President Donald Trump’s son is celebrating the departure of prominent voices from the conservative Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind the widely criticized Project 2025 and many of his father’s most controversial policies.
Heritage has been losing key players ever since President Kevin Roberts voiced strong support for the “close friend” of the foundation, far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson — after Carlson delivered a softball interview with Christian nationalist leader Nick Fuentes. Many see Fuentes as promoting white supremacy, racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that even more staffers are leaving Heritage and being welcomed by former Trump vice president Mike Pence’s political group, Advancing American Freedom (AAF).
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HuffPost called it a “mass defection,” while The Daily Beast suggested that Heritage is imploding.
“Pence told the Journal he had long admired the Heritage Foundation,” the WSJ reported, “but sees the group now ‘abandoning its principles.’ He said Heritage had ‘fallen because it had embraced elements of isolationism, stopped backing Ukraine in the war with Russia, supported some tariffs and backed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary, among other things.”
“Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence said.
More than a dozen Heritage staffers are headed to Pence’s group, following the exit of several top voices including Princeton professor Robert P. George, who was once described by The New York Times as America’s “most influential conservative Christian thinker.”
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Kim Holmes, a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State wrote, “The scholars joining AAF are among the best Heritage had. We should all be extremely grateful to Mike Pence for welcoming them.”
He called it “obvious” that the Heritage Foundation is now in a “deep state of crisis,” and said it is “long past time for the Board of Trustees to show responsibility and leadership to fix this very sad state of affairs.”
Adding that “only the board can save Heritage now,” Holmes noted, “I say all this as a former Executive Vice President of The Heritage Foundation who resigned four and half years ago because I could not in good conscience follow the new direction demanded by the Board.”
In a statement, Pence said: “AAF is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to the team. They bring a wealth of experience, a love of country, and a deep commitment to the Constitution and Conservative Movement that will further the cause of liberty.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. had a very different take.
“Personally, I think it’s great news for Heritage that a bunch of Trump-hating RINOs are leaving,” he wrote. “Anyone who would want to go work for Mike Pence’s globalist never-Trump organization isn’t MAGA and definitely doesn’t put America First!”
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Image via Reuters