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, and that’s coming,” Trump said, seeming to imply Project 2025.

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 were just discussing it with Kevin,” Trump said during the 2022 speech in his typical rambling style. “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.”

“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump claimed late Wednesday night. Trump issued his first denial of Project 2025 last Friday, declaring to closed ears, “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.”

CNN found nearly 140 former Trump aides and advisers who have contributed to Project 2025, including six former members of his Cabinet, four of his ambassadors, and Republican National Committee members appointed to their positions in coordination with the Trump campaign. The document functions as a sort of light-speed roadmap for an impending Republican presidency, laying pathways to actualize Trump’s mass deportation plan, consolidate federal agency power, and dismantle LGBTQ+ and abortion rights. Trump has tried in vain to distance himself from Project 2025 and its patently extreme agenda, presumably hoping to woo voters with softer stances before flipping once elected. Either Trump is struggling with a pretty sizable memory lapse, or he’s lying.