Alex Henderson, AlterNet
July 29, 2024
Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's far-right 900-page blueprint for a second Trump presidency.
Yet many of its proposals have come from Trump allies. And Heritage had a strong presence at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Moreover, Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) wrote the forward for a forthcoming book by Heritage President Kevin Roberts — who, critics say, threatened violence against Project 2025's opponents when he told Real America's Voice, "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."
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In an article published on July 29, USA Today's Will Carless reports that according to some critics, Project 2025 has ties to white nationalists and white supremacists.
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Carless notes that author Michael Harriot has attacked Project 2025 as a "white supremacist manifesto."
"A closer look at the named contributors to Project 2025 adds to the concern," Carless explains. "A USA Today analysis found at least five of them have a history of racist writing or statements, or white supremacist activity. They include Richard Hanania, who for years, wrote racist essays for white supremacist publications under a pseudonym until he was unmasked by a Huffington Post investigation last year."
Carless adds, "Failed Virginia GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart, another named contributor, has long associated with white supremacists and calls himself a protector of America's Confederate history tasked with 'taking back our heritage.' One Project 2025 contributor wrote, in his PhD dissertation, that immigrants have lower IQs than white native citizens, leading to 'underclass behavior.' Another dropped out of contention for a prestigious role at the Federal Reserve amid controversy over a racist joke about the Obamas."
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Civil rights attorney Arjun Sethi argues that Project 2025's proposals would, if implemented, be highly detrimental to non-white Americans.
Sethi told USA Today, "Project 2025 is a plan about how to regulate and control people of color, including how they organize, work, play and live. It seeks to regulate what they do with their bodies, how they advocate for their rights, and how they build family and community — all while disregarding the historical injustices and contemporary persecution they have experienced."
Harriot argues that Project 2025 is full of ideas that have been promoted by white supremacists and white nationalists.
Harriot told USA Today, "One of the things that you see when you read Project 2025 is not just the racist dog whistles, but some ideas that were exactly lifted from some of the most extreme white supremacists ever."
Although Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, Hariot describes it as an "employee manual" for a second Trump Administration.
Harriot told USA Today, "There's some cognitive dissonance. Trump doesn't get elected by people who are just outwardly racist, and being associated with Project 2025 would dismantle his plausible deniability, because it's so blatantly racist."
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