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#dans

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Project 2025 ex-director condemns Heritage president’s ‘violent rhetoric’

The former director of the right-wing policy and personnel blueprint known as #Project2025 is
👉condemning what he sees as
“violent rhetoric” from Heritage Foundation President #Kevin #Roberts
and 🔸calling on Republican vice-presidential nominee JD #Vance to retract the foreword he wrote for Roberts’s book.

“If we’re going to ask the left to tone it down, we have to do our part as well,” #Paul #Dans, who led Project 2025 until July, said in an interview.

“There’s no place for this sort of violent rhetoric and bellicose taunting, especially in light of the fact that President Trump has now been subject to not one but two assassination attempts.”

Roberts, who took over Washington’s preeminent conservative think tank in 2021, declared ⭐️a “second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be,”
during an appearance on a pro-Trump podcast in July, before a gunman attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.

That same month, Roberts started marketing his book,
💥whose cover proposed “Burning Down Washington” and featured an image of a match.

washingtonpost.com/politics/20

The Washington Post · Project 2025 ex-director condemns Heritage president’s ‘violent rhetoric’By Isaac Arnsdorf

Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’

Rightwing criticism of Trump’s campaign staff has grown in recent weeks as the former president has sought to at least appear to moderate his position on some policy proposals and issues, including reproductive rights.

While there has been little direct criticism of Trump himself, a #FireLaCivita hashtag trended briefly on social media.

#Dans, who served for two years in the White House under Trump,
spearheaded work at the conservative #Heritage #Foundation thinktank that produced #Project2025.

The 922-page tome proposes an array of radical plans to reshape government – such as replacing tens of thousands of career civil servants with Trump loyalists, abolishing the education department and drastically restricting abortion and contraception.

The document has been described as a manifesto for Trump’s presidency,
and #Kevin #Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said in a podcast that the project would herald “a second revolution that would be #bloodless if the left allows it to be”.

As criticism grew, Trump eventually responded by claiming to disown the plan,
falsely stating he did not know its architects
– even though most used to work for him and he gave the keynote address to their annual conference
– and calling its suggestions “ridiculous and abysmal”.

LaCivita described the project as
“a pain in the ass”
at the Republican national conventionin Milwaukee.

A New York Times/CNN poll found 75% of American voters had heard of Project 2025,
while 63% strongly opposed its contents.

theguardian.com/us-news/articl

The Guardian · Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’By Robert Tait

The conservative policy director and attorney behind the Project 2025 manifesto took to the stage at a Republican National Convention sponsor's event
to mock liberals' fear over the conservative movement's plan to transform the federal government under a second Trump administration
— all while laying out a vision to take down the so-called "deep state."

"I think that that's what's really gotten under the left's collar,
is that this is really a way for us to make sure when we ultimately get in in the driver's seat,
that we're ready to move out," said Paul #Dans, the #Project2025 director who served as chief of staff and White House liaison at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump. 

Dans
— and former Trump administration employees who are championing Project 2025 ideas
— spoke Monday at an hours-long event hosted by the #Heritage #Foundation,
the activist think tank that has fueled the U.S. right-wing movement for decades and is now behind the 2025 Presidential Transition Project.

Dans repeatedly described Project 2025 as an antidote to the #deep #state that he described as behind everything from the COVID-19 pandemic to the attempted assassination of Trump over the weekend.

"Remember everyone who died from COVID?" Dans said.
"Remember that disastrous pullout in Afghanistan?
Even remember what happened on Saturday?

All these are products of this deep state, and we need to re-infuse political control over this bureaucracy.

And that's the importance of Project 2025."

Dans says the Biden campaign is pushing a "fake attachment" between Trump and Project 2025, which he said launched over two years ago.

"We are not running for president," Dans said. "President Trump is running for president. We're a group of private citizens advocating for better government."

He claimed the media has "debunked" any connection with Trump.

⭐️But CNN found that at least 140 former Trump administration employees have served in Project 2025 roles such as authors or contributors.
⭐️That includes six of his former Cabinet secretaries.

In total — CNN found "nearly 240 people had ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump."

Dans chastised the Biden campaign's Twitter account for sharing a list of some of those individuals.

"It's a loathsome abuse of power for the most powerful person in the world to direct fire on his fellow Americans," Dans said.

Trump, for his part, has called the project "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal," claiming he has no idea who's behind it and denies he has anything to do with it.

⭐️But in an April 2022 speech before the Heritage Foundation, Trump applauded them for “lay[ing] the groundwork” for his next administration.

⭐️“They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,” Trump said of the Heritage Foundation and their efforts to
– as they describe on the Project 2025 website
– “pave the way” for Trump’s next administration.

salon.com/2024/07/17/this-is-t

Project 2025 is a radical blueprint for a potential second Trump administration,
spearheaded by the right-wing Heritage Foundation.

The plan calls for withdrawing approval for the abortion pill,
banning pornography,
slashing corporate taxes,
abolishing the Department of Education,
replacing thousands of experienced federal workers with political appointees,
imposing a "biblically based… definition of marriage and families,"
and placing the Justice Department and other independent agencies under the direct control of the president. 

These and other provisions of Project 2025 are quite unpopular.

As Project 2025 has gained notoriety
— thanks to actor Taraji P. Henson and others
— Trump has sought to distance himself from the effort.

On July 5, Trump posted on Truth Social that he knows "nothing about Project 2025,"
has "no idea who is behind it,"
and has "nothing to do with them." 

This is false. 

The co-editors of Project 2025,
Paul #Dans and Steven #Groves,
both held high-ranking positions in the Trump administration.

Under Trump, Dans served as Chief of Staff at the Office of Personnel Management,
the agency responsible for staffing the federal government,
and was a senior advisor at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Groves served Trump in the White House as Deputy Press Secretary and Assistant Special Counsel. 

Project 2025's two associate directors, Spencer #Chretien and Troup #Hemenway, are also tightly connected with Trump.

Chretien was Special Assistant to President Donald J. Trump and Associate Director of Presidential Personnel,
"helping to identify, recruit, and place hundreds of political appointees at all levels of government."

Previously, Trump appointed Chretien to a position at HUD.

Hemenway also served as an Associate Director of Presidential Personnel and previously worked on Trump's 2016 campaign and Trump's 2016 transition team.  

Project 2025's 922-page policy agenda has 30 chapters and 34 authors.

Twenty-five of Project 2025's authors served as members of the Trump administration.

Another Project 2025 author, Stephen #Moore, was nominated by Trump to the Federal Reserve
but forced to withdraw "over his past inflammatory writings about women."

Further, William #Walton, the co-author of the chapter on the Department of the Treasury, was a key member of Trump's transition team. 

All told, of the 38 people responsible for writing and editing Project 2025,
31 were appointed or nominated to positions in the Trump administration and transition.

In other words, while Trump claims he has "nothing to do" with the people who created Project 2025, over 81% had formal roles in his first administration

popular.info/p/what-trump-does

Popular Information · What Trump doesn't want you to know about Project 2025By Judd Legum

Former Trump advisor #Stephen #Miller claimed he has
“never been involved with Project 2025” in a post on X on Saturday

However, a video on the Project 2025 YouTube channel says otherwise.

Following in Donald Trump’s footsteps, Miller tried to deny he has had any involvement with the plan, that has been described as, “ridiculous and abysmal,” by his former boss.

Unfortunately for Miller, he appears in a video on the Project 2025 website entitled
“Project 2025 Presidential Administration Academy.”

Miller addressed the Biden-Harris campaign X account which shared a screengrab of Miller in the video, telling followers on X
“I have never been involved with Project 2025, not one word. But keep hoaxing, losers. Hoaxes are all you have.”

Miller isn’t the only Trump administration official linked to Project 2025.

Former Trump assistant #Spencer #Chretien, former Trump Office of Personnel Management Chief of Staff #Paul #Dans and Trump advisor #Troup #Hemenway appear in the video
and are listed on the Project 2025 website as creators of the plan.

Trump campaign press secretary #Karoline #Leavitt also appears in the video right after Miller.

thedailybeast.com/former-trump

The Daily Beast · Former Trump Advisor Stephen Miller Squirms to Deny Involvement With Project 2025, Ad Says OtherwiseBy Owen Lavine