Vance Praises A Key Leader Behind Project 2025, A Conservative Effort Trump Has Disavowed
Donald Trump’s running mate, praised the vision of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in the foreword of a forthcoming book that could conflict with the Trump campaign’s effort to distance itself from Heritage’s Project 2025 transition effort.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the foreword to Roberts’ forthcoming book “Dawn’s Early Light” on Tuesday, the same day of a shakeup at Project 2025, which has become an important election-year issue as Democrats and others argue that the nearly 1,000-page vision it set out is extreme.
“Never before has a figure with Roberts’s depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism,” Vance writes in his foreword. “The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.”
Vance’s words, which echo Roberts’ frequent calls to tear down US institutions entirely to start anew, show the overlap between Trump’s closest allies and the people fueling Project 2025.
Still, Vance spokesman William Martin distanced Vance and the Trump campaign from Project 2025 in a statement on Tuesday.
“The foreword has nothing to do with Project 2025. Senator Vance has previously said that he has no involvement with it and has plenty of disagreements with what they’re calling for,” Martin wrote in an email. “Only President Trump will set the policy agenda for the next administration.”
Trump’s top aides have repeatedly criticized organizers of Project 2025 for what they say is a false impression that the transition effort is associated with the campaign. After Tuesday’s shakeup at Heritage, Roberts is now leading Project 2025 operations directly.
The book, scheduled to be published on Sept. 24, outlines a vision for what its publisher calls ” a peaceful ‘Second American Revolution’.” Its subtitle is “Taking Back Washington to Save America,” though earlier descriptions of the book listed it as ” Burning Down Washington to Save America.”