What is Project 2025, the extreme right-wing wish list being compared to The Handmaid’s Tale?
It’s a regular occurrence these days to come across users online comparing the current US political climate to the likes of the dystopian drama television series The Handmaid’s Tale. Things are feeling incredibly worrisome right now and recent conversations regarding a conservative blueprint called ‘Project 2025’ have only intensified people’s fears.
The first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was obviously incredibly scary to witness. Watching two men well past their prime beefing each other about golf and altogether embarrassing themselves in front of an entire nation was, well, truly a sight to see.
And while I’m also of the opinion that Biden should step aside as the Democratic candidate, I have to back him, especially when you consider the absolutely abhorrent nature of Trump’s right-wing policy wishlist. I am, of course, talking about Project 2025. The brainchild of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, Project 2025 is arguably one of the most disturbing and frightening party platforms I’ve ever seen. Let’s dissect some of the most worrying specifics.
Look. We know Biden is looking rough and it’s worrisome. But project 2025 is more worrisome. I’d rather him make decision in a damn hospital bed than be on the next season of the damn Handmaids Tale.
— lexie (@elderemo_mama) June 28, 2024
What is Project 2025?
In short, Project 2025 is a 900-page-long conservative manifesto, all geared towards helping Trump—if he were to be elected—to crush and demolish countless Democratic institutions within the US that the government once thought of as crucial to society’s prosperity.
First unveiled in 2022, Project 2025 is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Presidential Transition Project’ and primarily consists of different policy proposals, many of which grant the president much more executive power.
For example, as explained by the BBC’s breakdown, one of the project’s biggest ideas is “unitary executive theory.” This, in practice, would put almost all of the federal bureaucracy under the control of the president. Rather than having institutions such as the Department of Justice as independent agencies, they would answer directly to the president’s whims.
This concept is not only horrifically frightening but also feels like a direct contradiction to the Constitution’s direct instructions of separating the executive from the other government branches.
This ‘streamline’ proposal also calls for eliminating job protections for thousands of government employees, who would then be replaced by political appointees.
Another particularly worrisome aspect of Project 2025 is the way in which it considers Christianity, and specifically its role in government and policy-making. Anyone remember the ol’ separation of church and state? Yeah well, in the Presidential Transition Project, that would not really exist.
Christian nationalism has obviously been on the rise for quite some time now, with more and more US citizens wanting Christianity baked into every aspect of American life. Project 2025 aims to make that come true.
As expertly conveyed by the Boston Review, this policy platform argues that the ‘woke agenda’ has become the most dominant theme in the current administration and that what’s needed is a complete 360 turnaround which places focus back on the nuclear family. This is, of course, code for ‘let’s bring back white supremacy, economic inequality, and traditional values’. With this emphasis on religion, LGBTQIA+ communities, women, and communities of colour, are naturally going to be one of the biggest targets.
Project 2025 is a theoretical manifestation of everything we have feared for the past few years. Conservative extremism is growing to such an extent that policies and concepts that were once deemed unimaginable and dystopian are now genuine possibilities.
How have people reacted to Project 2025 online?
Celebrities, politicians, and ordinary citizens alike have been taking to social media to share their reactions to the controversial plan. One significant reaction came from Democratic US Representative Jared Huffman who, on 11 June 2024, announced that he would be assembling a task force to stop Project 2025.
In an official statement, Huffman said: “Project 2025 is more than an idea, it’s a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will. This is an unprecedented embrace of extremism, fascism, and religious nationalism, orchestrated by the radical right and its dark money backers. We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late.”
The fear of the project has also spread to X:
Project 2025 may be the greatest threat to our democracy that has ever existed. pic.twitter.com/aB7e33YFo7
— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) July 3, 2024
WTF??? The leader of Trump’s project 2025 plan just made a chilling threat “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” WHAT!? This is insane. We cannot allow Trump to win. pic.twitter.com/z1XZoOM0t6
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) July 3, 2024
John Oliver on Project 2025 and a second Trump term.
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) June 18, 2024
I was going to clip this segment out into shorter sections but decided to keep it together because it's too important and, frankly, it should terrify you. pic.twitter.com/Kaqo07lurB
Moreover, after Taraji P. Henson brought up Project 2025 at the BET Awards on Sunday 30 June and urged people to vote due to how dire the situation was, Avengers actor Mark Ruffalo took to X to share his own thoughts on the proposal.
Ruffalo wrote: “Project 2025 is not a game, it’s white Christian nationalism. It is the Sharia Law of the ‘Christian’ crazy people who aren’t Christian at all but want to control every aspect of your life through their narrow and exclusionary interpretation of Christ’s egalitarian, inclusive, and kindly teachings.”
“Don’t be fooled by Project 2025’s extremist and perverse ideology. Trump is bringing it to all our lives: abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of education, and equality between the races and genders—GONE. Forced birth and forced religion. Trump’s American Taliban,” the actor continued.
Day by day, I’m taken aback by the sheer audacity of the far-right conservative movement in the US. Not only do they have no shame, they have no limit to their ambition. America has always been a scary place, but recently it’s turning into something that the entire world should be woken up to.
