Russell Vought, an architect of the highly controversial "Project 2025" initiative that former President Donald Trump has tried to disown, is now reportedly working on yet another secretive plan.
The Associated Press reports that Vought is drawing up a secret "180-Day Transition Playbook" for Trump should he win a second term.
Although Trump has claimed no knowledge of Project 2025, the AP report says that Vought's "Transition Playbook" goal is "to speed [Project 2025's] implementation to avoid a repeat of the chaotic start that dogged Trump’s first term."
While details of the plan are still unknown, the AP notes that Vought often talks less like a politician intent on winning an election and more like a military commander intent on winning a violent battle.
"He recently described political opposition as 'enemy fire that’s coming over the target,' while urging allies to be 'fearless at the point of attack' and calling his policy proposals 'battle plans,'" the report notes.
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A former Trump administration official tells the AP that the war-like language is not a coincidence.
“A very determined warrior is how I would see Russ,” the official said. “I don’t think he thinks about whether or not he likes Donald Trump as a person. I think he likes what Donald Trump represents in terms of the political forces he’s able to harness.”
Vought has dropped multiple hints about his vision for a second Trump term -- and it would involve ripping away independence from government agencies and putting them directly under control of the president.
"The whole notion of independent agencies is anathema from the standpoint of the Constitution," Vought explained during a recent appearance on Fox Business.
During his first term, Trump was repeatedly tripped up by officials who refused to carry out orders they believed were illegal, such as when Trump infamously instructed officials at the Department of Justice to label the 2020 election "corrupt" despite lacking any evidence to back up such a claim.
In the past, Vought has also been linked to plans to shut down anti-Trump protests by invoking the Insurrection Act.
