Project 2025 Places a Target on Thousands of Americans Heads

By Blake Rae

Edited by Marian Mohamed

The U.S. Capitol building has witnessed the country change since its founding in the 18th century. (Photo by Thomas Hawk)

The American Dream is something that millions of people have strived for since the United States was founded. it usually bases itself in the foundations of success, wealth, and the nuclear family. However, a very vocal political group has taken this on and has devised a plan to make the dream a reality for every American citizen. Except for those who are women, people of color, LGBTQ+, or poor.

That’s where the parent organization, Heritage Foundation, launched its newest program; Project 2025. Founded in April 2022, the Presidential Transition Project was created by the  foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts and the project’s director, Paul Dans. Not to mention the over 100 other contributors, many that had worked for the former President Donald Trump during his presidency. Project 2025 came to life once the organization released its newest installment to the Mandate For Leadership series by releasing a 180 day playbook. Not only that but the Heritage Foundation also opened enrollment to its Presidential Administration Academy which aimed to shape its dream conservative president.

If Project 2025 were to be executed, not a single person would be spared from the immense effects it would have.

Even with the vast inequalities already present in our healthcare system, with about 26 million Americans uninsured, according to the United States Census Bureau, the people advocating for the implementation of Project 2025 plan to expand and inflate the percentage of Americans who can’t receive the medical care that they need by withdrawing or completely terminating funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its reasoning for making these decisions was that their behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic was "un-American” and “unconstitutional”.

Access to adequate healthcare will dramatically decrease for all U.S. citizens but especially those who receive reproductive care or gender transition care. Under Project 2025, abortions will be prohibited nationwide, Plan B, and other contraceptives will be taken off the shelves which will leave mothers whose lives are at risk without any services to safely rely on. This isn’t shocking as it’s reminiscent of when the Supreme Court overturned Roe. V Wade in 2022 which Heritage Foundation referred to as “the greatest pro-family win in a generation.” Not to mention that Project 2025 intends to remove and/or modify the workplace and educational institute discrimination acts of the Civil Rights Act from 1964. More specifically, they targeted Title VII, Title VI and Title IX. All of which would further put marginalized groups in this country at risk if they were to be modified under its strategic plan.

Marriage rights are also at stake. Although it never directly states that same-sex marriage will be outlawed, it’s heavily implied by its wording in the “Mandate for Leadership”. One example of this is when it  states, “Families composed of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation.” Not surprisingly, the trans community takes a majority of the blow from conservative politicians and this holds true within Project 2025. With plans to heavily limit, if not outright ban access to medical transitioning for both adolescents and adults. For those undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), therapy for their gender transition or gender affirming surgery, their access to the care they need will begin to dissipate even further than it already has in some southern states. we for sure can say that we will be seeing the opposite effect that they say will happen.

Project 2025 wants to strip a multitude of resources from marginalized communities especially Indigenous nations and their land ownership. It explained, “a significant percentage of critical minerals needed by the United States is on Indian lands, but the Biden Administration has actively discouraged development of critical mineral mining projects on Indian lands rather than assisting in their advancement.” Although it’s stated numerous times that it plans to respect and uphold treaties, It doesn’t necessarily hide its objective of stealing resources from the land those treaties protect. Not just in this section, but every section the foundation manages to contradict itself  in some way.

However, the plan to ruin land doesn't just stop there. It actually doesn’t even stop at the border with the organizations aim of subsidizing thousands of oil drilling projects as the foundation views it as nothing but a quick cash grab with claims such as “America’s vast reserves of oil and natural gas are not an environmental problem.” It’s clear that Project 2025’s only goal is profit and not the dear American people that it's trying so hard to save from democratic ideology.

With the insanely large amount of oil drilling projects already being approved under a democratic presidency, it’s not a stretch to assume even worse measures will be taken to further harm our climate. The Heritage Foundation denied multiple times that climate change even exists and even went as far as calling it “a pseudo-religion meant to baptize liberals’ ruthless pursuit of absolute power in the holy water of environmental virtue”.

I can’t stress just how quickly everything will shift. In a few short months, from January 20th, 2025 to July 19th, 2025 our entire country will change. Rights will be stripped, new policies will be made, and life won’t be the same for millions of Americans.

Now, whether or not our country’s next president will even consider this plan is not something I can say. But it is something you should take into consideration this voting season.