CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday shared the one thing that has “irked” former President Donald Trump and his team about the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.
Collins reported the former president “is watching this convention just as closely as everyone else.”
“One thing that I’m told that has irked him and his campaign are the constant references that you’ve seen almost every day of this convention to Project 2025,” Collins said on the network.
Project 2025 is a policy road map compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to serve as a blueprint for a second Trump administration. The document contains extreme proposals, like firing thousands of federal workers to replace them with Trump loyalists and giving the president control of the Justice Department.
Several speakers at the DNC, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, blasted Project 2025.
“It’s an agenda nobody asked for. It’s an agenda that serves nobody except the richest and the most extreme amongst us. And it’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need,” Walz said. “Is it weird? Absolutely! But it’s also wrong. And it’s dangerous.”
Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from Project 2025, saying he knows nothing about the right-wing manifesto and has “no idea who is behind it.” However, The Washington Post recently shared a photo of Trump on a flight with the president of the Heritage Foundation in 2022, undercutting his claims. Also, many of his allies and former aides took part in writing the proposals. Meanwhile, a co-author of Project 2025 recently said Trump was “very supportive” of their work.
On CNN, Collins said Trump and his campaign have also been watching the convention to take stock of the enthusiasm on the Democratic side following Harris’ ascendance to the top of the ticket.