Anyone who follows Trump’s public statements can’t really claim to be surprised that he lied last year about having no knowledge of Project 2025.
President Trump is embracing the government shutdown, which complicates Republican efforts to blame Democrats.
The president is using the shutdown to advance goals of Project 2025, such as firing federal workers.
Recent polling indicates that the shutdown, Project 2025 and related initiatives are unpopular with Americans.
The shutdown is creating political challenges for Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey.
President Donald Trump’s gleeful embrace of the government shutdown that he caused is wreaking havoc with the cover story his Republican allies in Congress are spreading in their desperation to blame Democrats.
Trump is also openly embracing Project 2025, the controversial MAGA blueprint for his second term that he attempted, unconvincingly, to distance himself from while running for reelection.
Trump wants to weaponize the shutdown to fire more federal workers, a key goal of Project 2025, and an echo of his early administration efforts to have the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dismiss thousands of employees.
But the shutdown is unpopular, with more Americans blaming Trump and Republicans than Democrats. And Project 2025 has been widely perceived as negative. And DOGE is disliked by a majority of Americans.
So Trump is playing with a trifecta of political pitfalls. And still he talks like he has a winning hand.
«I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity», Trump posted on social media on Oct. 2, praising Project 2025 and citing his desire to make more cuts at federal agencies.
This is the same Trump who, in July 2024, posted this on social media: «I know nothing about Project 2025.
