Project 2025 Implementation: Executive Orders 31 - 35

This latest batch is 4 for 5 in terms of alignment with Project 2025, and none of them pose any kind of opposition to policies and goals laid out in the conservative manual.

Current running tally: 30 of 35 orders align with policies or goals stated in Project 2025. 1 order opposes a policy laid out in the guidebook. 4 orders are not mentioned in Project 2025, but not ruled out either.

EO#31: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology  - This lays out Trump’s plan for the President’s council of advisors on science and technology or PCAST. PCAST began under Bush in 2001 and every president thereafter has molded it to their liking. With this order, Trump says that across several scientific fields, ideological dogma has eroded public trust and stifled innovation. His PCAST will contain a group of 24 people with the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto serving as co-chairs. Its stated focus is on AI, quantum computing, and advanced biotechnology as those fields relate to the American economy, American workers, and national security.

• Pg 59: “During the Trump and Biden Administrations, there has been a bipartisan focus on prioritizing R&D funding around the so-called Industries of the Future (IOTF). Under President Trump, IOTF priorities were artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced communications/5G, advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology. Under President Biden, this list has been expanded to include advanced materials, robotics, battery technology, cybersecurity, green products and clean technology, plant genetics and agricultural technologies, nanotechnology, and semiconductor and microelectronics technologies. These priorities should be evaluated and narrowed to ensure consistency with the next Administration’s priorities.”

I’m skeptical of the individuals Trump will appoint to this council, given his general disdain for scientists who are willing to publicly disagree with him, and I disagree with the narrowing of the PCAST priorities to exclude things like climate science and cybersecurity. These are fields that our competition is focusing heavily on. China has developed impressive battery technology for EVs, for example. We need to remain competitive in these areas, and that requires investment and intense focus.

EO#32: Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology - This order revokes an executive order Biden signed to establish a regulatory strategy for digital assets like cryptocurrencies, as well as a framework issued by the Treasury Department to outline how the US government should engage with other countries in regulating Central Bank Digital Currencies.
CBDC’s are digital currencies which are backed by a country’s central bank so their value is tied directly to the value of that nation’s physical currency. It’s like a cryptocurrency, but without all of the volatility because instead of being backed by private entities they’re backed by a central bank. This order prohibits federal agencies from “undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs” and establishes a working group to make regulatory recommendations for digital assets and establishment of a “national digital asset stockpile.”

• Pg 741: calls on the federal reserve to “Prevent the institution of a central bank digital currency (CBDC)”
  
  Under Biden, the United States was involved in setting up international crypto regulation and standards, and this order is a 180 from that involvement. The US will not only disengage from global regulatory coordination, but will turn away from stabilized digital currencies backed by the US dollar and instead foster an environment that boosts the private sector’s ability to run the market on cryptocurrencies in the US. I question the ethics of the Trump administration's actions on crypto, given that he himself has launched meme-coins. There appears to be multiple conflicts of interest, and the stockpile stuff feels like a way for him and his friends to boost their own digital currencies.

EO#33: Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI - this order initiates a review of policies which were put into place to mitigate issues like copyright infringement in AI development and innovation. It instructs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to review policies, directives, and regulations stemming from a Biden order on AI (which was revoked by EO#2) to determine whether those policies and regulations should be rescinded. Some of the results of that order which are now under review are actions taken by the US Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO). They issued guidance that AI could not be named as inventors on patents, but it could be used to assist human inventors, and further guidance that inventions related to AI could be patented but that applications focusing on mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity, and mental processes would be more like to be `ineligible for patents. The office also released a strategy to continue working on AI infrastructure and develop intellectual property policies that promote inclusive AI innovation and creativity.

• Project 2025 doesn’t mention the Biden order referenced here, because it was published before that order came out. But it does suggest on page 685 that the next administration should “re-examine patent eligibility requirements… and support internal and/or legislative reforms to enable US leadership in critical and emerging technologies such as quantum computing, 5G, and artificial intelligence.”
  So, they don’t specify whether they think AI should be able to own patents independently from people, or whether ideas surrounding AI should universally qualify for patent or intellectual property protection, and neither does this EO. It’s unclear how the USPTO will move going forward. They missed their self-imposed deadline to submit copyright related recommendations, which was January 27, 2025. But their goals and actions largely line up with the goals and policies stated in this new EO, despite the prior revocation of the EO that initiated those goals and policies. 

EO#34: Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency - this order establishes a council to review FEMA responses over time in comparison to how states have responded to emergencies themselves. Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth will co-chair the group which is ordered to dissolve after 1 year. Trump has talked very publicly about eliminating FEMA all together and leaving the coverage up to the states.

• Pg 153: "Reform of FEMA requires a greater emphasis on federalism and state and local preparedness, leaving FEMA to focus on large, widespread disasters."
• Pg 154: "The principles of federalism should be upheld; these indicate that states better understand their unique needs and should bear the costs of their particularized programs. FEMA employees in Washington, D.C., should not determine how billions of federal tax dollars should be awarded."
  
  These statements are misleading. States and local governments are still in charge when FEMA comes in after a declared disaster. FEMA only responds when states request them, and their job is to organize federal workers to respond. The state and local governments are still in charge throughout this process. FEMA just provides man-power to assess damages, distribute federal aid as requested by the state, and contribute to rebuilding operations. Leaving disaster response to the states would create a huge gap in resources. Not only would states need to make up for the thousands of federal workers who help respond to disasters, they would also need to make up for the shortage of federal funding. States have noted that FEMA aid should be simplified, but it’s pretty much unanimous that it’s a vital resource. It’s also worth noting that FEMA doesn’t ONLY respond afterwards, they help states prepare BEFORE a disaster, again, by the state’s request, which can save lives and reduce critical damage. 

EO#35: Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas - This order blames the recent LA area wildfire on “dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure” despite officials and experts in California dispelling this as misinformation. The order instructs Trump administration officials to “take actions to override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries.” It conflates issues like wildlife conservation, a balance of water distribution between farmers, cities, and the environment with the devastating wildfires, exploiting unrelated issues for political gain.

• Project 2025 doesn’t mention this event because the fire Trump is exploiting didn’t happen until long after Project 2025 was published. From what I can tell, it doesn’t mention California’s water plan at all. So this is the 5th Executive order of 35 which does not correspond to policies and goals laid out in Project 2025, for over 85% alignment in my research thus far. Only 1 policy in actual opposition to Project 2025, for a 3% misalignment within the first 35 orders.
  There were several factors that played into the massive wildfires in Southern California recently. Drought contributed to the drying of brush which serves as fuel for wildfires, and high winds contributed to both the rapid spread of the fire and the inability to get firefighting aircraft in the air safely to fight the fire. California reservoirs were full, and fish conservation played no part in the devastation. It’s also worth noting that this order instructs officials to work through FEMA to aid in the recovery to both the California wildfires and the hurricane in North Carolina, despite order#34 calling for a review of FEMA activity to determine if disaster response is better managed by the states.