Trump's To-Do List: The Plan That's Not Quite Happening

The Trump administration has been busy since its return to the White House. They've made some big moves, like cutting down the federal workforce and sending troops to the southern border. These actions are part of a larger plan called Project 2025, a massive 900-page guidebook for conservative governance. The plan was released in 2023, and it's clear that Trump is using it as a blueprint. He's even appointed some of the people who wrote it to important positions. But Project 2025 is a big deal, and some of the goals are proving to be a challenge. Trump can't do it all alone. He needs help from Congress, but Republicans have a narrow majority in the House and need 60 votes in the Senate. This makes it tough to pass some of the more controversial parts of the plan, like abolishing the Department of Education or cutting programs like Head Start. And if Trump wants to outlaw pornography, he'll need the Supreme Court on his side. Trump is also being strategic about which parts of the plan to focus on. Some of his actions, like targeting transgender athletes, are popular. Others, like restricting abortion pills, are not. So Trump is picking his battles. He might be avoiding the less-popular policies or trying to shift the blame for them to someone else. The wheels of politics turn slowly, and it might just be a matter of time before Trump can check off more of Project 2025's goals. But right now, there are still a lot of positions in the administration that need to be filled. And even when they are, Trump's attention is often pulled in different directions. He's got to deal with tariffs, the war in Ukraine, and other global crises. So even if he wants to focus on Project 2025, there's only so much he can do. The ethos behind Project 2025 is about limiting the government's size and scope while increasing the president's power. It's a roadmap for a future that many conservatives want. But Trump has gone beyond the plan in some ways, like slashing federal spending and firing federal workers. It's clear that the project's influence will continue to be felt in the administration's actions.