Trump pulls back from ‘Project 2025,’ releases own plan. What GA Republicans say about it

Former President Donald Trump distanced himself from the “Project 2025” plan from a conservative think tank, and released his own plan with policy implications that would affect Georgia in immigration, electric vehicle use and business.

That plan, which he calls Agenda47 on his own website, outlines his goals for the presidency and the Republican Party’s approach to politics for the next four years if he wins the White House in November.

State Sen. Randy Robertson, a Republican who represents part of Muscogee and Troup counties, as well as all of Harris and Merriweather counties, said his overall reaction to Trump’s agenda is “positive.”

In Trump’s plan, he says he wants to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history” and restart an effort to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The plan also refers to immigration issues as a “migrant invasion,” and states there are plans to increase the number of law enforcement officers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Anytime we discuss action that starts out with the word ‘illegal,’ then I think there’s an issue that needs to be addressed,” Robertson said. “While I’ll agree that there needs to be reform in our immigration policies, I don’t think that allowing illegal immigration is in any way a part of the solution.”

Robertson said he wants to work “on an immigration system that allows individuals to transition from wherever they’re coming from into the United States in a planned and thought out process.”

The immigration plans in Trump’s Agenda47 are nearly identical to those outlined in his 2016 presidential platform. That plan was partly designed and carried out by Brian Jack, Trump’s political director from 2016 to 2020 and is the Republican candidate for Georgia’s 3rd Congressional district.

Jack, who labeled himself one of Trump’s “most-trusted allies” on his website, said he will work in tandem with the former president if they both take office in November.

“I think our district wants somebody that’s going to go up and fight for that America First agenda,” Jack said, referencing Trump’s 2016 platform. “Given my experience with President Trump and everything I’ve done ... I think I’m uniquely qualified to be an incredibly effective voice for our district.”

Jack said some of his most important achievements alongside Trump relate to the former president’s current agenda.

“For those four years, working at the White House, I worked with President Trump to secure the border,” he said. “I worked alongside him to ensure we passed the largest tax cuts in American history.”

How could Trump’s plan affect EVs in Georgia?

Trump’s Agenda47 seeks to roll back President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand eletric vehicle use in the U.S., which could affect Georgia as a state that has seen billions of dollars in EV investment in recent years.

Biden’s electric vehicle goal, set in March, aims to have at least 50% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. But Trump’s agenda advocates for reversing this and focusing on oil and natural gas sectors. This could have a significant effect on the auto manufacturing plants producing electric vehicles in Georgia, like the Kia plant in West Point.

Robertson has advocated for Kia’s investment, much of which has revolved around EV manufacturing.

“I spent a lot of time serving on the electric vehicle study committee for the (Georgia) General Assembly,” Robertson said. “I represent Kia, that are housed here in District 29. They do a great job and provide thousands of dollars here in the district.”

Robertson said he supports electric vehicles and a slow transition to them, incorporating hybrids as “an integral part of transportation.”

Enthusiasm for electric vehicles in Georgia extends to Gov. Brian Kemp, who said the state is “working to become the e-mobility capital of the nation” in a May press conference.

Kemp has had a complicated relationship with Trump, as Trump pushed state officials in an attempt to overturn his 2020 loss in the Peach State. But Kemp said he would support Trump’s candidacy and platform this year in a statement emailed to the Ledger-Enquirer.

“I am going to support the Republican ticket from the bottom all the way up to the top,” Kemp said. “People have asked me why I would vote for somebody that has spoken so negatively about me, and I said, ‘I think he’d be a better president than Joe Biden has been.’”