Project 2025: what is it and why does Trump say he knows nothing about it?

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow holds up a Project 2025 book as she speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.& AP/Alamy by David Hastings Dunn, University of Birmingham Think-tank policy proposals rarely make the headlines, but 2024 is no ordinary year and Project 2025 is no usual set of plans for government. This is a not-very-secret set of plans that Republicans have put together in order to be ready to leap into the White House, if elected, and instantly get to work. But the twist in this tale is that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he doesn’t know anything about it, or does he? Incongruously, Trump has declared both that: “I know nothing about Project 2025” and “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying”. This despite many of its authors of the document, prepared by right-wing think-tank the Heritage Foundation, having a close association with Trump and his inner circle, and many expecting to receive jobs if he is elected. One of the authors recently even said that Trump had given it his blessing. While Trump may be trying to keep Project 2025 under his hat, it seems the Democrats certainly aren’t. It was referenced...