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The group exerts incredible influence in conservative circles and national politics.
The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank established in 1973, has been instrumental in shaping Republican policy and advancing a right-wing agenda. Heritage strongly emphasizes free enterprise, limited government, and “traditional American values” and has played a crucial role in influencing Republican administrations and policy decisions. Its latest initiative, Project 2025, is a controversial plan to radically transform the federal government if former President Donald Trump is reelected.
The Heritage Foundation was established with the mission “to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense,” according to its website. The foundation has consistently influenced Republican administrations, most notably during the Trump presidency. Media Matters for America reports that Heritage frequently boasted about its influence on Trump, claiming he “embraced over 64% of The Heritage Foundation’s policy recommendations” and that it had placed over 60 policy experts in his administration.
Project 2025 is an ambitious policy platform of more than 900 pages developed by the Heritage Foundation to reshape the federal government in Trump’s image. The project aims to overhaul federal agencies, purge career civil servants, and replace them with loyalists to consolidate conservative power. The project seeks to limit abortion access, restrict LGBTQ+ rights, dismantle the Department of Education, end diversity programs, and promote “fertility awareness” programs over more reliable contraception methods.
The initiative is a blueprint for what far-right activists want from the next conservative president. The plan includes firing as many as 50,000 career federal employees and replacing them with individuals loyal to the president, restricting access to contraception, potentially implementing a national abortion ban, and cutting federal healthcare programs. LGBTQ+ people are directly targeted by the agenda, with measures such as ignoring the nondiscrimination provisions for LGBTQ+ people under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, barring transgender people from the military, and dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
According to GLAAD, the Heritage Foundation has a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, fighting against marriage equality, protections for LGBTQ+ workers, and healthcare for transgender youth. The foundation has supported groups such as Moms For Liberty, which seeks to ban books and target guidelines that protect students’ rights. They have also criticized corporations honoring Pride month and supported state bills targeting transgender youth participation in sports.
Heritage has opposed “conversion therapy” bans.
According toThe Guardian, Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation and the architect of Project 2025, has significant ties to the radical Catholic group Opus Dei. The Guardian reports that Roberts receives regular spiritual guidance from an Opus Dei-led center in Washington, D.C., and aligns his policy goals with the group’s teachings. This connection highlights the deeply conservative and religious motivations behind Project 2025.
Roberts has also said recently on MSNBC’sThe Weekend that the point of Project 2025 is to “institutionalize Trumpism” across the government, further highlighting the project’s intention to embed Trump’s policies and ideology within federal institutions.
The Heritage Foundation’s approach to implementing its agenda has been strategic and controversial. Roberts has spoken about using “radical incrementalism” to achieve long-term conservative goals, urging small legislative victories to advance more extreme policies. According to The Guardian, Roberts acknowledged that making birth control illegal would be the “hardest” challenge the group faces.
The Associated Press reports that Kevin Roberts has used dangerous language to describe the current political climate as a “second American Revolution” that would remain bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” He made these comments on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, where he also emphasized that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”
