The architect of Project 2025 looks poised to be Trump's next chief of staff

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Support our nonprofit journalism]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     September 19, 2024 Hi, my name is Isabela Dias and I’m a reporter in Washington, DC. In his first term, Donald Trump failed to implement much of his radical agenda. But, over the last four years, the former president has been working to change that. Should Trump return to office, the next administration will feature one man who could bring his dystopian vision of America to life: [Russell Vought](. You probably have never heard of Vought. He has the physical appearance of an unassuming bureaucrat. But don't let his boring facade fool you: Vought is a wonkish radical who [helped mastermind Project 2025]( and is tipped to be Trump’s chief of staff. Given the opportunity, Vought would help Trump crush the federal bureaucracy—firing thousands of expert career civil servants and replacing them with partisan MAGA loyalists. As one source told me for [my latest feature](: "Vought could be one of the key figures leading us into a new and violently authoritarian future." During the Trump years, Vought served as director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he rose to be one of the president’s most loyal and obsequious officials. Under his leadership, the powerful agency helped divert funding from the Pentagon to build the border wall and got caught in the first impeachment case over freezing assistance to Ukraine. Now, imagine that man running the behind-the-scenes of the executive branch. Recently, an undercover [video]( released of Vought showed him discussing in detail the plans for a second Trump administration: a 180-day battle plan with hundreds of executive orders, plots to carry out mass deportations, and even deploy the US military domestically. In the video, Vought also dismisses Trump’s public efforts to distance himself from Project 2025 as just a political maneuver. There’s a ton more to say about Vought. You can read my profile of [Trump’s main enabler here]( and the November/December issue of the magazine. —Isabela Dias Advertisement [Stolen Pride]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [The Bureaucrat Who Could Make Trump’s Authoritarian Dreams Real]( Russ Vought has a plan to take presidential power to new heights. BY ISABELA DIAS SPONSORED CONTENT FROM THE NEW PRESS   Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right In her first book since the widely acclaimed Strangers in Their Own Land, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild ventures to Pikeville, Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia to uncover the “pride paradox” that has given the right’s appeals such resonance. [Learn more here.]( [Trending] [Uncommitted won’t endorse Harris but urges voters to “block Donald Trump”]( BY NOAH LANARD AND SOPHIE HURWITZ   [How Republicans could block a Democratic victory in Georgia]( BY ARI BERMAN   [The tragic inevitability of overpolicing New York's subways]( BY ARIANNA COGHILL   [What did Lauren Chen want?]( BY ANNA MERLAN Advertisement [Stolen Pride]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [To understand JD Vance, you need to meet the “TheoBros”]( These extremely online young Christian men want to end the 19th Amendment, restore public flogging, and make America white again. BY KIERA BUTLER MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE   A HUGE OPPORTUNITY A generous board member just chipped in a $50,000 digital matching gift, and we need newsletter readers to help us make the most of it. [Any donation you make online from now until September 30]( will be matched dollar-for-dollar. You know the stakes right now. And with your support going twice as far, Mother Jones can lead the way these next 60 days in showing the corporate media how to cover the unique danger that Trump represents and not make the same mistakes they did in 2016 and 2020. Please help with a donation if you can—even just a few bucks helps. A [monthly gift]( would be incredible. [Donate Now]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Share it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755