Expert Warns of Authoritarian Risks in Project 2025 Handbook
Courtesy: Forbes
Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat has raised concerns among conspiracy theorists by revealing what she describes as “one of the most alarming things” about Project 2025. This initiative, led by the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation, includes a handbook outlining what former President Donald Trump was unable to achieve during his tenure as POTUS.
In an interview with Katie Phang on MSNBC on Wednesday, June 3, Ben-Ghiat highlighted the project’s troubling implications. She explained, “They got a slow start […] so their codeword is ‘day one.’ One thing that’s very important for people to realize…It’s always more people. They use one group to have the justification to build the repressive infrastructure like the camps, the transit camps, whatever they’re going to do. But be assured, and this is the history of authoritarianism, many groups of people will be targeted to be in that.”
According to Snopes, Project 2025 is a conservative action plan designed to reverse policies implemented under President Biden if Trump is re-elected. The document has generated significant controversy, fueling conspiracy theories about its content. Experts interpret it as a potential guide for authoritarianism, with concerns that it could negatively impact the queer community, women’s reproductive health, and environmental protection.
The New York Times Magazine reported that Kevin D. Roberts, who took over the Heritage Foundation in 2021, suggested the project’s goals are about “institutionalizing Trumpism.” Roberts stated, “The Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.”
When asked about the foundation’s goals, Roberts said, “While much ink has been spilled about Heritage no longer believing in peace through strength, that’s not true. But I don’t want to dismiss the part of your question about the shift in the conservative movement toward more skepticism, if not restraint, in foreign policy, and I think a lot of that is prudent.”
He continued, “It’s a presidential transition project, which means that if there’s a conservative who wins — and I mean, frankly, if President Biden wanted to use it, we would love it. It just seems unlikely. Maybe someone in the center. I think if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Senator Joe Manchin somehow wins the election, and I think both will be running, they might be open to it.
But the point is to hasten the hiring of aligned personnel and hasten the implementation of conservative policy. And that includes hastening the overturning, via executive order, of what we believe are wrong policies of the current administration.” It is worth noting that Project 2025 has not been publicly endorsed by Trump, leaving its future impact uncertain.
