Trump forgot he was supposed to plead ignorance of Project 2025, and the internet yelled “I told you so!”
Throughout the 2024 US election campaign, the Democrats kept raising the spectre of an authoritarian playbook named Project 2025. The plan was a blueprint for a president to dismantle the democratic principles of the US and gain unprecedented control.
Garcia: This is Project 2025… it includes shredding pollution regulations, gutting clean energy programs, repealing The Inflation Reduction Act, and empowering corporate polluters.. pic.twitter.com/lP8uwTf8uI
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 10, 2024
Trump denied:
Knowing what it was
Having anything to do with the plan.
Intending to implement it.
Which would all have been more believable if it hadn’t been co-authored by several Trump administration alumni from the Heritage Foundation.
July 24, 2024 pic.twitter.com/ueIj7HkXFl
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 2, 2025
However, he’s now saying the quiet part out loud. Okay, he’s typing the quiet part out loud, if that’s a thing.
Trump: "I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left… pic.twitter.com/2thDe8FvIB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2025
It raised eyebrows …and hackles.
Oh, so NOW we’re talking about Project 2025! pic.twitter.com/fO2t7hRMCc
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) October 2, 2025
Trump during the campaign: I never even heard of Project 2025, don’t know anything about it, don’t know who is involved.
Trump today: pic.twitter.com/J1eeG54zGy
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 2, 2025
While nobody needed to be treated for shock, it triggered an enormous wave of ‘I told you so’.
1.
Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025.
But 9 months in, he has already put 48% into action.
And now, with his shutdown, he’s all in — embracing the plan’s disastrous cuts and divisive policies. pic.twitter.com/UingpHMRK7
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 2, 2025
2.
Remember the good ole days where Trump told us he didn’t know what Project 2025 was? pic.twitter.com/8YAh7OwtJl
— Jessica Tarlov (@JessicaTarlov) October 2, 2025
3.
Trump scammed you. He is, and was always, Project 2025. pic.twitter.com/YdQKbfDU7U
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 2, 2025
4.
Anyone doubting that Project 2025 is running the US just hasn't been paying attention. Trump is a puppet, a useful idiot, who brings an electable persona to the plot. But the script is crafted by the wanna-be fascists at the Heritage Foundation, and Miller pulls the strings.
— Godfrey Parkin (@gparkin) October 2, 2025
5.
Trump's "I know nothing about Project 2025" defense is as believable as his "bone spurs" excuse, pure fiction from a pathological liar who's already weaponizing it to gut democracy and line his cronies' pockets.
— Richard Angwin (@RichardAngwin) October 2, 2025
6.
How it started: How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/YLlpEkH8FM
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) October 2, 2025
7.
Trump scammed you. He is, and was always, Project 2025. pic.twitter.com/YdQKbfDU7U
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 2, 2025
8.
I HAVE A POCKET FULL OF "I TOLD YOU SO" ON PROJECT 2025, AND IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH.
WE FUCKING WARNED YOU. pic.twitter.com/TVocwQb70P
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) October 2, 2025
9.
Hmm. pic.twitter.com/yE5jFcMCLN
— Phyllis Kupferstein (@pkdof) October 2, 2025