Conservatives prepare for potential Trump presidency

(The Center Square) – An unprecedented and highly organized conservative effort is underway to help former President Donald Trump make the most of his second term, assuming he wins the White House come November.

The movement, named Project 2025, announced this week it had the backing of 100 conservative groups, including the most established and well-funded institutions inside Washington, D.C.

Project 2025 has four areas of focus:

  • A database of conservatives and Trump loyalists to quickly stock the executive branch.
  • Preemptive training for those appointees so they can immediately take action once they take office.
  • An aggressive policy agenda to begin implementing on day one.
  • A 180-day playbook for Trump’s second term.

The proactive preparation marks a far more organized effort than last time Trump won the White House, where his administration was bogged down by unusually high turnover, infighting, and disorganization within the executive branch.

That is in part because few expected Trump to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, even among Trump’s aides and conservative leaders.

“This is a historic moment for the conservative movement,” Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, said in a statement. “From the time we launched this project, we knew it was critical for conservatives to put aside differences and come together if we are to succeed in restoring our federal government to one ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ And reaching 100 members on our advisory board is monumental.”

The Heritage Foundation is helping lead the effort. Notably, for his first term, Trump released a list of potential Supreme Court Justice candidates that was created with help of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.

Trump was able to place three justices in just one term, which has a significant impact on several major court cases, not the least of which was the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which handed the abortion issue back to the states.

Trump has campaigned heavily against what he and other conservatives call the deep state, the apparatus of mid-level bureaucrats who have been delegated broad authority by Congress to make rules regardless of which political party is in charge.

In response, Project 2025 allows interested applicants to preemptively apply for a spot in the potential Trump administration. The aim is to immediately stock the federal government with Trump loyalists and conservatives in an effort to break the largely liberal bloc of employees and leaders in the federal bureaucracy.

The leaders of the movement point specifically to the Plum Book, a 232-page document that lists thousands of jobs in the executive branch that are appointed by the president.

This Plum Book plan essentially applies the Supreme Court playbook to the roughly 9,000 executive branch jobs appointed by the president.

“Americans are tired of their government being used against them,” Dans said. “The administrative state is, at best, completely out of touch with the American people and, at worst, is weaponized against them. We will soon embark on a historic reform of the federal government to get it once again to work for the American people. With our 100-member strong coalition we have the momentum as we begin this critical year.”

The 180-day playbook includes a “transition plan” for each federal agency to be implemented immediately when Trump takes office. The Project 2025 policy agenda, which Trump is certainly not bound by, includes an extremely detailed set of reforms for a litany of agencies, including ones not heard of by most Americans.

Below are the conservative organizations that have backed Project 2025, according to the organization.

1792 Exchange
American Accountability Foundation
American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Alabama Policy Institute
Alliance Defending Freedom
ACLJ Action
American Commitment
American Compass
American Cornerstone Institute
The American Conservative
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
American Family Association
America First Legal
American Juris Link
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Main Street Initiative
American Moment
American Principles Project
The American Family Project
The American Redistricting Project
Americans United for Life
AMAC Action
California Family Council
Centennial Institute
Center for a Secure Free Society
Center for Equal Opportunity
Center for Family and Human Rights
Center for Immigration Studies
Center for Military Readiness
Center for Renewing America
Citizens Against Government Waste
The Claremont Institute
Coalition for a Prosperous America
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Concerned Women for America
Conservative Partnership Institute
Defense of Freedom Institute
Discovery Institute
Eagle Forum
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Fairer America
Family Policy Alliance
Family Research Council
Feds for Freedom
First Liberty Institute
For America
Forge Leadership Network
Foundation for American Innovation
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Foundation for Government Accountability
Freedom’s Journal Institute
The Frederick Douglass Foundation
Calvert Task Group
The Heartland Institute
The Heritage Foundation
Hillsdale College
Honest Elections Project
Independent Women’s Forum
Institute for Education Reform
Institute for Energy Research
Institute for the American Worker
The Institute for Women’s Health
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Dr. James Dobson Family Institute
The James Madison Institute
Job Creators Network
Keystone Policy
The Leadership Institute
League of American Workers
Liberty University
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates
The Malone Institute
Media Research Center
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Moms for Liberty
Mountain States Policy Center
National Association of Scholars
National Center for Public Policy Research
Native Americans for Sovereignty and Preservation
Noah Webster Educational Foundation
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Project 21 Black Leadership Network
Pacific Research Institute
The Palm Beach Freedom Institute
Palmetto Promise
Patrick Henry College
The Patriot Foundation Trust
Personnel Policy Operations
Public Interest Legal Foundation
Recovery for America Now Foundation
Republicans Overseas Foundation
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services
Students for Life of America
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
Tea Party Patriots
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Teneo Network
Turning Point USA
Young America’s Foundation

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