David A. Graham

This is Today Explained.

My name is David Graham, and I'm a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of The Project, How Project 2025 is Reshaping America.

No, and I've been surprised how much they have even embraced it.

It's true that some of the high profile figures involved are not in the administration, but some of the high profile figures involved also are in the administration.

You know, people like Russell Vogt, the budget chief.

I call him a fine man.

Or John Ratcliffe, the CIA director.

Or Peter Navarro, crucial tariff advisor.

I've been called worse.

And I think more importantly, if you look at the policies Trump has picked up, so many of the policy ideas and the kind of approaches to governance that Project 2025 laid out.

So this is this huge project, and I'd say there are a few different things.

One is a set of policies, really ideas for every department of the government and what they would be doing under the right-wing administration that Project 2025 foresaw.

The second thing was an approach to make those things happen.

So how are we going to make the federal government do things that has not done before?

How are we going to seize control?

How are you going to give the president powers that he hasn't had in the past in order to do those things?

And then the third part was a big database of potential appointees, thousands of people who would be sort of on the team, trained, ready to go, and could fill executive positions as soon as a president came in and wanted to start appointing them.

I think, you know, there were signs before he took office appointing Russell Vogt to head OMB would be one of those.

For me, it really was like the first day of the administration.

And I had written this book and I submitted my first draft on January 15th and then sat for five days wondering if they would actually, if they would follow through.