Trump’s Power Play: Project 2025 Architect Set to Reshape Federal Budget Office
In a significant move that signals potential sweeping changes to the federal government’s structure, Donald Trump has nominated Russell Vought to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), placing a key architect of the controversial Project 2025 in one of the most powerful positions in his incoming administration.
The nomination, announced on Trump’s Truth Social platform, marks a stark shift from the president-elect’s previous attempts to distance himself from Project 2025 during his campaign.
Vought, who served as OMB chief during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, has been deeply involved in crafting the conservative blueprint that could dramatically reshape the federal government.
“Russ has spent many years working in Public Policy in Washington, D.C., and is an aggressive cost cutter and deregulator who will help us implement our America First Agenda across all Agencies,” Trump wrote in his announcement.
The nomination highlights Project 2025, a detailed 900-page plan that Vought helped create alongside hundreds of conservative leaders. The project calls for significant changes to presidential powers, including:
- Expanding the president’s authority over the Justice Department
- Boosting the number of political appointees
- Implementing the controversial Schedule F order to make it easier to fire thousands of federal workers
- Enforcing restrictions on abortion pill distribution
- Eliminating the Department of Education
Vought’s vision for government reform goes even further. In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, he outlined plans to “move executively as fast and as aggressively as possible” to reshape federal agencies.
“The American people currently are not in control of their government, and the president hasn’t been either,” Vought stated. “We have to solve the woke and weaponized bureaucracy and have the president take control of the executive branch.”
The nomination has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats. “After months of lies to the American people, Donald Trump is taking off the mask: He’s plotting a Project 2025 Cabinet to enact his dangerous vision starting on day one,” said Alex Floyd, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson.
Trump’s team has pushed back against these criticisms. Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt insisted that Trump “never had anything to do with Project 2025” and that his cabinet nominees are “whole-heartedly committed to President Trump’s agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.”
However, Vought’s nomination is part of a broader pattern. Trump has tapped several Project 2025 contributors for key positions, including:
- Brendan Carr for the Federal Communications Commission
- Tom Homan as “border czar”
- John Ratcliffe as CIA director
- Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
Vought’s background includes stints at the Heritage Foundation and working with Mike Pence during his congressional career. After Trump’s presidency, he founded the Center for Renewing America, a hub for developing conservative policy proposals.
If confirmed, Vought will work alongside Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, focusing on Trump’s campaign promises to slash government spending and regulations.
The nomination represents a critical moment in Trump’s transition planning, signaling his readiness to embrace more radical changes to government structure despite campaign-trail hesitation about Project 2025.
As the Senate prepares for confirmation hearings, all eyes will be on Vought’s vision for reshaping the federal budget and, potentially, the entire executive branch.