'Taking off the mask': Trump said to be 'charging ahead' with 'dangerous' agenda

Despite distancing himself for months from the highly controversial Project 2025, President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet selections show his stance on the ‘right-wing manifesto’ giving Democrats worries is shifting.

And that means Trump’s vision for America when he returns to the White House could soon include many of the plans spelled out in the 900-page policy blueprint known as Project 2025, according to a New York Times report. The publication cited his recruitment of at least half a dozen “architects and supporters of the plan to oversee key issues, including the federal budget, intelligence gathering and his promised plans for mass deportations.”

“President-elect Trump has dropped all pretense and is charging ahead hand in hand with the right-wing industry players shaping an agenda he denied for the whole campaign,” Tony Carrk, executive director of the government watchdog agency Accountable US told the Times.

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The report went on to highlight Trump’s picks to various government roles deeply rooted in Project 2025 – including Russell Vought, Trump’s pick to lead the powerful Office of Management and Budget and a Project 2025 co-author.

The Times noted that during the campaign, Trump tried distancing himself from Vought and other former staffers while Democrats ramped up attacks associated with Project 2025.

But filling his next administration with picks like Vought and others like Pete Hoekstra to be ambassador to Canada and John Ratcliffe as his pick to head the C.I.A. shows ties exist.

A rapid response director for the Democratic National Committee told the Times that “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,” Floyd said.