At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a city that has hosted the event more times than any other since its inception in 1832, Democratic politicians have placed a spotlight on "Project 2025," a comprehensive conservative policy agenda. This focus comes as part of a strategy to link the document to former President Donald Trump, despite his attempts to distance himself from it.
Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania state representative, took center stage with an oversized prop representing the 900-plus page document. Kenyatta criticized the economic policies outlined in Project 2025, stating:
"It's a radical plan to drag us backwards, bankrupt the middle class and raise prices on working families like yours and mine."
[[Malcolm Kenyatta, Pennsylvania State Representative]]
He highlighted proposals that would potentially increase federal taxes on middle-class families, prevent Medicare from negotiating lower prescription drug prices, and reduce overtime pay protections established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank founded in 1973, led the creation of Project 2025. The document, officially titled "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise," outlines plans for a potential second Trump administration. These include dismantling the Department of Education (established in 1979), implementing tax cuts, limiting abortion access, increasing White House influence over the Justice Department (founded in 1870), reducing climate change mitigation efforts, promoting fossil fuels, and altering the federal workforce structure.
Despite Trump's public denials of involvement with Project 2025, Democrats have pointed to his connections with the Heritage Foundation. In April 2022, Trump shared a private flight with the foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, and later referenced their upcoming policy proposals in a speech.
The Democratic strategy to highlight Project 2025 extends beyond Kenyatta's presentation. Michigan State Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow and Senator Bernie Sanders also addressed the document in their convention speeches. The Democratic National Committee, founded in 1848, projected criticisms of Project 2025 onto the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, completed in 2009 and situated along the Chicago River, whose flow was famously reversed in 1900.
In response to the Democrats' focus on Project 2025, Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, dismissed the strategy as "insanity" and a "boogeyman," claiming Trump has "nothing to do with it."
As the convention continues, more speakers are scheduled to address various aspects of Project 2025. Governor Jared Polis of Colorado will discuss the document's implications for personal freedoms, while Representative Jason Crow, also from Colorado, will focus on its national security proposals.
The emphasis on Project 2025 at the Democratic National Convention underscores the document's perceived importance in shaping the narrative for the upcoming presidential election. Pennsylvania, Kenyatta's home state, remains a crucial battleground, having played a pivotal role in presidential elections since the 1950s.
As the political discourse unfolds, both parties continue to leverage various platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), founded in 2006, to communicate their messages and rally support for their respective causes.