Authoritarianism Expert 'Reveals 'Codeword' in Project 2025 Plan For 'Institutionalizing Trumpism'

Authoritarianism expert, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, has exalted the spirits of conspiracy theorists as she revealed 'one of the most alarming things' about Project 2025. The project under the helm of a right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has a handbook specifying what former President Donald Trump could not accomplish during his tenure as the POTUS. 

Speaking to Katie Phang of MSNBC on Wednesday, June 3, Ben-Ghiat revealed the alarming codeword in the handbook. "They got a slow start […] so their codeword is ‘day one.’" She added, "One thing that’s very important for people to realize...It’s always more people. They use one group to have the justification to build the repressive infrastructure like the camps, the transit camps, whatever they’re going to do. But be assured, and this is the history of authoritarianism, many groups of people will be targeted to be in that." 

According to Snopes, Project 2025 is a conservative action plan for reversing the policies passed under Biden's leadership if Trump gets re-elected. The document created immense furore for its content giving rise to several conspiracies. Questions around the document being a handbook for authoritarianism have marred Project 2025, as the queer community, women's reproductive health, and environmental concerns are likely to suffer as interpreted by experts. According to The New York Times Magazine, after taking over the Heritage Foundation in 2021, Kevin D. Roberts hinted that the project's goals are "institutionalizing Trumpism." Roberts explained, "The Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated." 

Responding to a question about the goals of the foundation, he shared, "While much ink has been spilled about Heritage no longer believing in peace through strength, that’s not true. But I don’t want to dismiss the part of your question about the shift in the conservative movement toward more skepticism, if not restraint, in foreign policy, and I think a lot of that is prudent."

He continued, "It’s a presidential transition project, which means that if there’s a conservative who wins — and I mean, frankly, if President Biden wanted to use it, we would love it. It just seems unlikely. Maybe someone in the center. I think if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Senator Joe Manchin somehow wins the election, and I think both will be running, they might be open to it. But the point is to hasten the hiring of aligned personnel and hasten the implementation of conservative policy. And that includes hastening the overturning, via executive order, of what we believe are wrong policies of the current administration." It is worth noting that Project 2025 has not been publically endorsed by Trump.