Donald Trump Teams With Russ Vought On Project 2025 Plan To Dismantle Democrat Agencies, Consolidate Presidential Power Amid Government Shutdown

President Donald Trump has pledged to wield federal power against Democratic states and lawmakers, signaling major budget cuts and the elimination of agencies he considers politically motivated. In a post on Truth Social, Trump revealed he was meeting with Russell Vought, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget and a leading figure behind the far-right Project 2025 blueprint, to decide “which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM,” should be dismantled.

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies… he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump wrote on Wednesday.

He added, “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Project 2025 And Consolidating Presidential Power

Project 2025, organized by the Heritage Foundation with strong backing from Trump loyalists, outlines a sweeping transition plan for a second Trump administration. It envisions reducing or eliminating federal agencies, consolidating presidential power, and reshaping the civil service by removing staff considered insufficiently loyal.

Vought’s role in the initiative has centered on cutting budgets and restructuring government programs to align with Trump’s political agenda. His proposals previously clashed with efforts by Elon Musk, who briefly led the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk reportedly attempted his own version of agency cuts, which Vought felt undermined his work.

“We’re going to let DOGE break things, and we’ll pick up the pieces later,” Vought told staff at the time, according to three sources cited by The New York Times.

Donald Trump Escalates Attacks on Democrats

Trump’s remarks on Wednesday followed another fiery post earlier in the day, in which he accused Democrats of prioritizing migrants over citizens. “THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO GIVE YOUR HEALTHCARE MONEY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS AND OPEN OUR BORDERS TO THE CRIMINALS OF THE WORLD, A DEADLY COMBINATION BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL COME!” he wrote.

That evening, Vought announced that Trump’s rhetoric had translated into action. He declared the cancellation of nearly $8 billion in clean energy projects, describing the cuts on X as a rollback of “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda.”

Which States Will Donald Trump Target?

The clean energy cancellations were concentrated entirely in Democratic strongholds that Trump lost in the 2024 election – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

Each of those states is represented by Democratic senators who voted against the short-term Republican-backed funding bill Trump supported to avoid a government shutdown.

Vought did not identify the specific projects being eliminated or clarify where the reclaimed funds would be redirected, stating only that the Department of Energy would provide “more to share.”