Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele criticized former President Trump’s attempt to distance himself from the conservative government’s plan known as Project 2025.
“Okay, let’s all play Stupid for a minute… so exactly how do you ‘disagree’ with something that you ‘know nothing about’ or ‘have no idea’ who is behind, saying or doing that thing? that you disagree?” Steele he wrote Friday on social media platform X.
“Since #Project2025 was designed to institutionalize Trumpism and you know nothing about it, then why do you echo some of its political priorities during your rallies? Coincidence?” he said, later adding, “And people say we should worry about [President] Biden.”
His comments came after the former president turned to Truth Social on Friday to reject the project, calling some of the goals “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.” Trump also stated that he knew “nothing about Project 2025” and that he did not know who was behind it.
“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” wrote the presumptive Republican candidate for the White House. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
Steele rebuked Trump’s claim to link the project to high-ranking members of the Trump administration, including the project’s director, Paul Dans, who previously served as chief of staff in the Office of Personnel Management, and its associate director, Spencer Chretien, former special director for Trump. assistant.
Project 2025 is a 900-page outline of conservative priorities created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, should a Republican win the White House. The list includes five main topics – “Taking the Reins of Government”, “The Common Defense”, “The General Welfare”, “The Economy” and “Independent Regulatory Agencies” – and presents a wide range of policy proposals.
Among the priorities on the agenda is the reimplementation of Schedule F, which would reclassify federal workers to make it easier to fire and replace them with loyal supporters. The Associated Press reported this could affect 50,000 workers.
Steele largely moved away from the Republican Party after Trump’s first term. In 2020, he joined the Lincoln Project PAC and supported Biden for president.
He wasn’t the only one to call Trump’s statement hypocritical.
The Biden-Harris campaign he picked up to X shortly after the former president’s post, calling him “desperate and a liar.” The team also shared a video of Trump speaking at a Heritage Foundation event asking for the group’s support — but it’s unclear when the video was recorded.
Project 2025 released a statement in X reinforcing Trump’s comments.
“As we have been saying for more than two years, Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign,” says the post. “We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative President.”
“But ultimately it is up to the president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement,” the project leaders added.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
