Former President Donald Trump is one of the front-running candidates to win the 2024 election.
With a win, Trump could want to make sure employees and political appointees have similar ideologies to his. A third-party screening process could help with the process.
What Happened: Trump's past presidency saw the appointing and firing of multiple government officials and Cabinet members.
With the potential win in the 2024 presidential election, Trump allies could be looking to ensure future employees are more aligned with the Republican frontrunner.
A new report from Axios highlighted a survey being done by Project 2025. According to the Project 2025 website, the organization "paves the way for an effective conservative administration" with policy agenda and a playbook for the first 180 days of administration.
Axios said a 2020 questionnaire might have singled out future administration candidates. Among the questions in the 2020 "research questionnaire," which Axios obtained from a Trump administration alumnus included questions around Trump.
Among the 2020 questions were:
"What part of Candidate Trump's campaign message most appealed to you and why?"
"What political commentator, thinker or politician best reflects your views?"
"Have you ever appeared in the media to comment on Candidate Trump, President Trump or other personnel or policies of the Trump Administration?"
Axios obtained a copy of the Project 2025 questionnaire, which includes questions like the following:
"Name one person, past or present, who has most influenced the development of your political philosophy."
"Name one living public policy figure whom you greatly admire and why."
"Name the one public policy issue you are most passionate about. Why are you passionate about the issue and how would you like to see it addressed in the future?"
The questionnaire also asks respondents if they agree with the following statements:
"The U.N. should have authority over the citizens or public policies of sovereign nations."
"The U.S. has the right to select immigrants based on country of origin."
"The education industry should be opened to increased competition through vouchers or tax credits for private schools."
"Life has a right to legal protection from conception to natural death."
"The permanent institutions of family and religion are foundational to American freedom and the common good."
"Government should subsidize the use or production of energy, particularly for new and innovative energy technologies."
"Union membership should be at the option of the employee, not a requirement for employment."
"The U.S. should increase legal immigration."
"The President should be able to advance his/her agenda through the bureaucracy without hinderance from unelected federal officials."
"The federal government should recognize only two unchanging sexes, male and female, as a matter of policy."
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Why It's Important: The questions asked could determine the ideologies of a person and how much they could be aligned with the same opinions of Trump.
"They want to see that you're listening to Tucker (Carlson), and not pointing to the Reagan revolution or any George W. Bush stuff," a Trump White House alumnus told Axios.
The Heritage Foundation, which is behind Project 2025, told Axios it has collected more than 5,000 applications.
Project 2025 officials have briefed campaigns for several presidential candidates including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to the report.
The Trump campaign said that it is not affiliated with the Heritage Foundation and the think tank did not speak for Trump or his campaign.
"We will have an official transition effort to be announced at a later date," Trump campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said last month.
Axios highlighted Trump loyalist and former Trump staffer Johnny McEntee was part of the Project 2025 team.
While the questionnaire was not the set-in-stone method of selecting employees should Trump win the election, the questions in nature centered more on personal beliefs and ideologies and less on being qualified for potential White House positions.
Photo: Shutterstock
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