During his rally in Michigan on Saturday, former President Donald Trump responded to claims that he would enforce Project 2025 and threaten democracy if reelected, saying that he “took a bullet for democracy.”
The remark from Trump came while he was discussing Project 2025 and recent claims from Democrats that he was behind the Heritage Foundation’s outline for how the next president should wield their executive powers.
Trump went even further, calling the plan “seriously extreme” and noting that he doesn’t “know anything about it.”
“I don’t want to know anything about it. But what they do is misinformation and disinformation, and they keep saying he’s a threat to democracy,” Trump continued, referring to Democrats. “I’m saying, ‘What the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy.’”
While Project 2025 included insight from former Trump administration officials, the former president and his campaign have disavowed the plan.
Trump even shot down the conservative plan during an interview with Fox News last week, saying that he did not support what little he saw.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s not too far. It’s way too far,” Trump said. “They’ve gone, really, too far.”
As for his bullet comment, the former president was referring to the assassination attempt he survived during his rally in Pennsylvania last week.
The shooting left an attendee and the shooter dead and injured two others.
Trump acknowledged his close call on Saturday, telling those gathered in Michigan, “I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God.”