President-elect Donald Trump is considering a number of controversial nominees to serve in his second White House administration — including Russ Vought, a staunch Christian nationalist and one of the key architects of Project 2025.
Vought served as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during Trump’s first term. He is also a co-author and promoter of Project 2025, a far right plan to overhaul the federal government under a second Trump presidency.
According to a report from ABC News, Vought is being considered for a role in the new Trump White House, possibly for another stint as director of the OMB.
Although Trump sought to distance himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, he promoted the plan during a Heritage Foundation event in 2022 and has ties to dozens of its contributors — many of whom, like Vought, served in the first Trump administration. Since winning the election, Trump has nominated numerous architects of Project 2025 to serve in his incoming administration, despite his previous claims that he had “nothing to do” with the document.
Trump recently nominated John Ratcliffe, who was credited as a contributor to Project 2025, to lead the CIA. Stephen Miller, a longtime adviser to Trump, has also been given a role in his administration. Miller’s America First Legal, a conservative political interest group, was credited with being involved with the project, though its name was removed from the Project 2025 website after Trump sought to distance himself from the project during his campaign.
Brendan Carr, a current member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has been tapped by Trump to be its new chair starting next year. Carr was a co-author of Project 2025 who contributed to the chapter on the future of the FCC.
Trump advisers and Republicans in Congress have also reportedly begun talks to discuss ways to cut Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps — a stated goal within the pages of Project 2025.
Vought, alongside other contributors of Project 2025, will undoubtedly push for the document’s policies to be implemented if he indeed receives a post. In an undercover meeting with journalists posing as conservative donors earlier this year, Vought described how he and other Project 2025 collaborators were forming “shadow” agencies for a new Trump administration, saying that, despite his public statements regarding the project, Trump was actually “very supportive” of Project 2025.
Vought explained that he felt Trump had “blessed” him and his far right organization, The Center for Renewing America, which had continued the work of Project 2025 when Heritage announced it was winding down its advocacy efforts. Vought also said his organization had been drafting hundreds of executive orders based on the document for Trump to sign in his first days in office.
Within that same interview, Vought delved into his own personal views — including his opposition to “multiculturalism” and his embrace of Christian nationalism, a white supremacist ideology that seeks to erode LGBTQ and reproductive rights in the U.S. He also spoke about immigration, complaining that the U.S. should only allow immigrants into the country if they are Christian.
“If we’re going to have legal immigration, can we get people that actually believe in Christianity?” Vought said in the video.
In the past, Vought has described Christian nationalism in glowing terms, saying that he is fully supportive of the far right’s interpretation of Christianity having an “influence on government and society.”
Vought has also indicated that, if he returns to OMB, he would work with billionaire Elon Musk to make massive cuts to government spending, likely affecting millions of Americans who rely on social safety net programs.
It’s possible that Vought’s nomination to head the OMB again will be blocked by the Senate confirmation process — however, that would require at least four Republicans in the incoming Congress to join with all Democratic senators to vote against him. While some of Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks are expected to have difficulty being approved, the majority of his nominees will likely be passed by a Republican Senate.
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