The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto has been compared to a sprawling menu at a chain restaurant by Kevin Roberts, the president of the organization. The document, which spans 900 pages, includes a wide range of proposals, such as outlawing pornography and withdrawing FDA approval for abortion medications. Roberts acknowledges that it is impossible for every conservative to agree with everything in the document. However, recent developments indicate that conservatives are finding it increasingly difficult to support Project 2025.
According to The Intercept, several conservative organizations that were previously listed as part of the advisory board for Project 2025 have decided to distance themselves from the effort. The Intercept’s review of the Project 2025 website revealed that seven conservative groups have been removed from the advisory board member list since Heritage first announced it two years ago. Among these groups are the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an influential think tank, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish foreign policy think tank.
The timeline of these departures was traced by comparing Heritage press releases, the Project 2025 playbook, data from the website, and archived versions of the advisory board page. In June 2022, Heritage announced the formation of an advisory board for Project 2025 with 21 organizations. Of these original members, three are no longer listed on the Project 2025 website. This includes the now-defunct FreedomWorks and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, as well as Stephen Miller’s America First Legal Foundation.
FreedomWorks was the first to disappear from the advisory board page in February 2024. The organization dissolved publicly three months later but continued its policy advocacy until its dissolution. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which did not respond to inquiries from The Intercept, was also acknowledged in the Project 2025 playbook. Its involvement in Project 2025 was criticized by economist and columnist Paul Krugman, who referred to CEI as one of the “usual suspects” that have been crusading against climate science and climate action for many years.
Despite these departures, Heritage continued to list CEI in Project 2025 press releases until February 2024. However, by March 15, CEI’s logo had been removed from the web page. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies also dropped off the page in late March, stating that its inclusion in Project 2025 was an error. The Discovery Institute, a think tank focused on “intelligent design” and “Judeo-Christian culture,” disappeared from the Project 2025 site in late June.
In July, America First Legal, Americans United for Life, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy all requested to be taken off the advisory board. These departures indicate that more conservative groups are distancing themselves from Project 2025. The reasons for their exits vary, but it seems that being listed on the advisory board implied an endorsement of everything in the project, which was not the case for these organizations.
The growing list of conservative groups abandoning Project 2025 raises questions about the viability and support for the initiative. It suggests that even those who were initially involved in shaping the effort are finding it difficult to fully endorse its proposals. The Heritage Foundation has not responded to inquiries about these departures, leaving the future of Project 2025 uncertain.
