Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts admitted the foundation made a “tactical error” by not addressing the backlash soon after Project 2025 came to light.
“We made a tactical mistake in not responding to their complete mischaracterization for the first six weeks,” Roberts said Monday. on bloomberg radio. “It's our fault, but at the end of the day, the misperception is on the radical left. It's a tactical lesson we've learned, and we're never going to repeat it.”
Roberts went on to say that despite the backlash against these mischaracterizations and policy ideas of Project 2025, there is no shame in it.
“Quite the opposite actually. We're very proud of it,” he said. “That said, like our other projects so far, this one is very well designed and should be useful.”
Project 2025 director Paul Dance resigned after the project received a lot of backlash. Democrats have made Project 2025 a central part of their campaign messaging and attacks on Republicans and former President Trump.
The project includes a 900-page far-right policy blueprint aimed at guiding the next Conservative government. During his campaign, Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025, but now that he has won, there are growing concerns that he will use some, if not all, of the ideas.
Still, Roberts said the policy focuses on “common sense solutions” to Americans' problems.
“I wanted to incorporate substantive policy dialogue into the political season,” he said. “I didn't expect that the radical left, which couldn't live up to its track record because it's terrible, would actually use it as a boogeyman and make it work.”
