A roadmap for Trump ‘supreme powers’
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-2) has announced the formation of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force, a new working group aimed at halting the controversial Project 2025. Described by critics as a far-right roadmap designed to grant former President Donald Trump “supreme” powers, Project 2025 would radically undermine reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, racial justice, free speech, and other democratic institutions and freedoms.
The newly formed task force will serve as a central hub for pro-democracy members of Congress, civil society, and affected communities to coordinate efforts in examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting the initiative.
“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,” Huffman said. “We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late.”
The Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank, is leading Project 2025 with support from over 100 conservative groups and funding from entities like DonorsTrust. This coalition, which includes the Center for Renewing America and the Alliance Defending Freedom, seeks to dismantle democratic institutions and enforce radical policies against the majority’s will. Critics argue that the coalition, composed of election deniers and conspiracy theorists, aims to strip away rights ranging from voting to reproductive freedoms.
Further, with Trump falsely claiming that America has become racist toward whites, the convicted felon and former president is primarily responsible for a U.S. Supreme Court that has decimated policies that were put in place to help level the playing field for African Americans.
The Stop Project 2025 Task Force includes a diverse group of Democratic leaders who are at the forefront of many issues currently under attack. Founding members alongside Huffman are Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu of California, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Rep. Judy Chu of California, Equality Caucus and Labor Caucus Chair Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Diana DeGette of Colorado, Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and Ranking Member of Oversight Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal of Washington.
“Project 25 is a radical, extreme, pro-authoritarianism plan pushed by conservatives who are desperate to take our country backwards,” Lieu insisted. “It attacks our nation’s founding principles, such as our system of checks and balances, freedom of speech and of the press, and separation of church and state.”
Project 2025 includes a comprehensive strategy with several components, such as a list of radical policy changes across the federal government, a blueprint for increasing presidential authority to implement right-wing policies, a database of right-wing ideologues ready to enforce these policies, and training programs to prepare staff for enacting the agenda. The initiative would purge civil servants who are not aligned with the agenda, centralize power in the presidency, and enact harsh immigration policies.
“Project 2025 is the product of a coordinated effort by extremists who want to strip away protections for minority communities, including LGBTQI+ people, and undermine the foundations of our democracy,” Rep. Pocan stated. “I look forward to working with members of this task force to thwart Project 2025’s extreme vision for the country.”
Patrick Gaspard, President of the Center for American Progress, called Project 2025 “an authoritarian playbook that threatens the system of checks and balances that has fortified America.”
