Tensions at the Heritage Foundation have reached a crescendo, with more than a dozen employees resigning to Mike Pence’s conservative think tank.
Mike Pence and Donald Trump shake hands at Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Mike Pence and Donald Trump shake hands at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
Fox – 5 DC
Former Vice President Mike Pence is expanding his nonprofit organization thanks to a mass exodus from the Heritage Foundation, a public demonstration of the widening gulf between populist right-wing influencers and traditional conservatives.
Pence’s Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Advancing American Freedom, announced on Dec. 22 the hiring of more than a dozen Heritage Foundation employees, including three of the organization’s top leaders.
The resignation represents the latest turmoil facing the Heritage Foundation, the long-established right-wing think tank that led President Donald Trump’s administration’s policy guide, Project 2025. The foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, faced criticism from conservatives and staff members for defending an interview between former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes.
“Their attempt to cancel (Carlson) will fail,” Roberts said in a video posted to X on Oct. 30. “While I disagree with and even dislike everything Nick Fuentes says, canceling him is not the answer either.”
In one high-profile resignation, Josh Blackman, editor of the Constitutional Heritage Guide, published a letter he sent to Roberts on Dec. 21 explaining his resignation.
Blackman wrote that Roberts’ comments not only “gave aid and solace to the rise of anti-Semitism on the right,” but also alienated the guide’s regular contributors and “diminished the prestigious Meath Center for Law and Justice Research’s ability to promote the rule of law.” (The center and its six staff members also moved under a slightly new name, Advancing American Freedom.)
“After your infamous video, the legacy came to an abrupt halt,” Blackman wrote to Roberts. “I’m not the only one who recognizes how you have undermined Heritage’s moral standing.”
On social media, observers were speculating that there would be more resignations. On December 22nd, John Malcolm, Deputy Director of the AAF’s Heritage Constitutional Institute, stated: Richard Stern, Acting Director of the Thomas A. Roe Economic Policy Institute. Kevin Dayaratna, director of the Data Analytics Center, will also join the staff.
AAF specifically raised tens of millions of dollars for these jobs, the statement said, in an apparent effort to position itself as an “upstart organization” for conservatives. AAF President Tim Chapman told NPR that the organization raised $13 million in two weeks after learning staffers were interested in leaving Heritage.
“The AAF is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to our team,” Pence said in a statement. “They bring a wealth of experience, a love of their country, and a deep dedication to the Constitution and the conservative movement that advances the cause of freedom.”
Pence is seen as a martyr among traditional conservatives and a traitor on the far right for certifying the 2020 election against President Trump’s wishes.
Contact IndyStar statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her at @kayla_dwyer17.
