# Trump no longer distancing himself from Project 2025 as he uses shutdown to further pursue its goals

- Link: https://www.widthness.com/trump-no-longer-distancing-himself-from-project-2025-as-he-uses-shutdown-to-further-pursue-its-goals/
- Published: 2025-10-04T09:15:00-05:00
- Author: Curated by Theresa Wysocki

Photo: The President departs the White House and gaggles with the press on the South Lawn before boarding HMX-1 to begin traveling to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, September 15th, 2025. Photo credit: Official White House photo by Harrison Koeppel via Flickr. US government work. Article by Jill Colvin. AP News – updated October 3, 2025. NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government shutdown to accelerate his goals of slashing the size of the federal workforce and punishing Democratic states. In a post on his Truth Social site Thursday morning, Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.” […] Click here to view original web page at www.apnews.com Video: Trump once denied knowledge of Project 2025, but now he’s embracing it amid shutdown – MSNBC Related articles: Trump Posts Bizarre AI Video of Project 2025 Architect as the Grim Reaper – Gizmodo Media Faces Reckoning After Helping Trump Downplay Project 2025 on Campaign Trail – Common Dreams Trump Is No Longer Denying Support for Project 2025: What to Know – Time