Project 2025, a collection of conservative and far-right policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation, is “a straight-up dictatorial fantasy of control over the American people” said Chris Hayes Wednesday night. “What this means is that this small coterie of hard-right zealots, these really creepy weirdos, are going to exert total control over every aspect of your life, in terms of what you look at and what you read, what you mail, what your healthcare is.”
The proposals span policies that cover everything from the renaming of the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Life, abortion and healthcare access for women, and the potential imprisonment of people who make and produce pornography.
The 900-page document is a guide to “a second Trump administration can weaponize the federal government in pursuit of, frankly, frighteningly authoritarian vision,” Hayes began the segment. He credited Taraji B. Henson for bringing awareness to Project 2025 while hosting the BET Awards on Sunday, and said more people are becoming aware of what amounts to a “wish list of a bunch of fringe, far-right policy proposals.”
Henson paused her hosting duties and encouraged viewers to vote in this year’s election as part of her hosting duties for the awards show. “Pay attention,” Henson said. “It’s not a secret. Look it up. They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game.”
Project 2025 also aims to “weaponize the Department of Justice as a tool directly under the control of Donald Trump,” Hayes continued. The document reads, “The DOJ falls under the direct supervision and control the president of the United States as a component of the executive branch. Litigation decisions must be made consistent with the president’s agenda”—something Hayes said “Justice John Roberts just endorsed that in the six-way immunity decision.”
The plan also “calls for a full-out, whole-of-government approach to the assault on reproductive rights on women,” he continued. This would include banning mifepristone, a drug commonly used in abortions across the U.S. that “has been used safely for decades.” Project 2025 would also remove the Obama-era mandate that provides free emergency contraception.
GOP proponents of Project 2025 also call “for all federal laws, grants, regulations, and contracts to delete every instance of the terms sexual orientation and gender identity, diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender sensitive abortion, reproductive health, and reproductive rights,” Hayes added.
You can watch the entire segment in the video above.
