New: DNC deploys Michigan billboards linking Trump to the far-right Project 2025

An image of one of the billboards deployed by the Democratic National Committee in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing alongside other cities in battleground states. | Image courtesy of the Democratic National Committee

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Detroit, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is deploying billboards in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, tying former President Donald Trump to Project 2025. 

Project 2025, created by the conservative Heritage Foundation, is a collection of far-right policy proposals intended for a conservative presidential administration. Its more than 900-page “Mandate For Leadership” includes proposals reshaping the federal government, restricting access to the abortion pill and barring hospitals from providing emergency abortion care, reversing course on climate change efforts alongside many other recommendations. 

While Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025 by disavowing some of its policies and posting to social media, “I have no idea who is behind it,” the effort’s guiding document was authored by a number of former Trump Administration employees. A review from CNN found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration contributed to Project 2025, including six former cabinet members.

Earlier this week the Republican National Committee adopted its 2024 platform, which contains some overlap with Project 2025 on issues like immigration, boosting energy production and eliminating the Department of Education. 

With Biden’s debate performance sparking concerns among voters and division among Democrats on whether the president should rescind his candidacy, the party has shifted course to attack Project 2025, warning its proposals would harm women, LGBTQ+ individuals and seniors.

Alongside billboards in Michigan, the DNC is placing billboards in cities across battleground states. 

The billboards appear in both Spanish and English, with one calling Project 2025, “Trump’s plan to be a dictator on Day 1,” telling voters to google the effort in a nod to a social media post from Biden. 

Another states that Trump and Project 2025 would gut checks and balances, seek revenge, and ban abortion nationwide. 

While Project 2025 does not explicitly call for a nationwide ban on abortion, its bevy of suggestions regulating pregnancy and abortion would greatly increase the difficulty to receive abortion care.

Trump has similarly stopped short of calling for a nationwide abortion ban, with the party platform’s softened stance on abortion — which states the party opposes late-term abortions — sparking frustration among anti-abortion Republicans. However, the platform does support states establishing fetal personhood via the 14th Amendment, which has long been sought by anti-abortion activists. The 19th notes that fetal personhood “would have the practical effect of prohibiting abortion at all stages of pregnancy” and could apply nationally depending on court action.

The post New: DNC deploys Michigan billboards linking Trump to the far-right Project 2025 appeared first on Michigan Advance.