THE PERSONNEL
They wrote the blueprint. Then they got the jobs to implement it.
Sources: CNN · NBC News · Newsweek · Revolving Door Project · Heritage Foundation · Public Appointment Records
Personnel is policy.— A founding principle of Project 2025 — and the reason the blueprint includes a database of 20,000 vetted conservative recruits ready for government jobs.
Trump repeatedly claimed he had "nothing to do with" Project 2025. The personnel record tells a different story. Over 140 former Trump administration officials helped write the document. Twenty-five of its thirty chapters were authored by people who served in Trump's first term. And at least 31 contributors have been nominated or appointed to positions in his second administration, including the authors of chapters on specific federal agencies who were then placed in charge of those same agencies.
Russell Vought wrote the executive office chapter and became OMB Director. Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter and became FCC Chairman. Lindsey Burke wrote the education chapter and became Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Education. The pattern is unmistakable: the people who drafted the blueprint are now implementing it from inside the government.
The Revolving
Door
The same people who served in Trump's first administration wrote the playbook for his second. Then they were appointed to the positions needed to implement what they wrote. This is not coincidence — it is the system working exactly as designed.
They Wrote It.
Then They
Got the Jobs.
These are the most consequential cases — people who authored specific chapters of Project 2025 and were then appointed to the positions with authority to implement what they wrote.
Appointed: Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — the person who controls the entire federal budget.
The connection: The man who wrote the blueprint for how to restructure the executive branch was given control of the federal purse strings. Self-described Christian nationalist. Trump later praised him as "he of PROJECT 2025 Fame."
Appointed: Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
The connection: He wrote the plan for what the FCC should do. Then he was made FCC Chairman. He has since investigated and threatened ABC, NBC, NPR, and PBS — exactly as his chapter recommended.
Appointed: Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs at the Department of Education.
The connection: The person who wrote the plan to dismantle the Department of Education was placed inside the Department of Education to oversee its dismantlement.
Appointed: Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing.
The connection: Navarro also served in Trump's first term as a trade adviser. He was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with the January 6th Committee's subpoena and served four months in federal prison before being appointed again.
Appointed: 'Border Czar' — leading the administration's mass deportation efforts.
The connection: Homan previously served as acting ICE Director under Trump's first term. Now he oversees the implementation of P2025's most visible policy area: mass deportation.
Appointed: Nominated as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The connection: P2025 calls for placing independent agencies like the SEC under direct presidential control. A P2025 contributor now leads one of those agencies.
The Complete
Picture
Beyond the headline appointments, at least 31 P2025 contributors, authors, instructors, or advisory board members have been nominated, designated, appointed, or confirmed to Trump administration positions.
• Jon Feere (P2025 contributor) → Chief of Staff, ICE
• John Ratcliffe (P2025 contributor) → CIA Director
• Steven G. Bradbury (P2025 contributor) → Nominated as Deputy Secretary of Transportation
• Troy Edgar (P2025 contributor) → Nominated as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
• Pete Hoekstra (P2025 contributor) → Nominated as Ambassador to Canada
• Michael Anton (P2025 contributor) → Director of Policy Planning
• Stephen Billy (P2025 contributor) → OMB senior adviser
• Brian J. Cavanaugh (P2025 contributor) → OMB associate director
• James Baehr (P2025 contributor) → VA General Counsel
• 140+ former Trump administration officials (CNN)
• 25 of 30 chapters by former Trump officials (Revolving Door Project)
• 6 former Cabinet secretaries contributed
• 40 primary authors
Who's now implementing it:
• 31+ P2025 contributors appointed or nominated (Newsweek)
• Authors placed in positions matching their P2025 chapters
• Several in Senate-confirmed roles with direct implementation authority
The People
Who Built It
Project 2025 was not a grassroots effort. It was organized by specific individuals with deep ties to Trump's first administration and the conservative movement's institutional infrastructure.
In Their
Own Words
What the people who built Project 2025 said about their goals.
This is a great group and they're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do... when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.
He's going to be so incredible. I know that for a fact.
I personally have talked to President Trump about Project 2025.
We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.
• Shared a 45-minute private flight with Trump (April 2022)
• Said "the overlap is tremendous" between Trump's platform and P2025
• Said "there's no doubt" Trump will implement P2025
• Confirmed personally briefing Trump on Project 2025
• Assumed direct leadership of P2025 after Paul Dans stepped down
Led the day-to-day development of the Mandate, the personnel database, and the training academy. Stepped down in July 2024 amid political controversy following Roberts' 'second American Revolution' comment — after which Kevin Roberts assumed leadership.
During Trump's first term, McEntee screened officials for loyalty and orchestrated the removal of those deemed insufficiently loyal. At P2025, he built the database of 20,000 vetted conservatives to ensure the second term would be staffed exclusively with loyalists from day one.
140+ former Trump officials wrote the blueprint. 31+ were appointed to implement it. The authors of specific chapters were placed in the exact positions needed to carry out their recommendations. Personnel is policy — and this is the proof.