New Delhi: With just months to go for the US Presidential elections, American conservatives have come together to counter ‘wokeism’, China and illegal immigration should there be a Republican victory.
Led by Washington DC-based think tank The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 laid out a policy agenda, changes in personnel, and a 180-day playbook should a Republican candidate clinch the Presidency.
The project entails an 800-page document, titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise”, published by the foundation.
The document mentioned former president Donald Trump over 300 times but claimed support for the next conservative president, “whoever he or she may be”.
Project 2025 is largely being viewed as an attempt by conservatives to lay out a plan of action in light of the previous Trump administration’s (2017-2021) three different national security advisers, four White House press secretaries, and sometimes, unpredictable policies.
“The project aims to put in place well-prepared staffers to man the Republican administration and effectively implement a bold conservative agenda,” C. Raja Mohan, a professor of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, told ThePrint.
However, there are still divisions in the Republican party over issues like the Russia-Ukraine war. While moderate conservatives want to continue aid to Kyiv, Trump has heaped praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also threatened to pull the US out of NATO earlier this month, sending shockwaves across Europe.
Over the years, the Heritage Foundation and other think tanks, like the Centre for American Progress, have influenced policy-making in the US on the line of ideological and partisan agendas.
The first such “Mandate for Leadership” was presented to US President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
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On China
The “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” cited India as a counter to China and calls for a second Quad arrangement in the Middle East.
“It is in the US national interest to build a Middle East security pact, which includes Israel, Egypt, the Gulf states, and potentially, India, as a second Quad arrangement,” it stated.
However, it is unclear on how this will differ from the West Quad, I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE and US). ThePrint emailed The Heritage Foundation for a clarification, and this report will be updated when a response is received.
The document suggested cutting off economic ties with China at a time when the de-linking versus de-risking debate vis-a-vis China continues to rage in the US. Confucius Institutes and TikTok and universities receiving funds from the Chinese Communist party should be outlawed, it added.
“Economic engagement with China should be ended, not rethought,” it stated.
However, some economists said that that would not be viable.
“Cutting off economic ties with China is not a viable policy decision because the American and Chinese economies are inextricably linked. China’s overall holdings of US Treasury bonds have decreased, but the country still holds a substantial share. For many years, these Chinese holdings essentially helped finance US fiscal deficits,” Biswajit Nag, professor at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), told ThePrint.
Also read: Despite booming trade, US-China relationship evolving into an ‘ideological rivalry’
Countering ‘wokeism’
Noting the rise of “wokeism” and what it views as erosion of family values in America, the document is sharply critical of the Republican Party failure to address this problem.
“The Republican Party seems to have little understanding about what to do. Most alarming of all, the very moral foundations of our society are in peril,” it stated.
The document also hit out at the “toxic normalisation of transgenderism” in the US, calling for restricted application of sex discrimination in the workplace.
Trump has also been highly critical of transgender persons in the past. In 2017, he said in a series of statements on X that transgender persons will no longer be allowed to serve in the US military.
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
The document also recommended setting up a “Department of Life” by rejecting abortion as health care.
This comes almost a year after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that recognised women’s constitutional right to abortion and restored the ability of states to ban abortion.
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Immigration, visas & borders
The document called for a tightening of immigration laws, reducing visas for students from “enemy nations”, and cuts in federal spending to American businesses that commit visa fraud and hire “illegal immigrants”.
“Illegal immigration should be ended, not mitigated; the border sealed, not reprioritised,” it stated, mainly referring to America’s southern border with Mexico.
“Traditionally, American conservatives have been pro-migration because of the capital’s need for labour. However, now amid a backlash against massive migration into the country, sections of the Republican Party have turned hostile,” Mohan told ThePrint.
The document also suggested ending T- and U-visas, arguing that victimisation should not be a basis for an “immigration benefit”. T-visas are for victims of trafficking, while U-visas are for those who have suffered mental or physical abuse in certain crimes.
Visa reciprocity to all foreign nationals is another policy recommendation, with the argument that that will no longer give other countries an “unfettered right” to enter the US and must reciprocally offer favorable visa-based access to US nationals.
Indians comprise over 10 percent of all visa applicants to the US worldwide, including 20 per cent of all student visa applicants and 65 per cent of all H&L-category (employment) visa applicants.
However, critics said “weaponising” visas is not a viable policy decision.
“These are not helpful policy recommendations. You can’t weaponise visas. I don’t think any government would be open to this, and frankly, this reveals the partisan colour of such policy recommendations,” a former Indian foreign secretary told ThePrint.
The document also proposed a massive overhaul of government agencies to tackle illegal immigration, mainly across the border from Mexico. For example, it proposed dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set up by the George Bush administration in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
A new “stand-alone border and immigration agency at the cabinet level” should be installed, with the remaining parts of DHS distributed among other departments.
The department should be reorganised, prioritising border security and immigration enforcement, including detention and deportation, it added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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