How much of Project 2025 has Trump enacted?

[0:00] The director of the Office of Management and Budget was on Capitol Hill today, [0:04] making the case for the Trump administration's proposed budget for next year. [0:08] Russ Vogt argued that a big military spending increase means about a 10 percent cut to domestic [0:14] programs. [0:15] SEN. [0:17] SEN. [0:18] SEN. [0:19] SEN. [0:20] SEN. [0:21] SEN. [0:22] SEN. [0:23] SEN. [0:24] SEN. [0:25] SEN. [0:26] SEN. [0:27] SEN. [0:28] SEN. [0:29] SEN. [0:30] SEN. [0:31] SEN. [0:32] SEN. [0:33] SEN. [0:34] SEN. [0:35] SEN. [0:36] SEN. [0:37] SEN. [0:38] SEN. [0:39] SEN. [0:40] SEN. [0:41] SEN. [0:42] SEN. [0:43] SEN. [0:44] SEN. [0:45] SEN. [0:46] SEN. [0:47] SEN. [0:48] SEN. [0:49] SEN. [0:50] SEN. [0:51] SEN. [0:52] SEN. [0:53] SEN. [0:54] SEN. [0:55] SEN. [0:56] SEN. [0:57] SEN. [0:58] SEN. [0:59] SEN. [1:00] was behind it. The Heritage Foundation, which is a conservative think tank here in Washington, [1:04] authored this. And it was really a blueprint for the presidency should Trump win again in 2024. [1:11] And Russ Vogt was one of the main authors and architects of Project 2025. In it, he talks [1:17] about executive powers. Now he heads up the Office of Management and Budget, and he has a huge amount [1:23] of power there over the budget and the personnel decisions happening inside this administration. [1:27] There are a number of other people within the administration right now, too, who had sections [1:33] in Project 2025, including Peter Navarro. He wrote a section on trade. He's now one of the president's [1:38] top trade advisers. Brendan Carr wrote a section about changes to the FCC. He now oversees that [1:44] agency and has been pretty aggressively going after TV channels. And then Trump's border czar, [1:50] Tom Homan, is also listed as a contributor in there. The president himself, though, insisted [1:56] during that campaign cycle that he didn't know what Project 2025 was. Listen to what he said [2:00] in July of that year. [2:01] I don't know what the hell it is. It's Project 25. He's involved in Project. And then they read [2:08] some of the things, and they are extreme. I mean, they're seriously extreme. But I don't know anything [2:13] about it. I don't want to know anything about it. But what they do is misinformation and disinformation. [2:19] But, Amna, many of the policies in Project 2025 have been tracked in the last year or so that the [2:26] president has been back in office. Many of them have been implemented. [2:29] Meanwhile, as we just reported, the president's budget calls for a large increase in military [2:34] spending. That comes as the U.S. is in the middle of this war with Iran that he launched. Is the [2:39] current Trump foreign policy in line with what was in Project 2025? [2:44] Well, Russ Vogt said today on the Hill that there was a more than 40 percent budget increase for this [2:50] next fiscal year for military spending. And that would help pay for, among other things, [2:55] new Navy ships to grow the fleet to 400. That's an even bigger number than what Project 2025 called [3:01] for. They called for 355 Navy ships. Project 2025 says that China is the biggest foreign threat to [3:10] the United States. In Project 2025, they called it a totalitarian enemy. President Trump, of course, [3:16] is going to go to China soon next month. But Iran is mentioned as a concern. It's mentioned more than [3:21] 50 times in Project 2025. There's a section devoted to it that talks about the opposition to the regime [3:27] criticizing the Biden and Obama administration policies, especially the JCPOA and some of their [3:34] easing of sanctions. It says that the Iranian people deserved a democratic government, but it's up to [3:39] them to decide that. Here's one quote. The U.S. must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear technology [3:45] and delivery capabilities and more broadly block Iranian ambitions. Certainly seems to be hewing to [3:51] what the president has been doing so far. Also mentions leveraging more sanctions on Iran. The first [3:58] Trump administration did that. And we heard yesterday from the Treasury Secretary that the Trump [4:02] administration is looking at doing that again. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, we know a large part [4:06] of the Project 2025 domestic policy agenda has already been implemented. What do we know about [4:12] that? There's analysis from the Center for Progressive Reform that says that the Trump [4:16] administration has initiated or completed 53 percent of Project 2025's domestic agenda as of February this [4:25] year. That's 283 of the 532 recommended actions. Let's look at two of these examples. One of them on [4:33] LGBTQ front here. Project 2025 directed the NIH to fund studies on negative effects of gender [4:41] affirming care. One of the first things that the president signed as an executive order when he [4:46] came back into office was directing HHS to, quote, publish a review of the existing literature on best [4:52] practices for promoting the health of children who assert gender dysphoria, rapid onset gender dysphoria, [4:58] or other identity-based confusion. Amna, another domestic policy point, too, was on reproductive [5:05] rights. The Center for Reproductive Rights says that 85 percent of Trump's reproductive health actions [5:11] have stemmed from these recommendations. One of them prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving [5:17] Medicaid funds. That happened last summer when Congress passed their budget bill. That was in there. [5:22] That's our White House correspondent, Liz Landers. An important update. Liz, thank you. [5:26] Of course. Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. Donate now, or even better, [5:45] start a monthly contribution today.