Project 2025 Architect Reflects on Trump's Second Term and Conservative Movement Rifts
In an exclusive interview, Paul Dans, the corporate lawyer turned MAGA activist who served as director of Project 2025, describes the current political landscape as "a full-on scrimmage for the future of America First." The architect behind the controversial blueprint for Donald Trump's second administration reveals how the plan was conceived and its profound impact on American governance, while acknowledging his own complicated relationship with the movement he helped shape.
The Birth of a Conservative Blueprint
Dans recounts how Project 2025 was born over "sirloin steaks" and "a martini or two" at Washington DC's historic Monocle Restaurant, a short walk from both Capitol Hill and the Heritage Foundation think-tank. This establishment, with its colonial-style facade and walls adorned with signed photographs of presidents and senators, served as the unlikely birthplace for what would become a 900-page manifesto of ultra-conservative governance.
"I said we had to have a plan in place," Dans explains, describing his motivation after Trump's 2020 election defeat. "It would be a massive turning point, the end of the progressive era." The resulting document, resembling a telephone directory in size, outlined sweeping proposals that included:
- Gutting significant portions of the federal government
- Rolling back liberal advances from recent decades
- Ending diversity programs across federal agencies
- Reversing environmental initiatives described as the "green agenda"
From Blueprint to Presidential Policy
Despite initial distance from the Trump campaign during the 2024 election cycle, Project 2025 has become the operational framework for Trump's second administration. Dans notes with approval that Trump has enacted many of the project's core ideas "at speed" during his first year back in office, creating what Dans describes as "the most convulsive first 100 days of an administration since Franklin Delano Roosevelt spearheaded the New Deal in 1933."
When asked to grade Trump's implementation of the Project 2025 agenda, Dans offers a "healthy A-minus," acknowledging significant progress while suggesting room for improvement. He maintains that disavowing Project 2025 during the campaign was merely "an expedient political move" that belied the document's fundamental influence on Trump's governance approach.
Internal Conservative Divisions and Personal Exile
The interview reveals the complex dynamics within conservative circles, where Dans now finds himself an outcast despite his foundational role in shaping Trump's second-term agenda. A self-described "OG Trumpster" with close ties to movement leaders, including his identical twin brother Thomas who serves as a Trump adviser on Greenland, Dans was nevertheless removed from the Heritage Foundation staff in July 2024.
Initially accused of professional misconduct before the claims were withdrawn, the official explanation cited "differences in the strategic direction of Project 2025." Dans maintains diplomatic silence about the specifics, invoking Ronald Reagan's "11th commandment to speak no ill of fellow Republicans" and claiming to harbor "no hard feelings" about the rift.
Political Reactions and Future Implications
The Project 2025 blueprint generated significant controversy during the 2024 election, with then-Democratic candidate Kamala Harris warning it would take America back to a "dark past." Trump himself initially distanced himself from the document three months before election day, claiming he hadn't read it and dismissing some ideas as "ridiculous and abysmal."
Today, Dans observes Republican lawmakers and aides gossiping at nearby tables in Washington establishments, noting the irony that while Project 2025 has fundamentally reshaped American governance, its architect remains outside the inner circles of power. The interview concludes with Dans reflecting on the ongoing "scrimmage" for the conservative movement's future, suggesting that the battles over America First principles continue to evolve even as their policy manifestations become reality.
