As of Wednesday, there are 111 days until Americans vote in the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 5. Between now and then, even more ink will be spilled regarding a policy blueprint drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation called Project 2025, which was designed as a policy playbook for the next Republican administration.

The 900-page “Mandate for Leadership” includes specific policy proposals like cracking down on abortion, (including medical abortion), eliminating the Department of Education, and transforming civil service jobs within the federal government.

While some Democrats are warning that Project 2025 is a full-scale overhaul of government, Republicans argue that Democrats are blowing the whole thing out of proportion. At the same time, former president Donald Trump has distanced himself from the plan.  

Daniel Weiner, director of elections and government at the non-partisan Brennan Center for Government, told Capital Tonight that it’s the responsibility of all voters to take note of what’s in the document, no matter what side of the political aisle they’re on.

“I think voters need to recognize that Project 2025 represents a play for a governing agenda,” Weiner said. “Obviously the Heritage Foundation is not the same as candidate Trump, but they are incredibly influential, and I think voters should take this seriously because I do think many of the policies will be on the front burner.”

Some of those policies, both major and minor, have been languishing on GOP wishlists for years, like re-embracing fossil fuels while moving away from wind power, which the authors call “eyesore windmills” (page 285), and eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (page 246), which provides taxpayer funding to both National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

“NPR and PBS stations are in reality no longer noncommercial, as they run ads in everything but name for their sponsors. They are also noneducational. The next President should instruct the FCC to exclude the stations affiliated with PBS and NPR from the NCE (non-commercial educational stations) denomination and the privileges that come with it.”

The document is enormous and contains proposals dealing with every aspect of American governance, so there are ideas included within it that may not be unpalatable to the left, like branding American foreign aid as “American foreign aid” rather than hiding that fact in parts of the world where America isn’t popular.

Of greatest concern to Weiner is what he called the “weaponization” of elections, which also happens to be a topic that former president and current candidate Donald Trump frequently returns to. 

“The thing I find most troubling about Project 2025 is it would weaponize many parts of the federal government to go after elections officials, to prosecute them for decisions they made during the COVID crisis to allow people to vote,” he said.  “So, on a fundamental level, what I think is most important about Project 2025 is the implications for our democracy.”