Project 2025 is the Christian nationalist version of a villain’s plot to take over the world in a James Bond film, Wajahat Ali said during a recent episode of the “State of Belief” podcast.
And Donald Trump is connected to the Heritage Foundation blueprint for authoritarian rule despite denials by the former president and his team, said Ali, author of Go Back to Where You Come From and Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become an American.
Wajahat Ali
“His fingerprints are all over it. Over a hundred leading influential conservative groups have backed it. It has the backing of the Koch brothers and leading conservative billionaires. And all of Trump’s minions are all over this project,” he said. “And he has praised the Heritage Foundation and the Heritage Foundation president has in turn praised Donald Trump.”
Ali, a New York Times guest columnist and frequent guest on conservative talk shows, joined podcast moderator and Interfaith Alliance President Paul Raushenbush for a discussion on Christian nationalism and presidential politics.
Amid the sudden and surging popularity of Vice President Kamala Harris’ likely Democratic presidential nomination, Trump and his advisers have stepped up claims the former president had nothing to do with Project 2025, a playbook for the next Republican administration to create a theocratic form of government with white, conservative Christianity at its core.
The force of official disavowals resulted in the July 30 announcement that former Trump adviser Paul Dans had resigned from the Heritage Foundation, where he had overseen Project 2025.
“They’re going to purge the government of anyone who is seen as not being loyal enough to Trump.”
But neither the foundation nor many of Trump’s most ardent supporters have abandoned the goals of Project 2025, Ali said. “Do not underestimate the fingerprints and the DNA of white Christian nationalism around this 900-page document. In this document, what they seek to do on day one of the Trump presidency is learn from the amateur mistakes of the 2016 Trump administration. The failed (Jan. 6, 2021) coup was a dress rehearsal. They’re going to purge the government of anyone who is seen as not being loyal enough to Trump.”
The plan includes specific directions on how “to completely gut and destroy the Department of Education” and “to destroy” the Environmental Protection Agency, among other federal institutions, Ali added. “It is a blueprint for power and a Trump dictatorship. And as we know, Trump said he will be dictator for a day. And what we know is dictators aren’t just dictators for a day. They are dictators for life.”
The flare-up over Project 2025 hasn’t been the only wrinkle in Trump’s presidential campaign, Ali said. “There is a palpable understanding on the right wing that this man is a misogynist and that this man has chosen another misogynist, JD Vance,” as his running mate.
Contributing to the perception is the controversy swirling around Vance for referring to Harris as a cat lady because she has no biological children. “The clip of him (Vance) talking about cat ladies has gone viral to the point where (“Friends” star) Jennifer Aniston, who doesn’t weigh into politics, has come out and said this is horrific that someone could say this. And when you lose Rachel (Aniston’s character), that means you’re a step away from losing ‘Karen,’” the slang term for an entitled, middle-class white woman.
“Republicans have underestimated the righteous rage of women.”
In addition to making it harder for conservatives to ignore the misogynists on the Republican presidential ticket, timing is playing into the hands of Harris’ swelling movement, Ali said. “You have a palpable energy from women, young people, people of color. Republicans have underestimated the righteous rage of women. They have not forgotten that Donald Trump is a rapist. They did not forget his misogyny against Hillary Clinton. They do not forget Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
Trump faces danger even among Republican women, he predicted. “There are women on the fence, independent women, even some conservative women, who may not be telling their Republican husbands they are going to vote for Kamala, or at the very least not vote for Donald.”
Raushenbush said he has long been curious about religious and political leaders initially opposed to Trump, even calling him dangerous, only to flip and become his most ardent supporters. He asked: “What’s your take on that?”
That kind of flip comes from a realization that Trump provides access to power and relevance, and from a willingness to “jettison any sort of morality, ethics, values, self-respect and kiss the ring” without caring who is alienated, Ali responded.
“What that’s inspired is a zero-sum mindset where it’s fight or flight, and they’re tripling down and they are going to win by any means necessary. They see Donald Trump as their flawed vessel and instrument that they can ride to power. So, it’s greed, power, relevance. This is why they’re supporting him.”
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