The Quiet Coup. Project 2025's First 100 Days in Power

Christine Merser, May 13, 2025

“Trump is the pen, and the people holding the pen? They’re Project 2025.” - Christine Merser

I’ve seen hundreds of articles, literally, about the first hundred days of the Trump presidency. But what if it isn’t a Trump presidency at all? What if it’s a Project 2025 presidency? What if we not only missed the memo, but we’re still missing the forest for the trees? Following the wrong felon?

I don’t really think that Donald Trump is the mastermind of anything, except maybe the decision to slap gold Home Depot decals on the Oval Office walls. He’s the shiny object. He loves being shiny. But the real operation? The real machinery behind the dramatic transformation of the federal government over these last 100 days? I think that’s coming from Project 2025.

Some of the people who are supposedly leading governmental agencies are shiny objects too, loud, headline-generating figures who create diversionary explosions with the absurdity and audaciousness of their actions. Kennedy. Biondi. The list goes on. But those are surface blemishes. Why aren’t we hearing about the real people - quiet, embedded, coordinated, who are truly changing democracy from the inside out? Come on MSNBC. Hellloooo?

Project 2025 has been two decades in the making. Launched by the Heritage Foundation and built out by more than 100 right-wing think tanks, religious groups, and legal networks, it’s not just a policy blueprint—it’s a total restructure of the federal government. Their 900-page mandate outlines exactly how to dismantle what they call the “administrative state” and replace it with a system fully aligned with conservative, Christian nationalist values. They spent years training loyalists, developing legal strategies, and preparing model legislation.

And when Trump was re-elected, they were ready. In fact, they were always betting and supporting his re-election, not because they believed in his leadership, but because they believed he’d sign whatever they put in front of him.

Trump doesn’t read white papers. He doesn’t revise memos. He doesn’t ask who wrote the plan or why. He signs it, bold, illegible, showman’s signature scrawled across the bottom of executive orders, policy reversals, and agency reshuffles. He’s not the architect of this administration. He’s the pen. He has no idea what he’s signing.

And the people holding the pen? I think they are Project 2025. The Masterminds of Project 2025.

The True Believers are Kevin Roberts, Gene Hamilton, Russell Vought, Roger Severino. They are not fly-by-night grifters or Trump-era ladder climbers. They are methodical, disciplined, and fully committed to reshaping America through the levers of government. Not for personal power. Not for money. But because they believe.

Kevin Roberts sees the Heritage Foundation not as a think tank, but as a moral compass. He has spoken openly about the need to return America to “Biblical values,” and he sees his current influence as divine obligation, not political opportunity.

Gene Hamilton, one of the original architects of Trump’s family separation policy, believes in a legal framework that defines America as a nation rooted in order and tradition, not inclusion or modern rights. He views federal power as a tool to reinstate a “moral hierarchy” that has been eroded.

Russell Vought is running an entire shadow government through his Center for Renewing America. He speaks in apocalyptic language about saving the soul of the country. To him, budget cuts aren’t financial, they’re spiritual.

These are not men angling for post-administration jobs at cable news networks. They don’t care about status symbols or Twitter followings.

They care about the outcome, not their own personal gain. They believe they’re on a mission from God, or at the very least, from history.

That’s what makes them so effective. And so dangerous.

Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and the public face of Project 2025, may not have an official title in the administration, but don’t be fooled. His influence is felt daily. He’s been spotted entering the Eisenhower Executive Office Building more than a dozen times since January. His role? Less spokesman, more kingmaker.

The real day-to-day execution is happening through individuals embedded in agencies. Roger Severino, former HHS civil rights chief, is now quietly back in the Department of Health and Human Services—not as a figurehead, but as a senior policy enforcer. Gene Hamilton, who once crafted Trump’s family separation policy at DOJ, is back and pushing a legal framework that limits federal enforcement power in blue states while expanding it for immigration and abortion crackdowns.

Meanwhile, Russell Vought, who’s been dubbed “Trump’s shadow budget director,” is operating as an unofficial yet powerful voice behind the Office of Management and Budget. The new budget, unveiled in March, includes line items almost word-for-word from the Project 2025 handbook. Gut funding for climate research, reclassify civil servants to make them fireable, expand federal law enforcement’s power to target “left-wing extremism.”

What’s already happened in the first 100 days, you ask?

The Federal Workforce Is Being Gutted. Schedule F—the policy Trump tried to implement at the end of his first term that would allow him to fire tens of thousands of career civil servants—is now back. It was signed via executive order on Day 6. Since then, agencies have begun issuing notices and reclassifications. Resistance is building, but the purge has started.

Reproductive Rights Have Been Eviscerated. The DOJ has directed U.S. Attorneys not to intervene in state-level prosecutions of women seeking abortions or doctors providing them—even in cases involving out-of-state travel. Meanwhile, HHS has halted all federal funding for clinics that provide abortion referrals, and it’s reviewing Medicaid reimbursements for any provider who so much as mentions the word.

LGBTQ+ Protections Are Being Rolled Back. Executive Order 13988, which enforced non-discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in federal agencies, was rescinded on Day 30. A new set of “religious liberty guidelines” has replaced it, which critics say gives agencies cover to discriminate under the guise of religious conscience.

The Department of Education Is Being Rewritten. Christopher Rufo is now a “consultant” to the Secretary of Education, but make no mistake—he’s writing policy. The new civics curriculum guidelines released on Day 82 ban instruction on systemic racism, gender theory, and anything “divisive” in federally funded programs. States are scrambling to figure out what qualifies.

Immigration Policy Has Turned Aggressive Again. Operation Lone Star, a controversial state-led border enforcement effort from Texas, has now received federal support and funding. ICE has been given broader discretion to detain immigrants without court dates, and a federal task force has been set up to monitor “foreign influence in elections,” primarily focused on immigrants with dual citizenship.

My question is where is the media? Seriously?

The mainstream media is chasing clicks, and Trump and his court jesters deliver them in bulk. His rant-of-the-day, the spectacle, the tweet that sets the fire, it all makes for better ratings than a deep dive into obscure bureaucratic memos. So while Trump yells into a microphone, the Project 2025 team quietly rewires the entire system in the background.

And that suits them perfectly.

They were so happy yesterday that every single human in the United States of America was solely focused on a f’ing airplane. Are you not seeing what matters? It’s up to us fellow humans. Stop clicking on that stuff. Stop forwarding it. Stop liking it. I beg you.

Look, this is a group of true believers. They’re not in it for fame. They’re not maneuvering for book deals or cable contracts. In fact, they seem to relish the invisibility. They understand something the media refuses to accept, power doesn’t need a spotlight. And movements rooted in ideology, not ambition, are the ones that change the world.

That’s what makes this so dangerous. And, we are playing right into their hands.

These people aren’t here to profit. They’re here to build a new kind of world order, one that aligns with a white, Christian nationalist vision of America. They are disciplined, mission-driven, and absolutely committed. And unlike Trump, they are not impulsive. They are strategic. Their power comes from patience and planning. That’s what we’re up against.

We need to demand more. From the media and from ourselves and our friends and our family. We need to talk about how we are being duped. And, they are so happy to have every day headlines that let them work in the shadows.

We must demand that the media stop feeding off the spectacle and start reporting on the real story. The real story is not DT. Never was. We need to know who’s implementing Project 2025 from within. We need to know what’s being changed and why. We want to know who’s behind the policies, not just who’s screaming about them at a rally.

We need to work a little harder mentally, not have our serotonin rushes fed by DT’s latest show boating. Look away. Look away. Look away.

We are looking for investigative journalism again. Please. Ask for it. Demand it.

If this isn’t the kind of story that gets clicks, then we need to reprogram ourselves. Democracy deserves better than algorithm-driven amnesia. And we deserve a press that holds a flashlight on the shadows, not just a camera on the stage of diversionary explosions.

And, have a nice day. Too much?