Who is Paul Dans, the Project 2025 leader who stepped down after criticism from Donald Trump?
The conservative figure was a senior figure within the Trump administration before his role at the right-wing Heritage Foundation.
Paul Dans is well-known in conservative circles. He served in the Trump administration as Chief of Staff at the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where he managed human resources policy for federal workers and worked closely with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
He was also appointed by Trump to serve as Chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission in January 2021, a position from which he was removed after President Biden took office. Until recently, he was the head of the ultra-conservative Project 2025 initiative. He resigned on Tuesday.
Q: With Donald Trump, do you have a relationship with him?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 19, 2024
Project 2025 Director Paul Dans: I’ve been down to Mar-a-Lago many times. We have integration with folks on the campaign. Yes, we often supply ideas and personal suggestions. Project 2025 is really going to be the engine… pic.twitter.com/72Ya9QZatE
“Under Paul Dans’ leadership, Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people,” Dr. Kevin Roberts, the president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation said.
“This tool was built for any future administration to use.”
Dans’ resignation came amid significant criticism from various quarters, including from former President Donald Trump.
Trump Campaign issues a nasty statement after Project 2025 Director resigns, which clearly proves they were the ones who demanded it and are only upset about it because it was so unpopular with the public. pic.twitter.com/MFaGV3NY6z
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 30, 2024
Trump and his campaign have sought to distance themselves from Project 2025, disavowing any association with the initiative. This distancing was partly due to negative media coverage and backlash from Democrats, who have used the project’s extensive policy guide as a point of criticism against Trump.
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a conservative initiative aimed at creating a comprehensive policy agenda for a potential second term of Donald Trump. Dans led this initiative, working to draft a unified vision for conservative governance, including a database of potential hires and policy recommendations for the first six months of a potential Trump second administration.
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This nearly 900-page document covers various areas, including government restructuring, health care, climate change, economics, housing, and more. It includes plan of actions to be taken within the first 180 days of the new administration to ensure a swift transition toward the extremely conservative ideas, such as eliminating entire departments, such as the Department of Education and Department of Homeland Security.
It advocates for placing the entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies like the Department of Justice, under direct presidential control based on the “unitary executive theory”.
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