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The Illusion of Leadership:
Trump, Project 2025, and the Erosion of Democracy
May 21,2025
In recent months, concerns have grown over President Donald Trump's cognitive health and the extent of his control over his administration. Observers point to signs of cognitive decline and the increasing influence of Project 2025, a comprehensive plan developed by conservative think tanks, to suggest that Trump may be serving more as a figurehead while others steer the country's direction. These developments have profound implications not only for the immediate governance of the country but also for the long-term health of American democracy.
Analysts, journalists, and political observers have noted significant changes in Trump’s speech patterns, memory recall, and behavior. From the campaign trail to public speeches, Trump increasingly relies on vague generalities, jumbled syntax, and repetitive catchphrases. His use of superlatives like "nobody's ever seen anything like it" or "many people are saying" has long been a feature of his rhetorical style, but lately, it has become more exaggerated and disconnected from coherent policy arguments. During several recent public appearances, he has mixed up names and dates, confused world leaders, and at times appeared to lose his train of thought entirely. These moments, widely circulated and discussed across various platforms, raise legitimate questions about his mental acuity and capacity to manage the complex demands of the presidency.
This is not a fringe concern. Neurologists and mental health professionals, while cautious about diagnosing from afar, have noted that his mannerisms and speech may reflect age-related cognitive decline. Trump, now approaching his late 70s, would not be unusual in experiencing such changes. But unlike private individuals, the health and cognitive function of a sitting president are matters of national interest. When a leader exhibits signs of cognitive difficulty, it can lead to uncertainty among allies, boldness among adversaries, and confusion within the ranks of government.
Against this backdrop, the rise and implementation of Project 2025 is especially troubling. Project 2025 is a sweeping plan created by The Heritage Foundation and other conservative think tanks that aims to reshape the federal government. It outlines steps to centralize power in the executive branch, remove institutional checks, and replace career civil servants with political appointees who pledge personal loyalty to the president. The project includes detailed recommendations across various departments, from Justice to Education, and emphasizes a more authoritarian and theocratic vision of governance.
While Trump publicly champions these goals, many believe the actual work of implementing Project 2025 is being carried out not by him, but by the network of conservative operatives and think tank strategists behind the scenes. These individuals, many of whom were instrumental in crafting the original proposal, now occupy key positions in the administration. Their presence suggests a growing influence and perhaps even operational control over policy, legislative priorities, and executive orders.
Since the beginning of Trump’s new term, the alignment between Project 2025's goals and government actions has been striking. For example, one of the early steps was the reissuance of an executive order to bring back Schedule F, a policy Trump had introduced in his first term to reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Under the justification of rooting out the so-called "deep state," this move effectively dismantles the apolitical nature of the federal workforce. Career experts and nonpartisan professionals are being replaced or silenced, and many fear that their replacements are selected for loyalty rather than competence.
This shift is not just administrative. It represents a fundamental reordering of how government operates. The insulation of bureaucratic agencies from political influence has long been a cornerstone of stable democratic governance. It ensures continuity, expertise, and public trust. But Project 2025 seeks to eliminate that insulation, creating an apparatus where decisions flow not from evidence-based analysis or public interest, but from ideology and allegiance to a single leader. The result is a system that no longer serves the diverse will of the people, but the narrow goals of a ruling faction.
Allowing unelected officials to direct national policy in this way is a direct threat to democracy. These individuals are not accountable to voters. They do not stand for election, face public scrutiny, or risk losing their position based on public approval. They operate behind closed doors, crafting legislation, guiding judicial appointments, and shaping regulatory policy with no transparency. When such power is consolidated among a small group of ideologues, democracy becomes a shell of itself. Elections may still occur, but the meaningful exercise of choice and the checks and balances that prevent tyranny are eroded.
Moreover, the psychological dynamic between Trump and the Project 2025 architects seems designed to maintain a façade of presidential authority while executing a highly coordinated ideological takeover. Trump, who craves adulation and control, is likely satisfied by the perception that he is at the helm. Meanwhile, the operatives around him use his approval as a rubber stamp for their agenda, which he may not fully understand or engage with in detail. This arrangement allows them to pursue radical change without the friction that would normally accompany democratic debate or inter-branch oversight.
The influence of Project 2025 has already been felt in concrete ways. Immigration policy, for instance, has become more draconian, echoing the darkest chapters of Trump's first term. Mass deportations, internment-style detentions, and law enforcement crackdowns on protestors and activists have resumed with renewed intensity. Environmental protections are being rolled back with near-total disregard for scientific consensus. LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive health access, and voting protections are under direct assault through executive orders and DOJ reinterpretations that mirror Project 2025's playbook.
Foreign policy, too, has taken a sharp turn toward unilateralism and militarism. Long-standing alliances are being weakened, diplomatic norms disregarded, and international agreements shredded. Behind each of these shifts are operatives whose names are not known to the public, whose ideologies were formed in the crucible of conservative think tanks, and whose strategies reflect the Project 2025 doctrine.
This is not governance; it is ideological occupation. And Trump, whether knowingly or not, is the figurehead enabling it. The danger is not just what is happening now, but what it sets in motion for future administrations. If this model of leadership through ideological puppetry becomes normalized, it opens the door for future presidents, of any party. to serve as vessels for unelected power brokers.
Democracy depends not just on elections, but on participation, transparency, and accountability. It requires that the public knows who is making decisions, why they are being made, and what consequences they carry. The Project 2025 model obscures all of that. It offers the illusion of leadership while hiding the true levers of power in a network of privately funded policy shops and loyalist operatives. The American people are not just being governed without consent; they are being governed without awareness.
We must recognize this shift and call it what it is: a subversion of democratic order. The rise of a shadow government, driven by ideology and insulated from public oversight, is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes throughout history. It strips citizens of their agency, undermines trust in institutions, and replaces pluralism with dogma.
If democracy is to survive this moment, it will require more than alarm. It will require resistance, transparency, and an insistence that government by the people must mean just that, by the people, not for a party, not for a donor class, and not for an unelected cadre of ideologues. The danger of Trump's cognitive decline is serious, but the danger posed by those who have filled that vacuum may be even greater.
There is still time to reverse course. But it begins with a clear-eyed recognition of the problem. Trump is not fully in control. Project 2025 is not just a plan; it is a governing reality. And democracy cannot function when the people making the decisions are neither known, elected, nor accountable.
