A slew of actions taken by President Trump during his first month in office bear the fingerprints of Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for overhauling the federal government. During his campaign, Mr. Trump distanced himself from the plan, saying it was largely unfamiliar to him.
But The New York Times found more than 60 major moves that Mr. Trump and his administration have made in his first 23 days, including executive orders and agency memos, that align with proposals in the blueprint.
Some of the goals outlined in the Project 2025 document line up with longstanding conservative policy positions, so it is not surprising that they would be reflected in the initial moves of a new Republican president. That said, not all of Mr. Trump’s latest directives have an analogue in Project 2025’s blueprint. In some cases, they go even further than the document does, like with the administration’s attempt to dismantle U.S.A.I.D. In others, they oppose its guidance, as in the case of Mr. Trump’s refusal to enforce the TikTok ban.
But The Times’s analysis of the Trump administration’s major actions reveals a symbiotic relationship between Mr. Trump and Project 2025 in a number of critical areas. Some of its proposals refer approvingly to actions taken during the president’s first term. And some of its architects again hold important roles at the top of the federal government. Even the staunchest of conservatives might never have imagined some of Project 2025’s goals to be possible during previous administrations — but they are now being attempted by Mr. Trump.
Project 2025 includes what have become standard Republican immigration proposals, but it also goes further, putting forth policies that would provide a pathway to the mass deportations that Mr. Trump has promised throughout his latest campaign. The president and federal agencies have already released numerous anti-immigration directives, including to militarize the southern border and threaten local officials who obstruct immigration enforcement.
Sending troops to the southern border
Project 2025
Additionally, explicitly acknowledge and adjust personnel and priorities to participate actively in the defense of America’s borders, including using military personnel and hardware to prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry and channel all cross-border traffic to legal ports of entry. — “Department of Homeland Security” (Page 166)
Executive order
The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate and lawful action to deploy sufficient personnel along the southern border of the United States to ensure complete operational control. — Issued on Jan. 20
Moving to give state and local governments authority to enforce immigration laws
Repealing Temporary Protected Status for some immigrants
Threatening to prosecute local officials who obstruct immigration enforcement
Ordering the construction of physical barriers at the southern border
Declaring border security to be a priority for the military
Suspending the refugee resettlement program
Reinstating a policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” which forces asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in U.S. courts
Withholding federal funding from sanctuary cities
Mr. Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on energy and environment in an effort to roll back many of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s most significant climate policies and ramp up oil and gas drilling and mining of natural resources. Many of these recommendations are found in the Project 2025 document, which built upon an agenda from Mr. Trump’s first term to put fossil fuels at the center of U.S. energy policy. Project 2025 also proposed overhauling the E.P.A., beginning with eliminating the jobs of employees focusing on environmental justice, an effort that Mr. Trump has already begun.
Rolling back fuel economy standards
Project 2025
As a result of these regulatory actions, automobiles will be significantly more expensive to produce, there will be fewer affordable new vehicle options for American families, and fewer new vehicles will be sold in the U.S. That will do more than translate into a loss of auto industry jobs for American workers: It will also mean a significant increase in traffic deaths and injuries. — “Department of Transportation” (Page 627)
Agency directive
As a result of the regulator costs, distortions, and pressures imposed by the existing CAFE standards, more Americans will be relegated to driving older and older used vehicles, which statistics show are much less safe in a highway crash. Thus, there is reason to be concerned these standards will actually increase the number of fatalities and serious injuries occurring each year on America’s roadways. — Issued on Jan. 28
Moving to kill an S.E.C. rule requiring companies to make climate disclosures
Eliminating energy-efficiency standards for appliances
Targeting environmental justice workers at the E.P.A.
Moving to block enforcement of environmental justice laws
Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, the world’s main climate pact
Ramping up oil and gas drilling and mining in Alaska
Instructing federal agencies to end subsidies for electric vehicles
Revoking Biden order to use science to tackle climate change
Revoking Biden order to put the climate crisis at the center of U.S. foreign policy
Mr. Trump’s administration has taken up a war on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, often using the same proposals and framing posed in the Project 2025 document. Both allege that these policies — meant to correct years of discrimination against Black people, women, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups — are “divisive” and discriminatory.
Directing the Pentagon to eliminate diversity offices, staff positions and programs
Project 2025
Eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory programs and abolish newly established diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and staff. — “Department of Defense” (Page 103)
Executive order
The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall abolish every DEI office. — Issued on Jan. 27
Ordering only U.S. flags be flown at embassies and consulates, and barring the display of pride and Black Lives Matter flags
Terminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government
Ordering the development of a plan to recruit federal workers based on “merit” and prevent hiring based on race, sex or religion
Revoking Biden’s executive order that directed agencies to advance racial equity throughout the federal government
Mr. Trump moved to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. He had taken a similar step in 2020. Mr. Trump and Project 2025 cite a string of reasons for wanting to withdraw, including the W.H.O.’s “mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.” (Many experts have noted that it was Mr. Trump himself who mishandled the pandemic.) Both the Trump administration and Project 2025 have also proposed limiting abortion access and reproductive rights.
Withdrawing from the World Health Organization
Project 2025
When such institutions act against U.S. interests, the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in response, up to and including withdrawal. The manifest failure and corruption of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of the danger that international organizations pose to U.S. citizens and interests. — “Department of State” (Page 191)
Executive order
The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises…
Reducing size of grants that the N.I.H. pays to institutions conducting medical research
Rescinding a Biden order that directed agencies to improve access to abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned
Reinstating an anti-abortion policy that restricts U.S. funding for international organizations that provide abortions or information about them
Mr. Trump’s executive actions attacking “gender ideology,” which includes the concept that gender is not binary, also mirror language found in Project 2025. Both the Trump administration and Project 2025 want to restrict gender-affirming care and force the recognition of only two sexes, male and female.
Barring transgender people from serving in the military
Project 2025
Reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the military. Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military service. — “Department of Defense” (Page 104)
Executive order
It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity. This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria. — Issued on Jan. 27
Barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams
Restricting gender-affirming treatments for individuals under 19
Ordering agencies to recognize a biological, binary definition of sex — male or female and not interchangeable
Revoking the Biden executive order that established a White House council on gender policy
Preventing public school educators from addressing a student with a pronoun that is different from their biological sex
Project 2025 repeatedly claims that the federal government suffers from bureaucratic bloat. In addition to the executive orders Mr. Trump has signed that seem to target employees focused on D.E.I. in particular, the president has also empowered Elon Musk to help shrink the federal work force, but it is unclear if Mr. Trump has the authority to do so.
Reducing the federal work force
Presidential memo
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Director of OPM and the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service (USDS), shall submit a plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition. — Issued on Jan. 20
Offering C.I.A. employees the option to quit, as part of an effort to shrink the federal government
Stripping job protections from career civil servants
Revoking a Biden order protecting federal workers
There are notable similarities between Mr. Trump’s mandates and Project 2025 in a number of other areas, including promoting “education freedom,” which in the conservative conception includes diverting taxpayer funds to private schools. Many initiatives are framed as faith-based and patriotic in both the Project 2025 document and the administration’s actions.
Promoting policies that allow families to use public funds to access alternatives to public school
Project 2025
Advancing education freedom. Empowering families to choose among a diverse set of education options is key to reform and improved outcomes, and it can be achieved without establishing a new federal program. — “Department of Education” (Page 322)
Executive order
The Secretary of Education shall include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law. — Issued on Jan. 29
Stating that the Education Department should be shut down
Cutting millions of dollars from the Education Department’s research department
Reviewing alleged anti-religious bias in prosecutions
Terminating funding for specific U.N. groups
Threatening sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program
Ordering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to cease activity
Affording stronger rights to students accused of sexual misconduct and limiting transgender students’ ability to claim discrimination
Reinstating service members dismissed for refusing the Covid-19 vaccine
Ending the alleged “weaponization of the federal government”
Enforcing federal death penalty
Ending federal efforts to combat misinformation
Prohibiting the creation of a central bank digital currency
Instituting a pause on foreign aid
Challenging an international agreement that would impose a global minimum tax on corporate profits