Mandate for Leadership.” Perhaps some of these policies ring a bell: leaving the Paris climate accords, expanding offshore drilling and increasing the defense budget, which he supplemented with $225 billion. The document is not the first of its kind: Reagan implemented the Heritage Foundation’s “Mandate for Leadership” in 1981.
Fast forward to 2023—the Heritage Foundation published “Project 2025,” a 922-page presidential transition blueprint with more than half some of the contributors plucked directly from Trump’s campaign team, transition team and administration — seriously. This time, the goal is to give the next conservative president unlimited power to promote radical infringements on personal liberties and fundamental rights.
This is a brief, terrifying look at what a Trump presidency could mean for this country.
Women
Ban abortion pills. Project 2025 could lead to a ban on the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone in the U.S. The document specifically mentions the dangers of mifepristone and misoprostol, and calls on the government to “reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the beginning” (458).
Mifepristone is the safest and most timely option for many women who live far from abortion providers and who can also get it through mail delivery if they feel more comfortable at home. Mifepristone has been an FDA-approved method for 24 years, but this agenda asks the FDA to reverse its approval of the drug.
The Comstock Act. One proposal recommends enforcing the Comstock Act, an 1873 anti-obscenity law that prohibits both the mailing of abortion drugs and drugs or instruments, all of which would prevent abortion clinics from sending medications. While the text does not explicitly refer to the Comstock Act, that was not clear enforced in 100 years, it recommends that the FDA “stop promoting or approving mail-order abortions in violation of long-standing federal laws prohibiting the mail and interstate transportation of abortifacients” (459). Such language has led reproductive rights activists to fear that the broad law will be used to justify a backdoor abortion ban.
Supervision. The CDC currently produces reports called “abortion surveillance” based on collected data, but some states such as California have refused to provide such personal data. Project 2025 proposes that the CDC cut funding from states that do not provide the number of abortions that occur within their borders, including information such as gestational age of the child, reasons and methods.
The Family Agenda. Project 2025 includes a segment titled “The Family Agenda,” a proposal that suggests the head of Health and Human Services proudly proclaim that “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have the right to be raised are by the men and women who begot them.”
A transgender military ban. In 2017, Trump banned transgender individuals from serving in the US military, claiming that their medical costs and “disruption” would distract them from decisive victories. President Biden reversed the ban five days in his presidency in 2021, but this conservative mandate calls for the reinstatement of the military ban. The proposal also urges the next president to “fully ban biological males from competing in women’s sports.”
The Heritage Foundation wants to limit access to abortion and strives to grant legal rights to fetuses over mothers, continuing what the Dobbs decided to start. In addition to further stripping women of their right to choose, even in cases of rape or incest, Project 2025 also goes against most Americans’ wishes; the majority of Americans identifying as “pro-choice,” against the Dobbs decision, and think mifepristone should be available as a prescription medication.
Environment
Slaughter The Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA would be cut and rewritten (524); this law is a legal tool that has been successful in protecting wildlife and endangered species. Environmentalists are specifically concerned that Trump will remove protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears and gray wolves. In 2017, the Trump administration removed Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Fortunately, a federal judge declared the decision illegal in 2018. Read more on page 531, which urges Trump to “repeal rules of the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service regarding predator control and bear baiting, which are matters for state regulation.”
Repeal of the Antiquities Act. Project 2025 proposes a recall of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gave presidents the authority to preserve archaeological and historic sites, by designating land and water as national monuments. Since the law was created, presidents have set aside land nearly 300 times—we have this law to thank for preserving Grand Canyon National Park in 1908, and Acadia National Park in 1916. When Trump was president, he protection removed of nearly a million acres of the Bears Ear Monument in Utah, allowing companies and individuals to apply for leases for mining and energy drilling; protections are currently being restored under the Biden administration. Project 2025 mentions the Antiquities Act on page 532: “Like every Democratic President before him beginning with Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden abused his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906…the new administration must repeal the Act on Antiquities of 1906 search.”
Cutbacks from the Clean Air Act. Project 2025 aims to get rid of the share of the Clean Air Act which allows the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions at power plants and set air quality standards. Experts warn public health will be put at risk by a Trump presidency if that happens; in 2023, air pollution control devices could save nearly $100 billion in health costs and prevent 9,000 deaths, according to the American Journal of Public Health.
“Break up” the NOAA. Project 2025 expressly proposes to dismantle or “break up” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA is a critical federal department that helps predict changes in climate, oceans and weather patterns, helping to support preparedness for severe weather events. To quote the text of the document directly on page 675, they claim the NOAA‘s six offices, including the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Weather Service, “form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarmist industry and as such is harmful to future American prosperity.”
Anti-electric vehicles, (ironically enough). The document urges the next president to end the “unprovoked war on fossil fuels” and to “respect the right of Americans to buy and drive cars of their choice, rather than trying to force them into electric vehicles.” (286). It may be worth noting that Tesla is selling more electric cars in the United States than any other company combined. In JulyElon Musk has pledged to commit $45 million a month to a Trump-funding Super PAC.
Advancing climate change denial, cutting NOAA resources, and reducing clean air regulations will seriously endanger the American public and the environment. The list of attacks on our environment does not end with these few suggestions—read on here.
Education
Dismantling the Department of Education. The Department of Education is described in the document as a “convenient one-stop shop for the vigilante education cartel, which – as the COVID era has shown – is not particularly concerned about children’s education.” Note, the Department of Education is the only US federal agency mandated to ensure equal opportunity in education among disabled and low-income students and to fund school districts for both elementary and secondary education. Project 2025 will eliminate this agency entirely.
Eliminate Title I. Project 2025 proposes to get rid of Title I and its funding entirely, stating that it should be administered “as an untethered formula block grant” and with revenue responsibility falling on states instead of using federal funding ( 325). Title I provides financial assistance to high-poverty schools and school districts. Instead, states will receive block grants without oversight or regulations on how they are distributed. 800,000 babies, toddlers and preschoolers will be stripped of early learning services as a result, according to the National Education Association.
Title IX. Yes, this document rolls back Title IX protections that currently protect against discrimination based on sex. It urges the next leader to “repeal the current Administration’s Title IX regulations” and restore those promoted by former Secretary Betsy DeVos beginning in 2020, defining “sex” under Title IX as biological sex at birth. As a refresher, DeVos offered the rule new rights to students accused of sexual assault, essentially allowing rape victims cross-examined by their rapists. Live cross-examinations can be amazing traumatic to survivors of sexual violence.
Advantage. The project would nix Advantagea program that has served nearly 40 million children to date, promoting development and support of children in poverty and providing a pathway for parents seeking employment and education. Instead, Project 2025 urges the next administration to use taxpayer dollars to fund private and religious schools, while Head Start and GUESS UPa federal program that helps students from low-income backgrounds graduate high school and prepare for college (361).
Trans discrimination. Project 2025, written by Trump aides, proposes legalization discrimination of people with a transgender status in schools. Just turn to page 334 for reasoning: “On its first day in office, the next administration must signal its intent to enter the rulemaking process to restore the Trump administration’s Title IX regulation, with the added insistence that “sex” properly understood as a fixed biological fact.”
The Imperial Presidency. The Heritage Foundation’s plan would changed forever the American system of checks and balances, which concentrates power in the hands of the president.
Voice
It should be known that the policies touched upon here barely scratch the surface of all the harmful and immoral proposals outlined in Project 2025. Trump relied on the Heritage Foundation’s mandate when he was president, and he will again if he gets the chance.
Know what you are voting for when you turn up to cast your ballot.
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandspur or Rollins College. Do you have any additional tips or opinions? Send us your answer. We want to hear your voice.