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Newly discovered Project 2025 training videos raise concerns

Posted on by darion

A trove of previously undisclosed training videos produced for Project 2025, a controversial initiative aimed at grooming right-wing candidates for positions in a potentially conservative presidential administration, has been released, raising alarm among government watchdogs and Democratic groups.

The revelation comes amid increased efforts by former President Donald Trump to distance himself from the project, as well as recent leadership changes at The Heritage Foundation, which spearheads Project 2025.

The videos, which total more than 14 hours of content in 23 separate recordings, were obtained by ProPublica on Saturday and documented by a person with access to the materials. They offer an unprecedented look at the preparations conservative groups are making to quickly implement far-reaching policy changes if the Republican candidate wins this year’s election.

“You want to know what’s in the never-before-seen PROJECT 2025 training videos that are supposed to prepare Trump’s future nominees for ‘day one’? We have them. 23 different videos. 14 hours of footage,” ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday morning.

Project 2025 has come under increasing criticism in recent weeks following the resignation of its director, Paul Dans, and Trump’s attempts to disavow any connection to the initiative.

In the previous statement NewsweekTrump’s campaign said it would “greatly welcome” reports of the demise of Project 2025, emphasizing that the project had nothing to do with the campaign and should in no way be associated with the former president.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign by email on Sunday seeking additional comment.

Despite these efforts at social distancing, recently released videos suggest that preparations are still underway to train a cadre of Conservative political appointees. The videos instruct potential appointees on a wide range of topics, from basic management procedures to more controversial strategies for promoting Conservative policies and combating perceived resistance from civil servants.

Climate Change Skepticism and Political Disengagement

In one video, Bethany Kozma, a former Trump administration official, downplays the severity of climate change and characterizes efforts to combat it as a means of population control. In the same video, Katie Sullivan, an acting assistant attorney general under Trump, calls for eliminating gender advisory positions created by the Biden administration at federal agencies.

The statements are consistent with broader policy goals outlined in Project 2025’s sweeping “Mandate for Leadership,” which proposes sweeping changes such as eliminating the Department of Education, cutting Medicaid and making it easier to fire and replace civil servants.

The plan also calls for reversing many of the Biden administration’s climate policies, rolling back abortion and LGBTQ+ laws and making changes to education standards.

Trump Administration Alumni Take Prominent Place

Despite Trump’s recent attempts to distance himself from Project 2025, the instructional videos frequently feature people with ties to his administration.

Of the 36 speakers who appeared on the tapes, 29 worked for Trump in some capacity — on his transition team, in his administration or in his current re-election campaign.

Lessons learned and strategies shared

Many of the speakers in the videos acknowledge the missteps of the early days of the Trump administration, particularly in staffing and the inexperience of some political appointees, and they present the work of Project 2025 as crucial preparation for avoiding similar pitfalls in a future conservative administration.

Rick Dearborn, who helped lead Trump’s 2016 transition team, has stressed the importance of having a database of potential candidates for office, reportedly calling it “a luxury we couldn’t afford” during the previous transition.

Some of the advice offered in the videos seems to diverge from traditional conservative positions. David Burton, an economic policy expert at The Heritage Foundation, advocates for more staffing at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to better oversee and potentially limit regulation by other federal agencies.

Navigating a Perceived Hostile Environment

A recurring theme in the videos is the notion that conservative nominees should expect hostility within the federal government and from the mainstream media. Speakers often characterize Washington, D.C., as an environment hostile to conservative values ​​and warn of potential persecution.

To counter this perceived hostility, speakers offer a variety of strategies. They include empowering political staff over government officials, removing potentially controversial content from personal social media accounts and focusing media engagement efforts on conservative outlets rather than mainstream news organizations.

Public opinion and the design of the future

According to a Navigator Research poll, Project 2025 proved to be extremely unpopular with voters, with only 11 percent of respondents responding positively to it.

Following Dans’ resignation, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts will now lead Project 2025. Roberts reportedly stated that the project has achieved its goals of uniting conservative organizations to create a unified vision. He noted that the project is expected to complete its policy development after the bipartisan conventions later this year, according to its original schedule set in April 2022.

As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the emergence of these Project 2025 training videos is likely to intensify debate about the potential policy directions and management approaches of the incoming Republican administration. While supporters argue the initiative is necessary preparation, critics see it as a blueprint for radical changes to the operations and policies of the federal government.

The Heritage Foundation and most of the people featured in the videos reportedly did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment for this story. Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman who appears in one of the videos, said Agenda 47 is the campaign’s only official policy agenda.

Heritage Foundation
An exterior view of The Heritage Foundation building on July 30, 2024, in Washington, D.C. ProPublica has published hours of leaked secret Project 2025 training videos. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)