Paul Dans speaks in a mash-up of movie references. In discussing the primary campaign he just announced against longtime South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, he quotes Casablanca. When I saw him during an event held alongside the Republican National Convention last summer, he used The Matrix as an analogy for the deep state. And to describe himself? “I’m kind of a MAGA Rambo, if you will,” he tells me when I get him on the phone this week. “And now it’s my time to come out of the jungle.”

Dans, who is 56, came to the public’s attention during the 2024 campaign as the mastermind behind Project 2025: The blueprint, which laid out plans to consolidate executive power, close down the Department of Education, and end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, became a campaign trail

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