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Leading up to the election, you’d probably heard the term “Project 2025” countless times, used to broadly refer to the myriad of policies Donald Trump and his cabinet intend to enact if elected. Well, now he has been elected, so how serious is Trump about this Project 2025, and what exactly does it aim to do?

The Project 2025 agenda actually has four parts to it: a database of conservative personnel to be appointed into government, an educational tool to train these people, an unpublished playbook for Trump’s first 180 days as president, and a written blueprint for the ideal conservative government, the latter being what this article focuses on. Created by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, Mandate for Leadership is a 920-page manifesto detailing the next republican president’s transition to a conservative America. It is filled with sweeping criticisms about the left’s agenda and offers idealistic solutions for these said problems. 

Mandate for Leadership isn’t a new development—the Heritage Foundation has been trying to inscribe the conservative agenda since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1980, when they wrote the first Mandate. Over forty years later, Heritage has created the most ambitious version of Mandate by far, this time emboldened by the preceding Trump presidency and equipped with the intel of his former Cabinet members. In other words, Mandate is not just an idea; it’s a movement backed by decades of research and experience, and it has a strong chance of thriving in the upcoming presidency. This article will delve into how Mandate for Leadership seeks to impact the major issues of today.

Immigration

Mandate aims to crack down on border control and immigration status laws. It seeks to reduce the number of immigrants in the U.S. by diminishing most forms of legal immigration, such as by shrinking the availability of legal pathways, retracting refugee admissions, and invalidating temporary protected status (temporary asylum granted to those facing hardships in their home countries). As for immigrants in custody of the U.S., Mandate proposes redirecting both attention and funds away from standards of care for these people. It advocates for removing the Flores Settlement, which provides rights for children and families in custody. It also would reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires that all migrants seeking asylum remain in Mexico until their U.S. court date, essentially nullifying their attempt to escape from danger in their home countries. 

In addition to these policies, Mandate proposes undertaking a major deportation initiative. Undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be eligible and encouraged to be taken into custody by ICE officials. Meanwhile, Homeland Security officers would take over focus on immigration crimes, freeing up ICE attention for the deportation effort. The budget to detain these undocumented people would be increased, while standards for holding camps would be decreased, essentially allowing for tens of thousands of people to live in dehumanizing conditions. Overall, rights for all immigrants would be greatly sacrificed. 

Abortion

Mandate’s policies also change U.S. abortion access. One major initiative intends to ban abortion medication by urging the FDA to retract its approval of it. These drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, are backed by science and an increasingly popular method of abortion as a result of Roe V Wade’s overturn. The ban would strip the shelves of these medications and, subsequently, people’s right to safe abortion. Additionally, Mandate proposes use of the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that prohibits the mailing of materials used to produce abortion, such as these drugs.

Another detrimental policy is the expansion of “conscience laws”, which allows care providers to deny patients based on their own personal beliefs. This would affect abortion access, and also the availability of gender affirming care for transgender people. 

Education

The Education Department would also see changes. First, Mandate intends to majorly defund parts of the system, including Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which aids low-income districts to help meet academic standards. This defunding would constrict education budgets, leading to teacher shortages, and deterred academic progress of about 2.8 million vulnerable students nationwide, according to NEA Today. Mandate also calls for the end of Head Start programs, which help prepare predominantly underprivileged children for academic success.

In addition to ruthless budget cuts, Mandate doubles down on censorship in schools. This would be done not only through book banning, but by deeming librarians or educators who distribute books discussing transgenderism to be “sex offenders”. This would also be done by scrapping the revisions made to Title IX of ESEA that changed the term “sex” to mean “sexual orientation and gender identity”. This seemingly small change actually works to harm LGBTQ+ students by erasing their identities from the legal documents that are supposed to protect them. As part of this initiative, the “nonbinary” category would be removed from school-issued surveys, and educators would be forced to call students strictly by their birth-given names and pronouns. Mandate also deems critical race theory to be divisive and encourages its erasure from curriculum, which would shelter students from the very real issue of systemic racism in America.

Economy

Mandate of course would lead to changes to the economy. We would see significant funding cuts to health coverage and food assistance programs. Both Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program are in danger of being cut by about half the amount of money, meaning millions of Americans would lose coverage. Additionally, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as food stamps, would face funding cuts, as Mandate vows to rescind the changes made to SNAP that expanded coverage, and more accurately accommodated the cost of a healthy diet. Under the same initiative, summer food assistance programs that help low income families when school isn’t in session would be slashed. 

In general, Mandate seeks to defederalize most programs, leaving it up to states where they put their money, creating more opportunities for sacrifice, and increasing the gap between wealthy and poor states. This also means disinvestment from vital public services, such as education, environmental, housing, and even transportation, that keep our people safe and healthy and are keystones to a strong economy. And to top it all off, Mandate preaches unnecessary and expensive tax cuts for the wealthy.

Climate

Climate is affected by Mandate as well. Among cutting funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, It advocates that the U.S. step away from international forums for creating solutions, such as the Paris Agreement, which has helped to significantly reduce projected global temperature. This also includes the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the U.S. has been a member of since its creation. More broadly, the U.S. is urged to withdraw from the World Bank, which would create a myriad of issues, including weakened funding for climate issues globally.

Foreign Policy

Mandate suggests that the U.S. increase funding for nuclear modernization and expansion. The U.S. would up defense against China, citing the nation as a harmful dominating power that needs to be deterred. The document is vague regarding Russia and Ukraine, but vows to leave the matter largely up to the president himself. Based on Trump and Vance’s previous statements on the war, this could mean weakened funding for Ukraine. Mandate also declares unwavering support for Israel.

As mentioned previously, the U.S. is urged to withdraw from various global agreements and organizations. This would overall decrease global engagement and undermine the success of global democracy.

Mandate for Leadership clearly has ambitious goals, but with a comprehensive plan like Project 2025, these ideas have a strong chance of being achieved. Project 2025 could be detrimental to the U.S. in every single aspect. It’s important to be informed of the specific ways in which this plan will change our country, so that we can be better prepared to resist. 

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