Project 2025 report was unveiled in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation and supported by 100+ conservative organisations, but left-wing opposition to the document exploded when Trump took the lead over Biden in the polling earlier this year. The NZ media have also attacked it – including just this week by the taxpayer-funded Radio NZ. We do a fact-check. You can probably guess the result!
TRANSCRIPT:
When I was in the United States recently there was a lot of discussion in the media around Project 2025.
In fact during my visit we actually visited the Heritage Foundation which produced Project 2025 and I even got my photo taken there.
The Heritage Foundation, formed in 1973, first produced policy plans for future Republican administrations in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was about to take office. It has produced similar documents in connection with subsequent presidential elections, including in 2016, when Trump won the presidency.
Their website says their “mission is to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense“.
The Project 2025 report was unveiled in April 2023 supported by 100+ organisations, but left wing opposition to the document exploded when Trump took the lead over Biden in the polling. So it’s not the document per se that’s the issue. It’s the document plus Trump.
Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation is the enemy of the left because its’s a conservative think-tank and because of that, it’s therefore the enemy of most of the corporate Media.
Now, I didn’t think it was worth discussing it in New Zealand with you because most people wouldn’t be aware of it and possibly not even interested in it, but then this week (and despite the fact that it was released at the beginning of last year), the state broadcaster radio New Zealand did a lengthy piece on it which says to me that it is something worse discussing , because if the Media is wanting to attack it, then it’s likely that you’ll agree with the document. so let’s check it out
And then I checked back and noticed that in July, Stuff then a week later the NZ Herald and then a week after that 1News had covered it. And 2 weeks after that, it’s Radio NZ’s turn. So it’s not a breaking news story. It’s almost like a coordinated hit piece. Gotta love these independent media corporates!
As you can see immediately from the article, the implication is – this is all about Donald Trump and that JD Vance. And the article has an opening line that says – A controversial document called “Project 2025” has been making waves in the US presidential race.
Project 2025 is a proposed “presidential transition project” crafted by the conservative American think tank the Heritage Foundation which they describe as “the conservative movement’s unified effort to be ready for the next conservative Administration to govern at 12:00 noon, January 20, 2025″.
The “Mandate for Leadership” document, which was first released in early 2023, is a whopping 922-page manifesto available online here which lays out a plan for radically overhauling the US federal government. More than 100 authors and contributors crafted the plan.
In the introduction, Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts writes, “If conservatives want to save the country, we need a bold and courageous plan. This book is the first step in that plan”.
Roberts says the four fronts of the plan are to “Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”; “Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”; “Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”, and to “secure our God-given individual rights to live freely”.
Yeah I know. You’re saying – great. Sounds excellent. What’s the issue.
It continues
The 900-page plan is too big for most to digest in one sitting, but there are several proposals that stick out and have been heavily publicised.
Among them, Project 2025 calls for for criminalising pornography, disbanding the US Education and Homeland Security departments, rejecting abortion as healthcare and ending climate protections.
So what are the phrases they’re specifically against:
Among specifics listed in the document:
Yep they believe that since the Department was created, educational outcomes have not improved, and the American school system has increasingly fallen behind other countries. Giving more control back to state and local governments and expanding school choice would improve education outcomes for all Americans, especially underprivileged communities.
Superb!
Well, that’s correct. And it’s not ending the care. It’s changing it to something far better.
Yes that’s because medical abortions both kill the unborn child but can also harm the woman. That’s nothing new for a pro-life organisation
In other words, a conservative thinktank opposes late term abortions – and probably believes that a heartbeat law is appropriate. Excellent.
Which is false. I’ll come back to that.
This sounds awesome. No wonder the media hated it. No wonder Radio NZ isn’t too keen on it.
Heritage head Kevin Roberts responded to all the lies being told in the media.
Yep the only correct one is eliminating the Ministry of Education – probably for the same reason that we want to get rid of our Ministry of Education and do a clean out.
In fact The Heritage Foundation did a big long post on social media rebutting all the lies that the left and the media had been quoting.
And I did a little fact check on a few statements in the Radio NZ report.
So they said
Ban contraceptives:
FALSE Mandate for Leadership says nothing about banning or restricting contraception. It does talk about funding though.
“strongly curtail access” of abortion:
FALSE Mandate for Leadership calls for the government to comply with laws that prevent federal funding of abortion. It also calls for federal support for alternatives to abortion, including adoption.
Ending climate protections:
FALSE Mandate for Leadership advocates policies that will produce economic growth through abundant, affordable energy. Famers, hunters, and fishers know how to protect our environment better than D.C. bureaucrats. The Biden administration’s relentless focus on climate has made America less competitive and wasted crucial taxpayer dollars.
Defund Homeland Security
FALSE because they don’t mention that they want a standalone Cabinet-level agency instead. The suggestion by Radio NZ is the disestablishment of homeland security.
Mass deportation of immigrants:
MISLEADING Mandate supports an orderly and lawful immigration system. It supports the removal of those who have violated our immigration laws and an end to President Biden’s border crisis and enforce immigration laws.
End civil rights and DEI protections in government: (which Radio NZ claimed)
MOSTLY FALSE Mandate for Leadership calls for respecting the civil rights of all Americans, but advocates for the end of divisive, race-based, anti-American propaganda in the federal workforce.
Now Kamala is desperate to try to link Trump to Heritage and to Project 2025.
And they showed this image – “I know nothing about Project 2025”
Then they showed this speech – from 2022. Before Project 2025 was even written
Now the Radio NZ said:
Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has blasted the “extreme” agenda on the campaign trail, asking, “Can you believe they put that in writing?”
And they pointed to this speech by Kamala
The only problem is that she lied. Her campaign admitted it.
A Harris campaign official said the campaign has ‘made a deliberate decision to brand all of Trump’s policies’ as ‘Project 2025,’ since they believe ‘it has stuck with voters.’
Even her supportive newspapers had to admit it. Not once but twice.
Even the left wing USA Today admitted the lack of connection
But that hasn’t stopped the Democrat party making the link, and dumb reporters at Radio NZ repushing the narrative. Terrifying. Dystopian. Donald Trump’s blueprint. Trump’s plan to be a dictator.
But guess what – not a hint of a fact check by Radio NZ. Nope – don’t expect fact checks on the left.
Only Trump lies eh.
Now Trump has denied involvement. And I bet he hasn’t read it. But it’s also not helpful when he labels his side as “radical”.
And here’s some specific differences – which even CNN acknowledges! On abortion. And on gay marriage. Clear differences between what Project 2025 says and what Trump’s platform says.
The BBC also admitted that there were differences between policies in Project 2025 and Trump’s policies.
However, Radio NZ’s moral panic continued and they said:
Trump is mentioned by name dozens of times in the full Project 2025 document, a search shows.
Yep – Trump is mentioned 311 times in the 900+ page document.
I did a word search also on Biden? 375 times. Yes, Biden is mentioned more times than Trump. Classic.
Obama 76, Reagan 71. Perhaps Reagan helped write it – oh wait, he’s dead.
A CNN review found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration took part in Project 2025.
Wow – who would have believed that conservatives who were part of the Trump administration or just advisors morphed to another conservative organisation when their time at the White House ended. Who would have thought!!! I know some Labour MPs who are now working for unions. Absolutely unbelievable eh.
It’s pretty clear just by the choice of photos who Radio NZ is rooting for eh. Very obvious.
This whole exercise reveals two things:
It’s because they hate Project 2025 so much that you will probably love it.
