The Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation is a neoconservative-turned-Trumpist "think tank" founded by Joseph Coors (of Coors Brewery), and Richard Mellon Scaife. As such, it formerly advocated economic deregulation"One of the most important conservative think tanks is changing its tune on the free market and state power to keep up with the 'New Right' ushered in by Trump and DeSantis" by Ethan Dodd, Business Insider, 2023 April 16 and an overtly interventionist foreign policy."The Republican Party no longer believes America is the essential nation" by The Economist, 26 October 23, archived on 26 October 23 The think tank formerly published (until 2001)Policy review. Stanford, CA : Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Began with 1 (summer 1977); ceased with no. 117 (Feb./Mar. 2013).; 1977 - 2013. General note: Published by: Heritage Foundation, 1977-Apr.-May 2001; Hoover Institution, June-July 2001-. University of Toronto library search the quarterly Policy Review, for many years considered the preeminent conservative publication in Washington, D.C.. Like many conservative think tanks, it is full of unbelievable amounts of hot air, as evidenced in this quote, which also serves as a window into the corrupt quixotic soul of the organization:
Amazing! And is Jesus rising from the dead (again), too?
Since 2021, under the leadership of Heritage president Heritage Foundation has completely abandoned neoconservatism in favor of a full-on embrace of Trumpism,"Inside the Heritage Foundation’s Plans for ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’" by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, New York Times, 2024 January 21, archived on 2024 January 22 thus illegally supporting a political candidate as a tax-exempt non-profit organization. To this end, the foundation leads the Project 2025 initiative. Roberts is closely associated with the far-right Catholic institution Opus Dei, an institute that had close ties to fascist Spain under Francisco Franco.Kevin Roberts, architect of Project 2025, has close ties to radical Catholic group Opus Dei: Heritage Foundation leader has long received spiritual guidance from group and his policy goals align with its teachings by Rachel Leingang & Stephanie Kirchgaessner (26 Jul 2024 08.00 EDT) The Guardian.
==History==
The Heritage Foundation was founded with donations from the Coors and Mellon fortunes. It cut its teeth during the Reagan administration in the 1980s, when it lobbied Reagan to take a hard-line stance against the Soviet Union (they were responsible for getting Reagan to famously call the Soviet Union an "evil empire"), jeopardizing international relations in the process. It also contributed heavily to the ideals embodied in the Republicans' 1994 Contract With America. Later, the foundation became a major proponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Its reputation has been only slightly tarnished by the fact that all of their predictions proved wrong.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Heritage Foundation sought to turn the reconstruction efforts in New Orleans into a test bed for all its harebrained conservative ideas: suspension of all government welfare, distribution of school vouchers, and the repealing of environmental and land use regulations in the New Orleans area.How power profits from disaster, Naomi Klein, The Guardian, July 6, 2017
In 2022, it used the Ukraine crisis to bizarrely claim that Vladimir Putin planned to annexe Belarus as part of a scheme to restore the old Soviet Union/Russian Empire.Russia’s Real Goal Might Not Be Ukraine: A Takeover of Belarus?, Heritage Foundation, Feb 11, 2022
==Unthink tank==
As a think tank, Heritage Foundation conducts studies on socioeconomic issues. Suspiciously, their results always support whatever they are already lobbying for. In one classic example, a study they conducted found that poor people aren't actually poor.Understanding Poverty in America, January 5, 2004, by Kirk Johnson & Robert Rector They then lobbied to end welfare for the poor.
The foundation also pushed lackadaisical policies about Iraq, stating that only 40,000 troops would be needed to take over and maintain order in Iraq, that the war would be over in a couple of years at most,In reality the initial invasion was about 90,000 troops, and the troop numbers were mostly between 100-150,000 peaking at about 170,000 in mid 2007 Also keep in mind, there were combat troops in Iraq for the better part of 7 years, with continued presence for another year and a half and that the Iraqis would greet Americans with open arms (which proved true, but not in quite the way it was intended), and that the Iraqis wanted democracy. 
Yes, they do pull these studies out of their ass.
==Climate denial==
A number of their studies on global warming also come from the PIDOOMA department. One study they cite supposedly demonstrates that global warming will have no effect on the US economy.Unequivocal faith from the climate change quibblers, DeSmog Blog They also enjoy quote mining statements on climate research,Heritage Gate, NRDC parroting denialist PRATTs,Heritage Foundation vs. Reality: Global Warming Edition, Political Correction and hosting other members of the denialist echo chamber, such as E. Calvin Beisner's Cornwall Alliance.Evangelicals Push Back Against Global Warming Doom, Christian Post
They're also unrepentant treekillers; if you wind up on their mailing list, expect to be swamped by bizarre and paranoid mailings featuring names of various conservative figureheads like Ed Meese, push polls, fundraising letters from out of state candidates, and weird, pro-war criminal propaganda allegedly written by the parents of misbehaving members of the US military. It's… not pretty.
==IDiocy==
The Heritage Foundation also promotes intelligent design. They have on several occations hosted lectures by people from the Discovery Institute such as Stephen Meyerhttp://www.heritage.org/events/2009/06/signature-in-the-cell-dna-evidence-for-intelligent-designhttp://www.heritage.org/events/2005/04/intelligent-design-and-the-mysteries-of-life and John West.http://www.scienceprogress.org/2007/11/science-regress/ They also hosted a press conference by the makers of the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed announcing their intention to use the film as a platform to pass "academic freedom" model legislation.http://reason.com/archives/2008/06/06/flunk-this-movie
==Homophobia and transphobia==
One thing all "conservative" groups have in common is an absolute hatred towards LGBTQ+ persons, and especially trans people (and in that subset, especially trans women). The Heritage Foundation is no exception to this rule. Through its subsidiary "The Daily Signal", which has become independent since June 2024, it has published articles spouting out misinformation concerning transgender athletes, dubbing the fight for trans rights the "transgender agenda".NBC News
==Health==
It has a long history of ties to Big Tobacco, arguing against tobacco taxes and regulations, including tax proposals in 2007 and 2009. It received donations from tobacco company Philip Morris in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016.Free-market groups and the tobacco industry - full database, The Guardian, 23 Jan 2019
==Friends across the sea==
The organization has links to various other right-wing parties and organizations around the world. Leading figures in the UK Conservative Party have spoken at its events, including Priti Patel in 2021 and chairman Oliver Dowden in 2022.Priti Patel's speech to Heritage Foundation, UK Government website, 22 November 2021 (speech delivered 19 November 2021)Decadent ‘woke’ ideology putting west in danger, claims Tory party chair, The Independent, Feb 15, 2022
==Kevin Roberts and the institutionalization Trumpism==
Since 2021, the Heritage Foundation has been led by Unlike many past Heritage presidents, Roberts' background was not in business. Instead, Roberts previously served on the board of the (TPPF)."Texas Public Policy Foundation", Board of Directors a Koch-funded right-wing think tank."Revealed: The Corporations and Billionaires that Fund the Texas Public Policy Foundation" by Forrest Wilder, Texas Observer, 2012 August 24 One of TPPF's primary concerns is advocating climate change denialism and shilling fossil fuels."The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action" by David Gelles, New York Times, 2022 December 4 TPPF is also equally known for their advocacy of school vouchers, a favorite topic of Christian nationalists."Texas politicians rake in millions from far-right Christian megadonors pushing private school vouchers" by Mike Hixenbaugh and Kate Martin, NBC News, 2022 November 6 Roberts is an ally of Texas oil tycoon a Dominionist who believes that the nation is in the midst of a holy battle that pits culture war "Christians" like himself against everyone else."The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy" by Russell Gold, Texas Monthly, 2024 March"Right-Wing Think Tank Leader Promises Revolution, Warns of ‘Bloodshed’" by Tim Dickinson, Rolling stone, 2024 July 3, archived on 2024 July 3
Roberts was also previously the president of which notably declined federal funding over concerns that accepting federal funds would prevent the college from discriminating against homosexuals.[https://wyomingcatholic.edu/support/federal-funding/ "Understanding Wyoming Catholic College's
Decision To Forgo Federal Funds"], Wyoming Catholic College"To Keep Free of Federal Reins, Wyoming Catholic College Rejects Student Aid" by Jack Healy, New York Times, 2015 April 11
Reflecting the evolution of the Republican party under Donald Trump, Roberts' hiring marked a notable shift from once standard paradigms of the Heritage Foundation, such as a hawkish foreign policy and strict adherence to free market economics. Instead, the Heritage Foundation shifted to embracing Trumpism. Indeed, Roberts stated in an interview that he believes that "institutionalizing Trumpism" is his primary role. Instead of being unapologetic advocates of the free market, the new Heritage Foundation declared that free enterprise must be "orient(ed) in support of the common good". Instead of taking a hawkish stance against Vladimir Putin's 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the new Heritage Foundation advocated isolationism."Hitting 50, Heritage Foundation looks to move past ‘Conservatism Inc.’" by Emily Brooks, The Hill, 2023 May 2"Inside the Heritage Foundation’s Plans for ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’" by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, New York Times, 2024 Jan 21"Free Enterprise and the Common Good: Economic Science and Political–Economic Art as Complements" by Alexander Salter, Heritage Foundation, 2023 April 11 
Under Roberts, members of the Heritage Foundation have praised the authoritarian government of Viktor Orbán"Why is the Heritage Foundation Embracing Viktor Orban?" by Jacob Heilbrunnm, National Interest, 2023 December 11. As an example, after meeting with Orbán in November 2022, Roberts wrote the following fawning accolade on Twitter:
In March 2023, the Heritage Foundation signed a cooperation agreement with the "Heritage Foundation and Danube Institute Sign Landmark Cooperation Agreement" by Lili Zemplényi, Hungarian Conservative, 2023 March 16 a think tank / propaganda network funded entirely by the Hungarian government that seeks to provide the intellectual veneer to convert Western conservatives into adopting the Orbán model of "illiberal democracy"."Does Hungary Offer a Glimpse of Our Authoritarian Future?" by Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 2022 June 27"The Danube Institute is Trying to Bring Orbánism to Tennessee", Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, 2023 April 26
One of Roberts' core projects is Project 2025. Created in the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the project outlines an administrative blueprint to enact should a Republican ever take over the presidency. Contrary to past Heritage Foundation blueprints, Project 2025 is lighter on policy and heavier on retribution."The Blueprint" by Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, 2023 November 27 Using various bureaucratic schemes (most notably the utilization of the ), the chief feature of the blueprint is a plan to attempt to take over much of the federal government agencies by firing large amounts of current federal employees (no matter how experienced the employee) and replace them with "conservative" "loyalists". The document advocates ideological tests on federal government employees based on various bête noires of populist Republicans, such as critical race theory, woke, and climate change. The blueprint deeply embraces Christian nationalism viewpoints. This includes staunch anti-abortion positions, to the point where the Heritage Foundation advocate nationally criminializing the abortion pill and also advocate setting up surveillance networks for "liberal states" that in their view had become "sanctuaries for abortion tourism". Discussions of potentially reviving the Comstock Act were even present in the document. Project 2025 also endorses anti-LGBTQ positions such as opposition of gay marriage. All of this comes on top of Heritage Foundation's usual wish list of corporate favoritism, such as favorable tax incentives for corporations and anti-environmentalism advocacy."Inside the MAGA Plan to Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban the Abortion Pill" by Tessa Stuard, Rolling Stone, 2023 December 22"The right's Project 2025 wants to make faith the government's job" by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, MSNBC, 2023 September 8"‘Project 2025’: plan to dismantle US climate policy for next Republican president" by Dharna Noor, Guardian, 2023 July 27 Critics called the plan a "far-right playbook for American authoritarianism" and "a threat to a multiracial, diverse democracy.""Analysis Exposes Trumpian Project 2025 as 'Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism'" by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, 2023 November 13
Tellingly, in a New York Times interview, Roberts endorsed Trump's Big Lie, stating that he did not believe that Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also believed that Black Lives Matter "riots" were "far worse" than the 2021 U.S. coup attempt. He even offered praise for Joe McCarthy.
In early July 2024, Roberts appeared on Steve Bannon's "War Room" show. On there, Roberts expressed the opinion that the country was in a "second revolution" which would be complete by 2050 and would coincide with a new "" that would bring America to God. Roberts argued for the need for a ""vigorous executive" and, in a roundabout manner, threatened violence against any resistance to this "revolution". He also insisted that "God's law can, in fact be a huge influence on the civil laws". He even invoked a bit of doublespeak in defining freedom — "Our definition of ‘freedom’ is not the freedom to do whatever the heck we want, but the freedom to do what we ought." These statements were seen by commentators as a sign that Heritage Foundation had embraced both fascism and especially Christian nationalism."Heritage Foundation Head Refers to ‘Second American Revolution’" by Maggie Astor, New York Times, 2024 July 3, archived on 2024 July 4"Head of group responsible for Project 2025 threatens violence if people challenge their "revolution"" by Nicholas Lu, Salon, 2024 July 3 This is not the first time that Roberts has threatened violence: it has been alleged by his former university colleagues that Roberts told them he beat a neighbor's dog to death with a shovel in 2004.Project 2025 mastermind allegedly told colleagues he killed a dog with a shovel by Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Reyes Mata III (24 Sep 2024 05.00 EDT) The Guardian.
Roberts has used violent rhetoric, including calling for a political revolution to "overthrow today’s incarnation of the ruling class", and calling for the elimination of an assortment of institutions, presumably by dictatorial rule: Ivy League universities, the FBI, Fairfax County Virginia public schools and the Boy Scouts.Project 2025 ex-director condemns Heritage president’s ‘violent rhetoric’: Paul Dans, who led the project until July, also called on JD Vance to withdraw his foreword for Heritage President Kevin Roberts’s book. by Isaac Arnsdorf (October 16, 2024) The Washington Post. The rhetoric was so bad that it caused Paul Dans, co-editor of the Project 2025 book,Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, edited by Paul Dans & Steven Groves (2023) The Heritage Foundation. ISBN 9780891951742. leading to Dans quitting or being fired from the foundation.Project 2025 director steps down amid backlash from Trump by Steve Contorno and Kristen Holmes (6:29 PM EDT, Tue July 30, 2024) CNN.Heritage Foundation Says Project 2025 Director Was Fired for Professional Misconduct, Not Trump Fallout by James Lynch (September 27, 2024 2:01 PM) National Review (archived from 27 Sep 2024 18:05:03 UTC).
Due to this significant policy shift under Roberts, multiple scholars departed the Heritage Foundation for other think-tanks.
Roberts has gone even further than Project 2025's flirting with illegally endorsing a political candidate as a tax-exempt non-profit; he said in an interview that the role of The Heritage Foundation is "institutionalizing Trumpism".Inside the Heritage Foundation’s Plans for ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’: “People will lose their jobs,” the think tank’s president says about federal workers. “Hopefully their lives are able to flourish in spite of that.” by Lulu Garcia-Navarro (Jan. 21, 2024) The New York Times Magazine.
Shortly after Roberts' "War Room" appearance, the foundation held a "war game" conference in which they discussed far-fetched scenarios based on the conspiracy theory that Biden would seize power after losing the 2024 election,Trump allies at Heritage declare 2024 election illegitimate in advance: A “war game” presented at the right-wing foundation imagined far-fetched scenarios for election interference to justify preemptive measures. by Isaac Arnsdorf (July 11, 2024 at 9:12 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post. something incidentally that their favored far-right Supreme Court basically enabled.Supreme Court rules ex-presidents have broad immunity, dimming chance of a pre-election Trump trial by Mark Sherman (July 1, 2024) Associated Press. During the conference, Mike Howell, executive director of the foundation's Oversight Project claimed, "As things stand right now, there’s a zero percent chance of a free and fair election." Howell was setting the stage for a repeat of Trumpist election denialism and of the 2021 coup attempt.
==No sex, please, we're Republicans==
In late May 2023 on Twitter, the Heritage Foundation, accompanied by a video from " Mary Harrington, declared that "conservatives have to lead the way in restoring sex to its true purpose", and advocated ending "recreational sex". To accomplish this goal, they also recommended ending the "senseless use of birth control pills."The Republican assault on sexual freedom is underway" by Ja'han Jones, MSNBC, 2024 February 29 
This anti-contraception viewpoint was echoed by Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo in February 2024 after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos severely impacting in that state. Replying to a tweet from Michael Shermer declaring that birth control pills would be next in line, Rufo retorted (without evidence) "So what? The pill causes health problems for many women". He then declared that "'recreational sex' is a large part of the reason we have so many single-mother households, which drives poverty, crime, and dysfunction.""The Right Is Cracking Down on Abortion and IVF. Is ‘Recreational Sex’ Next?" by Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone, 2024 February 23 Such reflected a trend within conservative activists in the 2020s to demonize birth control pills; similar anti-contraception content were posted by Ben Shapiro, Tim Pool, Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and others in 2023 and 2024."Conservative influencers are pushing an anti-birth control message" by Kat Tenbarge, NBC News, 2023 July 1
Long-running observers of Republican politics might note that the above combines common conservative pundit themes of the past — demonizing single mothers, often with strong whiffs of racist or misogynist dog whistles, was a key "conservative talking point" in the 1990s"The Consequences of Single Motherhood" by Sara McLanahan, The American Prospect, 1994 July 1 — with opposition to birth control, once a fringe position held primarily by Catholic leadership (but not Catholics themselves), but increasingly a position held by hard-line evangelicals as well, due to the convergence of Catholic-evangelical politics since the Moral Majority formed in the late 1970s."How birth control became part of the evangelical agenda" by Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, 2017 October 7Lipson, Gerald, and Dianne Wolman. “Polling Americans on Birth Control and Population.” Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 4, no. 1, 1972, pp. 39–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2133674. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024."The Strange Bedfellows of the Anti-Contraception Alliance" by Amelia Thomson-Deveaux, American Prospect, 2014 March 17
In 2022, a poll from FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos found that 90% of Americans believe that birth control pills should be legal in "all" or "most" cases."How Americans Feel About Abortion And Contraception" by Geoffrey Skelley and Holly Fuong, FiveThirtyEight, 2022 July 12 It is unclear how the Heritage Foundation and other conservative activists reconcile their opposition to "recreational sex" with Donald Trump's frequent extra-marital porn star fucking."This kind of idea is so at odds with Donald Trump’s personal behavior that it’s hard to take seriously, but these are the people who are doing the policy work that he is too lazy for." by Matthew Ylesias (@Mattyglessias), Twitter, 2024 February 21, archived on 2024 March 6
===Except anal rape===
In 2024, The Heritage Foundation was hacked by a group calling itself SiegedSec, who describe themselves as "gay furry hackers".Project 2025 Creator Threatens “Gay Furry” Hackers in Disturbing Texts: After “Gay Furry” hackers breached the think tank behind the extreme Project 2025 agenda, its executive director is spewing venom. by Talia Jane (July 11, 2024/9:03 a.m. ET) The New Republic. Mike Howell, the foundation's Executive Director of its Oversight Project,https://www.heritage.org/staff/mike-howell The Heritage Foundation. actually threatened one of SiegedSec's members with anal rape, "Are you aware that you won’t be able to wear a furry tiger costume when you’re getting pounded in the ass in the federal prison I put you in next year?" Read the furious texts the Heritage Foundation sent furry hacking collective SiegedSec after breach: ‘Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are,’ Howell said. by Mikael Thalen (Posted on Jul 10, 2024; Updated on Jul 11, 2024, 11:19 am CDT) Daily Dot.
==Courting strange bedfellows==
In their planned attack on alleged antisemitic or anti-Zionist editors that potentially include doxxing editors, the Foundation attempted to court established Jewish organizations, seemingly unsuccessfully ("Project Esther").Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors: The conservative think tank told prospective donors that the project was part of its work to combat antisemitism by Arno Rosenfeld (January 7, 2025) Forward.Wikipedia Editor Targeting The Heritage Foundation via Forward.Heritage Foundation struggles to find partners in fight against antisemitism by Gabby Deutch (October 14, 2024) Jewish Insider.Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism (October 7, 2024) The Heritage Foundation.
==See also==
*A member of the Cooler Heads Coalition
*Sean Hannity: Not so surprisingly, he just loves these guys.
*Project 2025: Their grand plan to turn the country into a white nationalist theocracy.
==External links==
*Heritage Foundation
*Sourcewatch entry
==References==
Category:Anti-abortion activists
Category:Antifeminism
Category:Austrian school
Category:Authoritarianism
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Culture wars
Category:Denialist organizations
Category:Global warming denialists
Category:Homophobia
Category:Kochsphere
Category:Neoconservatism
Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations
Category:Purity culture
Category:Theocracy
Category:Think tanks
Category:Transphobia
Category:Trumpism
Category:We're on a mission from God