There is an inherently skeptical view of American politics and the American government that it’s all just a big ploy. That they’re pulling one over on us. That stern-looking old men sitting around a table in the back of some DC cigar club and talking in low voices make the real decisions in this country. This perspective is flawed and unrepresentative of the vast majority of policy-making that goes on in the American government. Given that caveat, nothing casts the same shade of doubt on the establishment as the looming influence emerging conservative policy organizations have on American politics.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has recently made their way back into the popular American political consciousness for their “Project 2025.” The ACLU describes Project 2025 as “a federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials.” In essence, it involves “a roadmap for how to replace the rule of law with right-wing ideals.” Project 2025 represents an ambitious effort by those who don’t hold an elected office to use federal power to institutionalize their ideologies.
The emergence of The Heritage Foundation marked the beginning of a new level of importance and influence for policy groups in DC. Since the 1970s, these organizations became more ideological with their approach to policy, moving away from scholarship and into a more active and partisan role. The Heritage Foundation aided tremendously in staffing the Reagan Administration and developing their agenda in detail. In past decades, these organizations have grown to play an even greater role behind the scenes of the American political machine, now firmly established in shaping messaging, staffing government offices, and creating policy schemes from trickle-down economics to culture wars against higher education.
How these groups achieve their goals is perhaps best understood in the context of several highly impactful conservative policy organizations that have materialized in support of President Donald Trump and far-right ideology. Trump has denied any association with these specific policy plans and policy groups in general, including the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, but his connections are undeniable. Many of those involved in his administration head these organizations. An article written by Johnathan Blitzer, a politics staff writer for the New Yorker, reveals just how deep the web of influence goes. He acquaints us with the massively funded and well-connected Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) and we become aware of a multitude of dubiously-legal schemes and plans to use federal powers in unprecedented ways.
CPI acts as a central hub in the nervous system of organizations that work through separate facets to enact their vision of America. Many get to implement their master plan tax-free. Technically a non-profit, CPI is barred from engaging in partisan spending or lobbying. However, as Blitzer writes, “its network of associated organizations” allows it to do just that. CPI sits at the center of numerous other groups committed to advancing conservative ideals in the media and the bureaucracy.
To see CPI and its web at their most powerful look no further than January 6th. “The effort to contest the 2020 election results and the protests of January 6, 2021 were both plotted at C.P.I’s headquarters,” says Blitzer. Republican officials, like Senator Mike Lee and Senator Jim DeMint (a CPI leader), acknowledge the great power and potential of these organizations and their growth from the duties and abilities of a typical think tank.
CPI’s satellite groups exemplify the extent of what these policy groups can do. America First Legal targets liberal school districts and fought against the Biden Administration. America Movement staffs Republican Administrations, like Trump’s. They find young talent and train them how to be more effective in advancing the conservative agenda in DC. CPI themselves provide the equipment and funding for popular conservative podcasts like “Verdict with Ted Cruz.” Showcasing the comfortable intertwining between these policy organizations and conservative elected officials Blitzers reports how executives at CPI are working on the legal rationale to intertwine the oval office and Department of Justice in an alarming new way. This would give the president unparalleled power over the DOJ in a way that directly breaks from our system of checks and balances. Stephen Miller, a former top-adviser to Trump and founder of America Legal First, is on the record saying, “Trump will unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown.”
Whether it’s extra-legal attempts to influence politics, surreptitiously creating divisive ideologies and narratives, or covert attempts to undermine current norms, the activities of these conservative policy groups to advance a radical partisan agenda are effective and taking place right now. The majority of it is happening in close proximity with elected officials, with little oversight, and behind the public eye.
Julius Perez studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at j.j.perez@wustl.edu.