An onslaught of executive orders have come out of the Trump administration since inauguration day — from pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Accord, to trying to end birthright citizenship and denying the existence of transgender and nonbinary people.
That’s only a few of the orders signed at Trump’s desk on January 20, 2025. More recently he signed an executive order to house up to 30,000 “criminal migrants” in Guantanamo Bay, ordering the military to start preparing. This follows ICE raids across the country (some happening in our backyard) in Latino communities. These orders are filled with confusing language, rhetoric, and vague concepts of plans that are left up to Trump’s government to interpret and implement.
What all of the executive orders have in common is that they either came directly out of Project 2025 or have bits and pieces of it woven into the details. It’s not the first time The Heritage Foundation has tied itself to a president. Back in 1981, President Ronald Reagan implemented half of The Heritage Foundation’s conservative recommendations. The policy institute has written a new Mandate every election cycle since then. In 2016 when Trump was first voted into office, he implemented 64 percent of the foundation’s policies. It’s easy to imagine that in 2025, he’ll implement even more.
The largest looming threat is to our Department of Education — the executive order to shut it down is already in the works. Project 2025 outlines more funding for charter schools and less for public ones, taking away race and gender studies across the board, removing Title IX, and cutting loan forgiveness. This would benefit kids in rich areas and could decimate schools in underprivileged areas. And while Trump’s efforts to take away free school lunch programs (among others) has been pushed off for now, we’ll be seeing what the plans are for the DOE in the coming days.
More personally pressing is the threat to the media, starting with the U.S. Agency of Global Media (USAGM). Mora Namdar, now Trump’s assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, proposes federal regulation of the USAGM, major cuts to the agency’s funding and grant programs, direct oversight and reporting to the president and his administration, and taking down a “firewall” the USAGM has imposed to maintain journalistic integrity and independence. It’s not hard to fathom who’s next — and it’s not going to be his friend Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post; it likely won’t be any of the billionaire-owned newspapers.
And while Trump’s administration has already gone after January 6 prosecutors and now has its sights set on the FBI, there is much more in store for the Department of Justice (DOJ). Proposed Project 2025 policy would increase sentencing for immigrants, “terminate and recall all details of DOJ personnel” to see who fits into the conservative administration before getting congressional approval, and cut grant funding while tightening up their qualifications for awardees — meaning only those the Trump administration deems fit. They even get specific enough to remove “the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act” to go after people entering abortion clinics who, Project 2025 contributor Gene Hamiliton claims, “harass pro-life demonstrators.”
This could directly relate to the proposed increase in military funding for all branches and changes to the Department of Defense. Project 2025 proposes ending informal congressional notification of weapon deals, increasing nuclear weaponry power and production to get new technology to the battlefield, and to “eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory programs” in all military fields. Author Christopher Miller says Trump’s administration should “characterize the state and nonstate irregular threats facing the U.S. by region in the National Security Strategy” — which is so broadly undefined it could be anyone the administration deems a threat. It could mean going after women who enter abortion clinics or Trump’s political opponents.
This is just what’s been put into writing in the 900-page tome of directives produced for this administration. It doesn’t include Trump’s plan to make a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by his other billionaire friend Elon Musk. Trump’s already given Musk access to the Treasury Department — which means he and his team now have hundreds of millions of American’s bank accounts, tax data, Social Security numbers, and home addresses.
This comes after Elon Musk did a nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration — even a “Roman salute” is rooted in facism and has no real historical proof — and spoke to Germany’s far-right conservative party, the AFD, telling them to move on from the past, calling them “the best hope for the future of Germany.” Musk is also part of the oligarchy Biden warned us about that funded Trump’s campaign.
Firstly, it’s important to remember that the Trump administration is operating under a Shock and Awe doctrine to achieve its preset goals. It intentionally overwhelms the public and the media by creating chaos on multiple fronts and scattering people’s attention, just as they promised to do.
Secondly, many of Trump’s orders are illegal and are already facing backlash across the U.S. Lawmakers actively worked to block Trump’s executive order on tariffs, before he rescinded the ones imposed on Canada and Mexico, and lawmakers are poised to challenge other executive orders that arise.
Lastly, and most importantly, it’s not too late to make your voice heard. Protests are happening across the country. Focused movements like the 50501 day on February 5, 2025, will hold protests at all 50 state capitol buildings. City and state representatives’ contact information and positions are all public record. Reach out to them with your comments and concerns. It’s also not too late to educate yourself on tough topics like Project 2025. Do it before it becomes our reality, instead of after.
