07-19-24 Interview - Sarah Parshall Perry Senior Legal Fellow at Heritage on Project 2025

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My next guest is Sarah Parshall Perry. She's an attorney and senior legal fellow
at Heritage, And you know wewere going to have you on, Sarah
to talk about some of the thingsthat have happened legally. But the big
story this week, last week,the next week is Project twenty twenty five,
a program put out by the HeritageFoundation. This is what the Democrats
have ceased on, of course,prove that Donald Trump is going to drag

(00:23):
us back to the dark age rates. What is Project twenty twenty five.
It is very easy to describe.We've done this actually every year since nineteen
eighty we have provided an analysis toall presidential candidates for what we believe is
the most successful vision for a flourishingAmerica. We've always done it. This
is just different now we published itso that everyone can take a look.

(00:47):
We've also done something different this year, and that we have Project partnered with
over one hundred other conservative organizations.We didn't want this to be just the
effort of the Heritage Foundation. Wewanted to bring together a coalition of all
conservative groups on various different policies,from economics to pro life issues, to
education to welfare and subsidies. Wereally wanted people to bring their expertise to

(01:11):
the table and get a chance toweigh in. So it wasn't just our
organization speaking, It was really thebroad coalition of Conservative America saying this is
what we believe will be the mostsuccessful for a safe, free and flourishing
nation. Is there a direct connectionbetween the Trump campaign and Project twenty twenty
five? Did they weigh in?Now? They are they a part of

(01:33):
this? They are not at all. And in fact, we simply offer
briefings to all presidential candidates. Letus come in, We'll bring our experts
through. We'll talk you through thesehighlights. You're welcome to a copy we
deliver the book. We've offered briefingsto Kennedy and Biden as well. Not
surprisingly they did not take us upfor not offer. But no, he

(01:53):
is in no way affiliated the campaign. Did not weigh in at all.
And listen, there are going tobe things in that he may not even
want to accept or reject. Infact, he's actually said he didn't know
anything about it. Now we've publishedit online, I find now sort of
the increased publicity on Project twenty twentyfive he's probably very very aware of it.

(02:13):
But this is not something that heever weighed in on, and it's
not something that we have done forhim. It is something we always provide
to every presidential candidate. What's interestingfrom my perspective about the criticism, and
I've been familiar with Heritage for years, and I know that you guys are
nerdy policy wongs. You put outwhite papers with all kinds of boring stuff
in it. No offense, butLisittering, I write a lot of them,

(02:35):
and I will tell you right nowthey are born well. But they're
important because they provide a lot ofinformation and there's a lot of good research
behind it. But what's been interestingis they have seized on the fact that
back in nineteen eighty Heritage put outa much shorter list of policy positions.
We think this would be great,and Ronald Reagan worked on a lot of
those policy positions, and the Democratsnow are saying, well, Ronald Reagan

(02:57):
enacted half of it, and thatturned out to be pretty good. You
have a country in the economy,sure was, you know, I have
a recollection that that was a prettysuccessful period in American company. So no,
when you guys present this stuff.Do you have any expectation that,
Okay, we're going to hand thisand this is going to be the blueprint
for Donald J. Trump in hisfirst hundred days of office. Oh absolutely

(03:17):
not. In fact it is.First of all, it's over nine hundred
pages on right, So that's whyI started to read it. But boy
so there's a lot. And Iencourage all the listeners to go to Project
twenty twenty five dot org. Thatis the best way for all of them
to get direct access because you canliterally search every word, every section,
every policy. We're not hiding anythingin the shadows. We want people to

(03:39):
take a look. This is whatour experts and the experts in one hundred
different organizations came together and determined wasreally going to be the most successful.
First of all, it is soexpansive a policy document. It would be
impossible to enact all of these policiesin every agency, at every level in
the first one hundred days of office. And listen, there's going to be

(04:00):
a lot in there that he probablydoesn't like. This is a vision of
conservatism we've seen this year at theRNC that I think, in many ways
has been very encouraging because it issort of a big tent Republicanism. We're
seeing a coalition building that I don'tthink conservatives often do well, and we've
seen it this year. We haveseen people who have come here and they

(04:20):
are their immigrants, they are comingfrom blue collar families, these are rust
belt individuals. We're seeing union leaders. I mean, it is truly,
I think the most successful option we'veever seen for going forward as a nation,
hand to hand, and I'm reallythinking there's a lot of excitement building
about sort of the increase, theresurgence in the belief in the American ideal

(04:46):
and the American idea. And thishas been i think a coalition building effort
unlike any other. But we haveno expectations that the President would even accept
probably half of what we have inthere. We just know this is something
we feel passionate about and we provideit to him as an option. Have
you been shocked by the response?No, I'm not. This is the
last effort of a flailing campaign.You know, in many ways, my

(05:11):
heart goes out to the Biden campaign. They are hemorrhaging right now. His
approval numbers are a historic lows.And now that I hear that he's introduced
the idea of term limits on theSupreme Court. Everything is historyonics with this
campaign, right, So they wantto paint the dystopian future vision of a
handmade sale that isn't even remotely closeto what we have included in the document

(05:33):
of Project twenty twenty five. Lotsof misconceptions about what's in their contraception no
IVF, no National Abortion Band,No, none of those things are in
the actual document. So they really, it really is filled with a lot
of sound and fury, as thepoet says, signifying nothing. Sarah Para
Sarah Partial Perry from the Heritage Foundation, I really appreciate your time today.

(05:56):
This, like I said, hasbeen a hot topic. But I feel
like this, if you're catching fire, you're over the target. That's exactly
it. I would agree with you. Thanks so much for having me all
right. Thanks