If the first half-century of the Heritage Foundation was defined by former President Reagan, its president Kevin Roberts is setting up the powerful conservative think tank to be defined for the next 50 years by President Trump.
"You can have the principles along with the really bold action of Trump, who, frankly, is superior to Reagan in his willingness to upend the status quo," Roberts told me in an interview. "If we put those two things together, then for the next 50 years of Heritage and in the conservative movement, I think that defines who we are."
For this first official edition of The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington, I thought it appropriate to talk to the head of "the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis," as the New York Times once described it — who has overseen Heritage accelerating toward Trumpism and becoming a national lightning rod with Project 2025.
"Trump is the conservative movement's FDR, politically," Roberts said. He said the president has awoken the right to be more aggressive tactically and argued that conservative principles need to be applied "in ways that use the full legal authority given to elected officials."
Some of Heritage's embrace of Trump has come in the form of grand gestures, like displaying not one, but two multi-story banners on the side of its headquarters: One congratulating Trump ahead of his inauguration, and another cheering his policies during his first 100 days in office.
But it has also rattled historical allies with some sharp changes in policy positions. Heritage was skeptical about sending U.S. aid to Ukraine. And some free-marketers are scratching their heads at Heritage's new stance on Trump's tariffs.
Heritage's scholars had long argued against tariffs, calling them "not conservative," saying during Trump's first term that they "will only punish Americans" and declaring as recently as 2021 that tariffs "are never a good idea." But now, Roberts says Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff move should be "applauded" as part of a negotiating strategy and broader economic agenda that includes extension of expiring tax cuts. Using tariffs constructively "is a fine art," Heritage scholars wrote last year.
Asked about that shift, Roberts said that Heritage has realized that "the United States has gotten weaker, especially relative to China" — and "if, in fact, we want to become stronger as well as avert a military conflict with China, we have to upend the status quo."
"We understand that if the tariff regime becomes truly reciprocal, if it's zealously focused on China," Roberts said, and if "that 10% across-the-board tariff becomes a border adjustment tax …that's a tariff regime that we like because tariffs — at least if history is a guide — become more temporary than permanent."
I asked Roberts: Have any of Heritage's principles changed with the rise of Trump?
"No," Roberts responded. "Definitely none of the principles. Some of the policy positions, which some people conflate with principles."
Has Trump done anything over his first 100 days that is not conservative, that Roberts disagrees with, or that he wants to see Trump do better?
"I mean, honestly, no — hence the wonderful banner," Roberts said.
But, Roberts did say that the tariff regime needs "continued refinement" to become truly reciprocal and focused on China — "which we've conveyed privately to the administration, and we have said publicly."
"I'm really optimistic with the leading role that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has taken in this," Roberts added, hoping the tariff saga will result in some bilateral trade agreements.
Trump distanced himself from Heritage as it led Project 2025, including a "Mandate for Leadership" book of policy recommendations. Heritage has created such recommendations for every election year for decades, but it became a top target of Democrats in 2024.
But now that Trump is in office, Roberts said: "It looks like it's in the past …The relationships are very strong." Vice President Vance, who wrote the foreword for Roberts' book, spoke at a film screening at Heritage last month. Trump has implemented many policies that align with that blueprint.
"By every measure, personnel who've gone in, the transition project leaders who are in the administration, the policies they're enacting — Our transition project in 2024, just as it has been since 1980, looks like it's been very successful," Roberts said. But he insisted he was not "trying to take a victory lap," saying it is Trump and Vance who have "been so courageous in implementing it."
Roberts has been fairly international this year, appearing at a gathering of right-wing European parties in Madrid, at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London, and at the Panama Canal.
"The fusion of populism and conservatism we're seeing here in the United States is happening in almost every other country," Roberts said.
What about the traditional fusionism of conservatism and libertarianism?
"It's outdated — which is not to say that it was or is wrong," Roberts said — suggesting it is not potent for "fighting the political game that the left has established over the last 15 years."
"It doesn't mean that we're being dismissive toward the past. I would say we're actually building upon that foundation."
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