Podcast Summary: "Project 2026"

Podcast: Today, Explained (Vox)
Hosts: Noel King, with guest David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
Date: January 20, 2026

Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

This episode marks exactly one year since the start of Donald Trump's second term as President of the United States. Host Noel King and journalist David A. Graham explore how Trump's administration has implemented Project 2025—a vast set of conservative policy proposals devised primarily by the Heritage Foundation—despite Trump's initial public disavowal. The episode analyzes what parts of Project 2025 have been achieved, what remains, political dynamics among conservatives, and whether these sweeping changes are likely to endure.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump’s Relationship to Project 2025

• Despite distancing himself during the campaign, Trump’s administration has quietly adopted much of Project 2025.
• David A. Graham: "I've been surprised how much they have even embraced it ... Trump has picked up so many of the policy ideas and the kind of approaches to governance that Project 2025 laid out." [02:53–03:28]

2. What is Project 2025?

• A comprehensive policy blueprint covering every federal department, targeted at reshaping U.S. governance along hardline conservative lines.
• Includes:
  • Policy Proposals: Guides for every federal department.
  • Implementation Approach: Tools to consolidate presidential power and reduce checks on the executive.
  • Personnel Planning: A “database of potential appointees”—thousands ready to fill government roles.
• Quote from a conservative activist: "The bottom line is that we need to have an army of conservatives ready to March in day one." [04:43]

3. How Much Has Been Done?

• Immediate Action: Major executive orders tracked almost verbatim from Project 2025 were issued on day one of Trump’s second term.
• Major progress has occurred in the following areas:
  • Culture and Social Policy:
    • Pushback against “wokeness”; attacks on DEI and transgender rights; attempts to encode binary gender into federal language.
    • Donald Trump: "Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone. It's gone." [06:16]
  • Immigration:
    • Aggressive crackdowns and policy changes, including actions in cities like Minneapolis.
  • Economic Policy:
    • Expansion of tariffs; attempts to cut taxes.
    • Unrealized ideas: abolishing the Fed, gold standard.
    • Donald Trump: "I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary." [07:13]
  • Environmental Regulation:
    • Massive reduction in renewables support; increased drilling; rollback of climate research and regulations.
    • Donald Trump: "The wind doesn't blow. Those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad." [07:54]
  • Foreign Policy:
    • More action-driven than isolationist; engagement with Venezuela, Greenland, Iran—not strictly as Project 2025 foresaw.
  • Quantification:
    • Online trackers estimate 50%+ of Project 2025’s aims are fulfilled, though the reality is complex.
    • David A. Graham: "You know, I find it really hard to quantify ... a good tracker out there puts the number right above 50%." [08:51]

4. How Did They Achieve So Much So Quickly?

• Experience Factor: Many officials are veterans from Trump’s first term who learned from previous mistakes and arrived organized and energized.
• Quote from a conservative organizer: "Systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army of aligned, trained and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state." [10:20]
• David A. Graham: It was a "blitzkrieg" that caught the courts, Congress, and public off guard. [10:35]

5. Areas Where Project 2025 Fell Short

• Pro-family and Social Conservative Policies:
  • Ambitions to federally ban abortion, restrict abortion drugs, or encourage higher birth rates not fully realized.
  • Conservative spokesman: "The federal government does have a role in making sure there is no abortion in the United States, period. That is the Heritage position." [16:03]
• Labor and Welfare:
  • Plans to shift social welfare delivery from government to religious orgs remain largely undone.
• Department of Education:
  • Trump made partial moves to shut it down but hasn't gone all the way.
  • Donald Trump: "Oh, I'd like it to be closed immediately. Look, the Department of Education's a big con job." [17:17]
• Big Tech Regulation and China Focus:
  • Instead of cracking down on tech giants, Trump has embraced them.
  • Plans for singular focus on China not fully executed.
• David A. Graham: "We haven't seen a major shift of social welfare programs away from the government and towards religious organizations." [17:03]

6. What’s Likely to Come Next: Project 2026

• Independent Agency Takeover:
  • Underappreciated but critical: presidential control of regulatory agencies (FEC, FCC, NLRB, possibly excluding the Fed).
  • Supreme Court is expected to hand such power to the White House soon.
  • David A. Graham: "We're expecting a Supreme Court decision soon ... likely to basically give the president control over all these agencies." [18:29]
  • FCC Example: Attempts to pressure Disney to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
• Heritage Foundation’s Internal Conflict:
  • Leadership controversies (e.g., over a Tucker Carlson interview with Nick Fuentes) have distanced them from the administration.
  • The administration remains wary of being seen as following outsider agenda-setters.
  • Donald Trump: "I reprimanded the whole group. I said, you shouldn't have placed this document in front of the voters, because I have nothing to do with it, and I'm the one that's running." [21:49]
  • Other groups, e.g., Mike Pence’s, are poaching staff and vying to become the next conservative vanguard.
• Continued Advocacy: Heritage is still pushing for deeper family and Christian nationalist policies, recently releasing new documents on marriage and family. [23:09]

7. Conservative Movement: United or Fragmenting?

• Only Trump truly unites the right; significant divisions exist on abortion, tariffs, childcare, foreign intervention, and more.
• Uncertainty about whether anyone else—potentially JD Vance—could hold the coalition together post-Trump.
• David A. Graham: "I think it's a little bit of a free-for-all, as you see these groups... vying to see who can be the next power player in the next stage or whenever Trump exits the scene." [24:17]

8. Electoral Calculations and Public Backlash

• Project 2025 is “wildly unpopular,” more than 30 points underwater in favorability.
• With midterms ahead, a need for moderation is anticipated; the administration may pull back on more extreme items to retain congressional support.
• David A. Graham: "Project 2025 was wildly unpopular. People knew about it ... and they hated it. So I do think there will be some pullback." [25:58]

9. Are These Changes Permanent?

• Some Trump initiatives reliant on executive orders could be readily reversed by a new president/Congress.
• Deeper structural changes—especially expanded presidential power and weakened independent regulatory agencies—will be hard to undo and may have enduring effects.
• David A. Graham: "We have the most powerful presidency we've ever had, and taking that back ... unless there is a real effort to rebalance ... we're not gonna see those things reversed." [26:54]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Project 2025's scope:
  Noel King: "Project 2025 was 922 pages. How much has the Trump administration accomplished?"
  David A. Graham: "A good tracker puts it right above 50%... but some things are hard to equate numerically." [08:36–09:09]

• On administrative style:
  David A. Graham: "They conducted this blitzkrieg... took the courts by surprise, took Congress by surprise, and I think it took a lot of the public by surprise as well." [10:35]

• On enduring changes:
  David A. Graham: "We have the most powerful presidency we’ve ever had ... unless there is a real effort to rebalance ... we’re not gonna see those things reversed." [26:54]

• On intra-conservative strife:
  David A. Graham: "I think the administration already had a sort of troubled relationship with Heritage. You mentioned earlier the way that the Trump campaign sort of tried to disavow Project 2025." [20:25]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:03] – [02:20]: Setting the scene: Trump’s year-two headlines; Greenland gambit; Project 2025’s background.
• [02:20] – [05:19]: What is Project 2025? Who’s involved—including former Trump officials.
• [05:19] – [10:47]: Implementation: concrete policies enacted, strategic approach, areas of progress.
• [10:47] – [11:17]: Remaining ambitions: reshaping society, what hasn’t been done.
• [15:32] – [19:54]: Failures and unfinished business: abortion policy, pro-family measures, regulatory agency takeover, big tech.
• [20:25] – [23:53]: Heritage Foundation's role, internal conservative schisms, vying for future leadership.
• [24:17] – [26:24]: Fragmentation in conservatism, viability of new leaders, midterm moderation.
• [26:24] – [28:06]: Permanence of changes; structural transformation of the presidency and federal power.

Conclusion

This episode offers a detailed assessment of the Trump administration’s broad adoption of Project 2025’s conservative roadmap—highlighting both ambitious implementation and areas of struggle—while probing the profound and potentially durable reshaping of U.S. governance. While some changes could be swiftly reversed by future administrations, the fundamental expansion of presidential power and transformation of the regulatory state pose more lasting challenges. The future of the conservative movement, particularly post-Trump, remains highly uncertain, with deep internal divisions and ongoing debates over both policy and strategy.

For listeners seeking to understand not just what happened in Trump’s second year but how and why it unfolded—and where the conservative movement may be headed—this episode provides a thorough, engaging exploration.