In part, Trump’s Project 2025 reflects a traditional Republican Party vision, aiming to ban pornography, efforts that date back decades, tied to deeper pre-MAGA conservative movements that advocate for their traditional, anti-freedom values. Project 2025’s aim of reshaping the federal government according to extreme right-wing principles, includes stringent moral guidelines that take away individual freedom across the board. Historically, organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the GOP have sought to regulate or outright ban materials seen as undermining traditional family structures. They actually had a “War on Obscenity,” in the 1970s led by conservative groups and politicians— like Reagan, Nixon, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Ed Meese, and bankrobber and founder of Citizens for Decent Literature Charles Keating— with religious backing.
In yesterday's New York Times, Jonathan Weisman reported that 17 porn actors “announced that they had launched a $100,000 ad campaign on porn sites warning that Project 2025… wants to ban pornography and imprison people who produce it. The online ads will run in the states that will decide the presidency: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The architects of the ‘hands off my porn’ campaign are nothing if not aware of the polling. Vice President Kamala Harris is losing to Trump among men, but younger men might be winnable— and pornographic websites are among the most heavily trafficked on the internet.”
Porn star Holly Randall, in an announcement said she’s “been been in this industry for over 25 years and have witnessed many attacks on our industry, but Project 2025’s ban on pornography is the most extreme proposal I have ever seen, and voters have to take that threat seriously. We cannot simply rely on precedent that consuming pornography is legal and has been legal for a long time.”
“Trump,” wrote Weisman, “has sought to distance himself from Project 2025, saying he knows nothing about it or the people involved in its creation,” though almost all of the authors were his allies, many from his last administration and many lined up for top roles if he wins in November.
Trump trying to distance himself from Project 2025 reflects internal divides between the hard-right, moral-regulatory wing, and his more populist supporters, many of whom may be socially conservative but are less keen on government intrusions into personal freedoms like pornography. Historically, these splits have been significant within conservative movements— Barry Goldwater vs the Religious Right and, later, Reagan’s libertarian allies vs the Moral Majority. In essence, the current debate is part of a long-standing struggle over who gets to define public morality and personal liberty. It’s an updated version of older fights over censorship, sexual norms and government intervention into private life, now being waged in the digital age.
Trump’s rise to power within the party exposed deep rifts within the conservative movement over moral issues. Known for his unending personal scandals, previous support for abortion rights and his long association with the entertainment world, Trump was an unlikely champion for social conservatives. Yet, despite having married a Slovenia prostitute, he managed to win over much of the evangelical base by promising to appoint conservative judges, cut regulations and push back against cultural liberalism, while not necessarily advocating for strict moral regulations like some of his predecessors.
Zooming out, the division between Señor T’s self-serving right-wing populism and the more doctrinaire social conservatism of institutions like Heritage, reflects ongoing tensions. Trump’s base includes many libertarian-leaning Republicans who support his deregulation and anti-establishment views but are less interested in enforcing conservative moral standards through government policy. Project 2025’s vision for strict moral governance, including bans on pornography, could alienate many Trump supporters who prioritize economic freedom and limited government intrusion over cultural or moral enforcement.
The party of Mark Robinson and of Clarence Thomas wants to ban porn. Makes perfect sense to me.