The Heritage Foundation used to be an American think tank, contributing wise counsel to the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations.
https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/reagan-and-heritage-unique-partnership
It is now a septic bank of the Trumpian far-right.
The Heritage Foundation endorsed the disastrous policies of the George W. Bush Administration, including going to war in Iraq on false pretenses and then the administration’s amoral policies of torturing enemy combatants.
https://www.heritage.org/middle-east/commentary/we-won-the-iraq-war-we-lost-it
https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/tour-guantanamo-prison-shows-america-its-best
The Heritage Foundation took the bold stance of criticizing the poor for being poor in 2004.
“The best news is that remaining poverty can readily be reduced further, particularly among children (sic),” it said in a report. “There are two main reasons that American children are poor: Their parents don’t work much, and fathers are absent from the home.”
https://www.heritage.org/welfare/report/understanding-poverty-america
The Heritage Foundation then recommended America could win the war on poverty by starving the poor into submission or maybe having poor parents sell their children as food for the rich.
Oh, wait, that was Jonathan Swift.
And finally, the Heritage Foundation abandoned all principles of traditional political conservatism and embraced the fascism of the far right by banning books.
The Heritage Foundation initially criticized Donald Trump as “a clown.”
But once Trump became president, those in the organization put on grease paint and worked as geeks in the Trump circus. They obsequiously praised Trump on their website. They rejected their own constitutional principles and the wisdom of political scientists, historians, and other scholars who condemned the widespread corruption of the Trump Administration as injurious to American democracy.
https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2022/10/06/fifteen-scholars-weigh-trump-corruption
In was during the Trump years that the Heritage Foundation completed his transformation from think tank to septic tank.
In doing so, it became one of the voices of the septic president.
The Heritage Foundation criticized critical race theory though not quite understanding – or not giving any thought – to what it was or why it existed; rejected the Black Lives Matter Movement without acknowledging – or giving any thought to — the anger behind the movement; argued that there was not a “scientific consensus” behind climate change, when there, in fact, was scientific consensus behind climate change; and promoted false claims about the 2020 Presidential Election, even though judge after judge and recount after recount confirmed the legitimacy of the election results.
https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/heritage-explains/how-identify-critical-race-theory
https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/reckoning-black-lives-matter
https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/17/do-scientists-agree-on-climate-change/
Politico reported in September 2023 that the Heritage Foundation had ordered two of its members to remove their names from a statement critical of the Trump era right.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/15/too-hot-for-heritage-00116094
The Washington Post reported that Heritage Action, which is affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, spent $750,000 on television ads in Arizona to convince voters of the false claim that Democrats “want to register illegal aliens” to vote.
The Heritage Foundation issued a statement praising President Donald Trump for his “commitment to defend American values.”
https://www.heritage.org/press/kay-c-james-praises-president-trump-commitment-defend-american-values
This statement must have been short and it no doubt lacked a noun or verb.
in addition, the Heritage Foundation rejected the findings of the January 6 commission findings as “a partisan fishing expedition.”
It attacked the investigation into Trump for attempting to overthrow the legitimate results of the presidential election as “an attack on the American political system.”
The Heritage Foundation endorsed Trump for president in the 2024 Presidential Election, and, according to the New York Times, had compiled a database of conservatives better suited for Trump politics than those who served in his administration during his term in the White House.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/us/politics/republican-president-2024-heritage-foundation.html
This database, Axios reported, would, among other things, assist in Trump’s mission to seek revenge on what he sees as his political enemies and replace qualified civil servants with loyalists who would put the con man above the Constitution.
https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
