The man leading a conservative plan to remake the American government subservient to Donald Trump stepped down from his position on Tuesday.
Paul Dans resigned as director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation under intense criticism from Trump himself.
However, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts insisted Project 2025 had already “completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision.”
Project 2025 was launched last year and designed as a handbook for the next Republican president. It calls for significant increases in presidential power and encourages the leader to destroy large swaths of the federal government and replace civilian employees with political appointees.
Democrats have used the plan as a weapon on the campaign trail, with President Biden claiming it would “give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office.”
Project 2025 also calls for removing abortion pill mifepristone from the market and increasing prosecutions for anyone distributing it. The plan additionally calls for the complete elimination of the Department of Education.
The project has proved wildly unpopular in opinion polls, and Trump has attempted to distance himself from it entirely, even though it was largely constructed by people who worked in the former president’s own administration. One analysis found more than 140 ex-Trump administration employees were part of the project.
“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign,” Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement. “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed.”
The Heritage Foundation claimed the Trump campaign was not behind Dans’ departure. The campaign did not publicly comment.
The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, is a significant force in conservative politics. The group was a key presence at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month and promoted Project 2025 blocks away from the convention floor.
The foundation’s president said the plan would remain available online and he would continue running its operations in hopes of Trump regaining the presidency.
With News Wire Services
