Courtesy Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is placing billboards across Phoenix that highlights former President Donald Trump’s connections to the controversial Project 2025.
The new billboards are part of a larger push by the DNC to connect Trump to Project 2025 with a media push in multiple battleground states, including Arizona, ahead of the Republican National Convention this month.
Project 2025 is a collection of right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power if Trump wins in November. The list of policy plans was largely created by former Trump aides and allies.
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The Heritage Foundation created the document in partnership with over 100 other conservative groups, many with extreme views on abortion, taxes, immigration and federal agencies. The proposal includes completely banning abortion, bringing the U.S. Department of Justice under the direct control of the president, increased immigration enforcement and sweeping cuts to federal agencies.
Trump has disavowed Project 2025 on his social media platform, Truth Social, but many have pointed to connections the project has to members of Trump’s inner circle, including former top Trump aide John McEntee, who is said to be one of the main leaders behind the proposal.
Other senior Trump administration officials have also been involved in the proposal. Russel Vought, Trump’s former budget chief and one of the other key architects of the proposal, was named policy director for the Republican National Committee in May.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and white nationalist Nick Fuentes both expressed anger over Trump distancing himself from the proposal. While Trump has tried to create space between himself and the controversial plan, he previously spoke to the Heritage Foundation as it was drafting the proposal.
“This is a great group and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,” Trump said at a Heritage Foundation dinner in footage posted by NBC. Reporting by CNN found that 140 people who have worked for Trump are directly involved in Project 2025, and more work for the Heritage Foundation.
The billboards, which will be in English and Spanish, encourage voters to learn more about Project 2025 by searching for it online. Google searches for Project 2025 in the past week have seen a surge as Democrats have hammered Trump for his connections to the plan.
“Donald Trump and his Republican buddies are trying their best to hide their dark and sinister plans because they know that draconian bans on abortion, higher prices, and dismantling democracy don’t go over well with voters,” DNC spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin said in a written statement about the billboards. “They know that when Americans hear about Project 2025, they do not support it.”
The billboards will be all across the Phoenix metro area, with one along Loop 202 near Scottsdale Road and others along the I-10 near the US 60. The billboards will be up through the weekend.
Project 2025 also has ties to Arizona, with the Scottsdale-based anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom and the Phoenix-based Turning Point USA having helped to draft it.
Both TPUSA and Alliance Defending Freedom are also connected to a secretive Christian policy group that has pushed similar talking points and also have promoted lies about the election.
Critics have argued that the proposal is a way to implement Christian nationalist policies under a Trump administration.
Christian nationalism is a political movement that is based on a belief that God intended America to be a Christian nation — one without religious pluralism — and that Christians should control all levels of government and society.
Project 2025 dips its toes into both Christian Nationalism and Dominionism, which holds that Christians should take total control over most aspects of society.
Certain Dominionist beliefs, such as the so-called “Seven Mountain Mandate,” which draws from the biblical book of Revelations and requires Christians to invade the “seven spheres” of society, are ideas that have been embraced and promoted by people like TPUSA’s Charlie Kirk.
One of the biggest promoters of Christian nationalism and dominionism has been disgraced Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, who has claimed that he is waging “spiritual warfare” and building an “army of God.” Flynn is also known to associate with other known Dominionist groups.
Flynn also helped fund the Arizona Republican Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election and an organization he co-founded sponsored a series of misinformation filled committee meetings in Arizona focused on COVID-19.
Arizona Republican State Sen. Janae Shamp is a fervent supporter of Flynn and has a Christian nationalist flag on her desk at the Capitol. Shamp, a conservative from Surprise, has also shared a number of QAnon posts on her Facebook page, including some linked to neo-Nazis and antisemites.
A close ally of Shamp’s, Sen. Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, works with the Flynn aligned The America Project. Trump has also spoken about bringing Flynn back if reelected.
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The post Dem billboards target Trump for his ties to right-wing Project 2025 appeared first on Arizona Mirror.