Trump Caught Cheering Extremist Project He Says He Knows Nothing About

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 28, 2025, 7:50 AM

trump caught cheering extremist project he says he knows nothing about

On Thursday, MSNBC dug up a clip from 2022 of Trump expressing some pretty convincing familiarity with the people behind Project 2025—and potentially hinting at knowing that the document was in the works. “Our country is going to hell. The critical job of institutions such as Heridges to [sic] lay the groundwork,” Trump stumbled . “And Heridges does such an incredible job at that,” Trump added, stumbling again. “They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do, when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America,... The comments were made during an April 2022 keynote speech by Trump at a Heritage Foundation event where he was introduced by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts.

In that speech, he praised Heritage Board Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby as well as Heritage fellows Tom Homan and Mark Morgan —all of whom he now claims he doesn’t know at all. “Already we have shown the power of our winning formula, working closely with many of the great people at Heritage over the four incredible years that we’ve worked with you a lot, and we... “They’re going to work on some other things that are going to be very exciting, I think, Kevin, I think maybe the most exciting of all.” On Thursday, MSNBC dug up a clip from 2022 of Trump expressing some pretty convincing familiarity with the people behind Project 2025—and potentially hinting at knowing that the document was in the works. “Our country is going to hell. The critical job of institutions such as Heridges to [sic] lay the groundwork,” Trump stumbled.

“And Heridges does such an incredible job at that,” Trump added, stumbling again. “They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do, when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America,... Trump, in April '22, keynoted a Heritage dinner as it began work on Project 2025: “This is a great group & they’re going to lay the groundwork & detail plans for exactly what our... when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America." pic.twitter.com/2ni0XESMci The comments were made during an April 2022 keynote speech by Trump at a Heritage Foundation event where he was introduced by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. In that speech, he praised Heritage Board Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby as well as Heritage fellows Tom Homan and Mark Morgan—all of whom he now claims he doesn’t know at all.

Welcome to Politomix -- the political news wire where left, right and center mix. Politomix aggregates the day's political news on the web and your mobile device. Politomix Home Trending Sites Search About 2025 GlassWave Trump claimed on the campaign trail that he had “nothing to do” with the unpopular far right manifesto. As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, your support is urgently needed. Please make a year-end gift to Truthout today.

After spending the bulk of the presidential campaign trying to distance himself from the far right policy proposals outlined in Project 2025, president-elect Donald Trump stated in a recent interview that he does, in... Over the past year, Trump pushed back against assertions that he was associated with or supported any part of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-sponsored roadmap of far right proposals for the next Republican president... “I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” Trump claimed during the presidential debate with his Democratic opponent for president Kamala Harris. Donald Trump has spent weeks trying to disavow Project 2025 since it became clear just how deeply unpopular the christo-nationalist agenda is among American voters. He even went as far as to claim that he knew “nothing about Project 2025” after the leader of the group organizing it, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, called for a “bloodless” revolution. But new evidence shows that Trump did know about the plan—and Roberts—as early as April 2022, when the two were photographed on a private flight together, smiling.

“I personally have talked to President Trump about Project 2025,” Roberts told The Washington Post that month, “because my role in the project has been to make sure that all of the candidates who... Trump and Roberts took that flight, which the Heritage Foundation had chartered, from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, to the annual Heritage Foundation conference on the state coast. Trump was the conference’s keynote speaker. “They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do,” Trump said in his speech. Project 2025 reflects Trump’s core political philosophy, and was designed to be a transition playbook to expedite the first 180 days of a potential second Trump presidency. But the 920-page Christian-nationalist manifesto boasts what would otherwise be considered outrageous policy positions, including dismantling staples of the executive branch such as the Department of Education.

Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham David Hastings Dunn has previously received funding from the ESRC, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Open Democracy Foundation and has previously been both a NATO and a Fulbright Fellow. University of Birmingham provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. Think-tank policy proposals rarely make the headlines, but 2024 is no ordinary year and Project 2025 is no usual set of plans for government. This is a not-very-secret set of plans that Republicans have put together in order to be ready to leap into the White House, if elected, and instantly get to work. But the twist in this tale is that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he doesn’t know anything about it, or does he?

On Thursday, MSNBC dug up a clip from 2022 of Trump expressing some pretty convincing familiarity with the people behind Project 2025—and potentially hinting at knowing that the document was in the works. “Our country is going to hell. The critical job of institutions such as Heritjes to [sic] lay the groundwork,” Trump stumbled. “And Heridges does such an incredible job at that,” Trump added, stumbling again. “They’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do, when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America,... Trump, in April ’22, keynoted a Heritage dinner as it began work on Project 2025:

“This is a great group & they’re going to lay the groundwork & detail plans for exactly what our movement will do … when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save... Former President Donald Trump has been caught on video praising a think tank whose plans he now says he didn't know existed. The right-wing Heritage Foundation brought together several MAGA thought leaders from Trump's orbit to craft their "Project 2025," a plan to radically expand the powers of the executive branch under a second Trump administration. The plan promises, among other things, to oust career civil servants in the federal government and replace them with people who are staunch loyalists of the president. However, in a video unearthed by NBC's Vaughn Hillyard, Trump's speech to the Heritage Foundation reveals he knew that they were crafting the plan for him. ALSO READ: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested

Donald Trump called Project 2025, a 900-page blueprint for his second presidency, “seriously extreme” at his first rally since the assassination attempt against him. Trump made the comments at a rally in Michigan on Saturday afternoon. The event comes one week after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally last weekend. Crooks killed one attendee and injured two others while one of his shots grazed Trump’s ear. “Like some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25, I don’t even know, some of them I know who they are, but they’re very, very conservative,” Trump said. “They’re sort of the opposite of the radical left.”

“You have the radical left and the radical right and they come up — I don’t know what the hell it is, it’s Project 25,” he continued. “‘He’s involved in project — and then they read some of the things and they are extreme, they’re seriously extreme. “But I don’t know anything about it, I don’t want to know anything about it.”

Trump Caught Cheering Extremist Project He Says He Knows Nothing About

People Also Search

On Thursday, MSNBC Dug Up A Clip From 2022 Of

In That Speech, He Praised Heritage Board Chairman Barb Van

“And Heridges Does Such An Incredible Job At That,” Trump

Welcome To Politomix -- The Political News Wire Where Left,

After Spending The Bulk Of The Presidential Campaign Trying To