Former President Donald Trump has been fending off relentless attacks from Democrats and the media over a Heritage Foundation conservative plan for a Republican presidency, known as Project 2025, that he had little to do with formulating.

That effort by Trump suffered another setback this week as Democrats and the media pounced on an apparent connection between his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and the conservative Heritage Foundation, according to MSNBC.

The conservative senator from Ohio, long before he held elected office, authored an introduction for a 2017 Heritage Foundation report that -- surprise! -- espoused a litany of standard pro-life, pro-family, and pro-opportunity conservative ideals.

Shocker! Vance wrote an introduction for a conservative report

In 2017, the Heritage Foundation published an annual report known as the Index of Culture and Opportunity that included dozens of essays on a variety of topics from an assortment of conservative pundits.

Sen. Vance, at that time famed for writing his "Hillbilly Elegy" memoir that recounted his upbringing in poverty and his family's fight to reach the middle class, authored an introduction to the lengthy report. He also reportedly delivered a speech upon the report's public release.

Yet, even as MSNBC acknowledged that Vance played no real role in compiling the multiple essays in the report, nor did he endorse every idea therein, Democrats and the media have still sought to link him closely with the purportedly controversial writings.

Bear in mind, those "controversial" essays cover topics like the importance of two-parent families, having children at a young age, ending poverty and dependence on the welfare state, and how economic and educational opportunity lead to prosperity, among other standard conservative ideals.

More fraudulent attacks from the left

According to leftist outlet Mother Jones, this "new" discovery of Sen. Vance's link to the 2017 Heritage Foundation report follows earlier media reports that linked the GOP vice presidential nominee to the leftist-feared Project 2025 report, which lays out a hypothetical blueprint for how a conservative presidency could transform the nation for the better.

One such link is yet another introduction written by Vance, an actual author, for an upcoming book by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, who was described as the "architect" of Project 2025.

Yet, even Mother Jones was forced to admit that, in comparison to the 2017 collection of essays and Vance's other supposed controversies -- nearly all of which are contrived and media-manufactured -- his intro for the 2017 report was "rather tame."

Even still, the progressive outlet dutifully shared a statement from the Democratic Harris-Walz campaign that falsely claimed, "As it turns out, Donald Trump’s running mate cosigned Project 2025’s radical agenda to undermine IVF, ban abortion nationwide, and control women’s most personal health care decisions long before it even had a name."

The deceitful Democratic ticket further added fraudulently that the reports about Vance and the 2017 essays "confirms that Trump, Vance, and their Project 2025 allies’ plans have been in the works for nearly a decade -- if they get the chance, they will rip away women’s freedoms in every corner of this country."

No involvement other than his own contribution

For what it is worth, MSNBC noted that a spokesman for Sen. Vance, Luke Schroeder, said of the criticism about the GOP running mate's involvement in the 2017 report, "Senator Vance has long made clear that he supports IVF and does not agree with every opinion in this seven-year-old report, which features a range of unique views from dozens of conservative thinkers."

"He had no role in editing the report and outside of his own contribution, did not have any input on the commentary throughout," the spokesman added.