Trump Knew Nothing of Project 2025—but He Also Didn’t Like It!

Writing at The Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist Will Bunch said: “I wish Trump luck in getting a single person, on either side of the political divide, to believe that he knows nothing about Project 2025 yet somehow knows that he disagrees with most of it. Indeed, this is Trump’s 2024 version of the Big Lie, demoting his absurd debate statement that, contrary to his real-time boasts, ‘I didn’t have sex with a porn star’ to only his second-biggest falsehood of the summer. The tangled web between Project 2025 and Trump’s deepest inner circle is too public and too improbable to explain away.”

If all of this is so obvious, why lie? Because a certain segment of the press will (mostly) let him get away with it. But this is where the media needs to step up and do better. Simply parroting Trump’s claims in headlines, as a number of outlets did in touting his disavowals, is a disservice to the public—both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post ran credulous headlines that took Trump’s words at face value. It’s essential for journalists to ask the tough questions and demand specific answers.

For instance, what exactly does Trump disagree with in Project 2025? Which parts of the 900-page document does he find “ridiculous and abysmal”? The media should hold him accountable by not accepting vague denials at face value. The real story lies in the details that Trump is avoiding.