Wednesday, February 22, 2017

How the Heritage Foundation is Shaping President Trump

Alex Shephard of the New Republic has a new piece entitled "D.C. Think Tank Behind Donald Trump: How the Heritage Foundation is Shaping the President's Playbook."

Here are some of Think Tank Watch's favorite quotes:

  • "No group is more responsible for helping craft Trump's agenda than the Heritage Foundation."
  • "The Heritage-Trump alliance is one of the more improbable developments in an election season that was full of them.  A year ago, Heritage’s political arm dismissed Trump as a distraction, with no track record of allegiance to conservative causes. Today the group’s fingerprints are on virtually every policy Trump advocates, from his economic agenda to his Supreme Court nominees."
  • "The partnership between Trump and the Heritage Foundation represents a return to prominence for the conservative think tanks."
  • "Under George W. Bush Heritage's influence began to wane.  Unlike his father, the younger Bush favored the neoconservative ideas of the Project for the New American Century and the American Enterprise Institute."
  • "With the election of Barack Obama, however, Heritage came roaring back. It sprang into action as a prominent supporter of the Tea Party, paying for demonstrations and staging town hall outbursts that fostered an intense anti-Obama mood among Republicans."
  • "Although the group initially opposed Trump, [Heritage President Jim] DeMint quietly reached out to the candidate last year, offering his group’s assistance."
  • "Now, two decades after it fell from conservative grace, Heritage has regained its standing in the White House."

If you just can't get enough of the Heritage Foundation and President Trump, Think Tank Watch has written numerous pieces about Heritage and the new Trump era, including pieces here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.