As with the Project for a New American Century douchebags, they just straight-up told us the bad things they were going to do to the country, and now they're doing them, and people still manage to be all, "hey, where'd all this stuff come from?!".
What was widely reported was that he disavowed Project 2025. Those denials were seldom challenged, nor were the many Heritage Foundation related people that were also in Trump's inner circles reported upon in any critical way.
There is no reason at all it shouldn't have been the only thing they'd bring up when talking to or about Trump during the campaign. Instead, they let "oh, yeah, never heard of it" slide.
I don’t agree with the premise. Should the news have refused to talk about his tariff plans or promises of personal retribution so they could reserve the space for Project 2025?