Remember he said he didn't know what that was...

Analysis: Trump’s curious decision to invoke Project 2025

Analysis from CNN's Aaron Blake

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows with a five-word phrase on Thursday.

While playing up the Office of Management and Budget director’s efforts to target what Trump labeled “Democrat Agencies” for cuts, he invoked something he had previously avoided like the plague.

He described Russ Vought as “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame” in a Truth Social post.

High-profile Trump allies launched Project 2025 during the campaign to lay out an extensive agenda for a second Trump term. But it wound up being an albatross. A September 2024 NBC News poll showed 57% of Americans had an unfavorable view of it, compared to just 4% who had a positive one.

On the trail, Trump distanced himself from it – at least rhetorically. He claimed he knew “nothing about Project 2025” and had “nothing to do with” the people behind it. His campaign managers celebrated the departure of the project’s director by saying, “reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed.”

Of course, as CNN and many others noted at the time, the project was rife with veterans of Trump’s first term. And since he won the 2024 election, Trump has hired many of the most prominent figures behind it, like Vought. He’s also pursued policies that closely resemble what Project 2025 proposed.

Many on the left have said Trump’s post is confirmation that he is, for all intents and purposes, implementing Project 2025.

Trump didn’t endorse Project 2025. But invoking it amid the shutdown fight is a curious decision, given the project’s unpopularity. At the very least, it would seem to signal Trump’s desire for a scorched-earth approach to the shutdown.

But just like Trump’s team last year didn’t want to be associated with Project 2025, his threat of imminent shutdown firings seems to be giving some prominent Republicans heartburn.