From the DNC:
JD Vance was prepped for last night’s debate by a Project 2025 contributor and it shows. He spent his time on the debate stage pushing the dangerous and wildly unpopular Project 2025 agenda, laying out the Trump-Vance blueprint to rip away our freedoms, rig the economy for the ultra-rich, and replace the rule of law with the rule of Trump.
With a performance like that, it’s no wonder why Vance is the most unpopular vice presidential pick in modern history. He made his Project 2025 backers proud, and he reminded millions of voters that he’s out of touch with their values.
The contrast was clear on the debate stage: while Vance is “proud to run on” Trump’s disastrous record, Governor Walz reaffirmed that the Harris-Walz ticket is ready to chart a new way forward for the American people.
Here’s a look at how JD Vance pushed the Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda at last night’s debate:
- PROJECT 2025: Sow doubt in our elections while threatening our democracy by gutting checks and balances.
- VANCE: “President Trump has said there were problems in 2020 and my own belief is we should fight about those issues.”
- VANCE: “[Trump] peacefully gave over power on January the 20th.”
- VANCE: “Donald Trump and I think there were problems in 2020.”
- VANCE: *refused to answer if Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.*
- PROJECT 2025: Make abortion “illegal nationally” just like Vance wants with a national abortion ban — with or without Congress.
- VANCE: “I did during, when I was running for Senate in 2022, talk about a minimum national standard.”
- PROJECT 2025: Repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut protections for Americans with preexisting conditions — which Vance has called a “priority” — just like Donald Trump tried to do as president.
- VANCE: “[Donald Trump] has a record [on health care] to be proud of.”
- VANCE: “Donald Trump has said if we allow states to experiment a little bit on how to cover both the chronically ill but the non-chronically ill…”
- PROJECT 2025: Give tax handouts to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations — just like Trump did during his first term — while creating an “inflation bomb” and hiking costs for the middle class.
- VANCE: “Donald Trump’s tax cuts [for the ultra-wealthy]… that is a record I’m proud to run on and we’re going to get back to.”
- PROJECT 2025: A cruel immigration agenda that includes ripping away children from their parents, rounding up people into detention camps, and using the military to carry out mass deportations.
- VANCE: “You’ve got to reimplement Donald Trump’s border policies…”
- VANCE: “Real leadership would be saying … ‘go back to Donald Trump’s policies.’ I wish that [Vice President Harris] would do that. It would be good for all of us.”
- PROJECT 2025: Side with the gun lobby while opposing commonsense gun reform — just like Trump and Vance have for years.
- VANCE: “The idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience.”
And here’s a reminder of the Trump-Vance ticket’s deep ties to Project 2025:
- Vance has claimed there are “good ideas” in Project 2025’s radical agenda and explicitly pushed policies that mirror some of its most extreme provisions.
- After Project 2025 leaders published a series of far-right essays echoing an extreme policy blueprint, Vance praised them as “admirable” and served as the keynote speaker at their release.
- Vance fundraised with a Project 2025 leader whose organization is explicitly “helping to implement” the Project 2025 agenda.
- Vance wrote a glowing book foreword praising Project 2025’s top architect with “violent” rhetoric calling for revolution.
- At least 140 former Trump administration officials are involved in crafting and pushing the Project 2025 agenda.
- After Trump picked Vance as his running mate, the lead author of Project 2025 admitted that “privately” they “were really rooting for [Vance]” to be the pick.
- The leader of the group spearheading the Project 2025 agenda has called their role “institutionalizing Trumpism” and said it’s what the Harris-Walz ticket is “running against.”
Bottom Line: The Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda will ban abortion nationwide, devastate working families, and undermine our democracy. Voters know how high the stakes are this November, and will make sure Trump and Vance never get the chance to force their dangerous blueprint on our country.
Thanks,
Alex Floyd
Rapid Response Director
Democratic National Committee
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