WASHINGTON – Former Donald Trump aide and Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought told undercover reporters last month that the Heritage Foundation-led initiative has entered its second, more secretive phase with various tactics, including banning pornography by age the back door’. verification legislation.
Portions of hidden camera video of last month’s conversation between influential Trump-Heritage insider and two climate news reporters posing as relatives of a wealthy right-wing donor were published Thursday by CNN and the U.K.’s Center for Climate Reporting.
Regarding Project 2025’s proposal to criminalize the production and distribution of adult content, CNN reports that “instead of an unpopular new law banning all pornography,” Vought admitted that his MAGA think tank Center for Renewing America would propose “doing it through the back door” by “making pornographic websites legally liable if minors use them.”
Vought celebrated that age verification laws are “driving pornography companies to stop doing business.”
As XBIZ reported, the Center for Renewing America is a Trumpist think tank founded in 2021 by former staffers of the Republican candidate for the express purpose of helping him return to the White House in 2025.
One of the CRA’s senior fellows, Michigan State University law professor Adam Candeub, told the National Conservatism Conference last month that American conservatives should “avoid porn altogether.”
“Bad men, bad male libido,” Candeub reportedly said to a panel audience, raising his voice.
According to CNN, Vought spoke candidly with the undercover reporters for nearly two hours, revealing details about “his behind-the-scenes work preparing policy for former President Donald Trump, his expansive views on presidential power, his plans to crack down on pornography and immigration to limit.” , and his complaints that the Republican Party was too focused on ‘religious freedom’ rather than ‘Christian nationalism.’”
Vought told reporters that his Center for Renewing America is “secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations and memos that would lay the groundwork for swift action on Trump’s plans if he wins, describing its work as creating ‘shadow agencies.’ ”
Vought also claimed that Trump has “blessed” the CRA and is “very positive about what we are doing.”
Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the CRA, told CNN: “Thank you for airing our perfect conversation emphasizing that our policy work is completely separate from the Trump campaign, as we have said.”
Last month, the Trump campaign released a statement seeking to distance itself from Project 2025 and echoing the Republican presidential nominee’s previous claims, denying that he was familiar with the initiative or even the many former Trump knew staffers who were directly connected to it.
Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement Tuesday: “President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for more than a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign and should not be associated with the campaign or the president in any way. Reports on the demise of Project 2025 would be very welcome and should serve as a warning to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence over President Trump and his campaign – it will not end well for you.”
Given Trump’s documented history of spouting outright, easily debunked falsehoods, his claim that he has “no idea who is behind Project 2025” surprised few commentators.
Also notable was the former president’s vagueness about exactly which Project 2025 proposals he disagreed with.
An Anti-Porn Trump Insider Who Is ‘Pretty Close to Christian Nationalism’
The hidden camera footage also complicated Trump and his campaign’s efforts to distance themselves from Project 2025, as Vought recently “served as policy director of the Republican National Convention committee that rewrote the Republican Party’s official platform this year,” CNN reported , calling that task “a sign of how central he is to Republicans’ policy goals.”
During the video, Vought also complained that conservatives “lacked the ability to claim that we are a Christian nation” and reportedly should “push for debates on whether to allow the construction of mosques in downtown America, and whether Christian immigrants should be admitted.” priority over those of other religions – ideas that violate First Amendment protections.”
“I want to make sure we can say we are a Christian nation,” Vought emphasized. “And my position is mainly that I would probably belong to Christian nationalism. That comes pretty close to Christian nationalism, because I also believe in nationalism.”
According to CNN, Vought “argued that it was important to pursue some of the culturally conservative policy goals outlined in the Project 2025 blueprint — including abortion restrictions and making pornography illegal.”
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump said Vought’s candid, truthful conversation with the fake donors in the video shows that “the real focus” of groups like his is to “saturate the government” with people sympathetic to Project 2025.
“And that’s why Trump can’t escape Vought and the Heritage Foundation,” Bump added. “It’s not about the book, it’s about the people. And in 2025, unlike in 2017, the right is determined not to be trampled by a Trump victory.”
Main image: Russell Vought, co-author of the Republican Platform and Project 2025, and former boss Donald Trump