Donald Trump and JD Vance have lied about their connections to the extreme policy guidepost designed to remake Washington D.C., and the rest of the nation, in the image of MAGA Republicans. Over 100 of Donald Trump’s former staffers contributed writings, endorsed, or advised Project 2025.
According to USA Today, JD Vance called a known racist, and Project 2025 author, Richard Hanania a “friend” and a “really interesting thinker” just three years ago. Hanania expressed support for eugenics, the forced sterilization of “low IQ” people, which he argued were most often Black. Hanania also opposed “miscegenation” and “race-mixing.” Hanania cited the neo-Nazi author of “The Turner Diaries” when arguing that Black people cannot govern themselves.
Learn more about the racists and white supremacists contributing to the Trump-Vance Project 2025 policy guide:
- Billed as a vision built by conservatives for conservatives, the effort “dismantles the unaccountable Deep State, taking power away from Leftist elites and giving it back to the American people and duly-elected President,” according to its website.
- But for months commentators and academics have been sounding the alarm on Project 2025. The effort, they say, is a deeply racist endeavor that actually is aimed at dismantling many protections and aid programs for Americans of color.
- And a closer look at the named contributors to Project 2025 adds to the concern: A USA TODAY analysis found at least five of them have a history of racist writing or statements, or white supremacist activity.
- They include Richard Hanania, who for years wrote racist essays for white supremacist publications under a pseudonym until he was unmasked by a Huffington Post investigation last year.
- Hanania is a right-wing author and pundit who has built a reputation among Republicans as an “anti-woke crusader.”
- An investigation last year by the Huffington Post unmasked Hanania as having written under a pseudonym for websites connected to the “alt-right,” the white supremacist movement that flared up before and during the first Trump presidency.
- In the early 2010s, writing under the pen name “Richard Hoste,” Hanania “identified himself as a ‘race realist.’” Huffington Post reported last August. “He expressed support for eugenics and the forced sterilization of ‘low IQ’ people, who he argued were most often Black. He opposed ‘miscegenation’ and ‘race-mixing.’ And once, while arguing that Black people cannot govern themselves, he cited the neo-Nazi author of ‘The Turner Diaries,’ the infamous novel that celebrates a future race war.”
- JD Vance’s connection to Hanania was documented in a 2021 interview with conservative talk show host David Rubin — two years before Hanania began denouncing his racist past — when Vance described Hanania as a “friend” and a “really interesting thinker.”
- Vance and Hanania have also interacted several times on X, formerly known as Twitter, liking and commenting on each other’s posts.
- Vance, who Trump announced as his running mate earlier this month, also has connections to Project 2025. He wrote the foreword for a book being released later this year by Kevin Roberts, one of the manifesto’s key architects.
- Richard Spencer, a white supremacist credited with creating the alt-right moniker, published several of Hanania’s articles on the website AlternativeRight.com, including one in which Hanania wrote “If the races are equal, why do whites always end up near the top and blacks at the bottom, everywhere and always?”
- In an interview this month, Spencer told USA TODAY that while Hanania may have moderated some of his views, “I think it’s very clear that Richard is a race realist and eugenicist.”
- Failed Virginia GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart, another named contributor, has long associated with white supremacists and calls himself a protector of America’s Confederate history tasked with “taking back our heritage.”
- Project 2025 contributor Jason Richwine wrote in his PhD dissertation that immigrants have lower IQs than white native citizens, leading to “underclass behavior.”
- Project 2025 contributor Stephen Moore dropped out of contention for a prestigious role at the Federal Reserve amid controversy over a racist joke about the Obamas.
- At least three contributors to Project 2025 have supported the racist “Great Replacement” theory, which contends that powerful Democrats and leftists are conspiring to change the demographics of the United States by turning a blind eye to, or even encouraging, illegal immigration, including Michael Anton, a former senior national security official in the Trump administration.
- The presence of contributors to Project 2025 who have published racist or offensive tropes comes as no surprise to academics and commentators who have been sounding the alarm on the endeavor for months.
- The plan calls for the abolition of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government. It would severely limit the mailing of abortion pills and disband the Department of Education. It would replace the Department of Homeland Security with a new, more powerful border and immigration enforcement agency to choke immigration. It would also curtail or disband programs that experts say greatly benefit communities of color, including the Food Stamp and Head Start programs.
- But even among the broader collection of think tanks, nonprofits and pundits on the author list, others have past controversies on the issue of race. Seven of the organizations on Project 2025’s Advisory Board have been designated as extremist or hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, according to a May report from Accountable.us, a nonpartisan organization that tracks interest groups in Washington, D.C.
Published: Jul 29, 2024 | Last Modified: Jul 30, 2024