Project 2025 mastermind loves Vance for VP, but voters disagree

The Centre for Climate Reporting went undercover to record Project 2025 architect Russell Vought on hidden camera last month, with a reporter and an actor posing as relatives of a wealthy potential donor to his conservative think tank. And Vought was thrilled to spill the beans on his group’s fascist plot to take over the government, including the fact that they have another “in” with a potential Donald Trump administration.

That would be Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee. He’s on their team.

“Very happy with JD as a pick…. I think it's transformative, for sure,” Vought told the reporters. “And he’s… think of him as a member version of what we do.”

“So there's no think tank, no policy organization, no battle plan creator other than us for the worldview that I think Donald Trump has and that JD has,” Vought said. 

That’s his pitch to the would-be donors: Giving him money is the only way to have their worldview imposed upon the nation. That worldview has been cobbled together from 19th century mores, dystopian fiction, and some pretty weird ideas about society and government in 2024.