Heritage Foundation head refers to ‘Second American Revolution’
The chairman of the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank that has developed a series of striking policies to reform the federal government under a Republican president, said Tuesday that the country was “in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
The group’s chairman, Kevin D. Roberts, made the statements in an interview on “The War Room,” Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon’s show on the Real America’s Voice network. (Mr. Bannon himself did not host the show Tuesday because he had reported to prison the day before to begin serving a sentence for contempt of Congress.)
Mr. Roberts discussed Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that presidents enjoy significant immunity from prosecution for actions they take in office. The ruling quashed the criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and removed a potential barrier to the most radical elements of his second-term agenda, should he be re-elected.
“We should be really encouraged by what happened yesterday, and despite all the injustices – which friends and the audience of this show, of course, of our friend Steve, know – we will prevail,” Mr. Roberts said, referring to Mr. Bannon’s imprisonment.
He went on to say that “the radical left” was “apoplectic” because “our side is winning” and said, “And so in this answer I want to come full circle and encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
“Exactly. Thank you, brother,” replied the interviewer, former Representative Dave Brat of Virginia.
The Heritage Foundation did not immediately respond Wednesday morning to a request for comment on the remarks from Mr. Roberts, who were announced by the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America.
James Singer, a Biden campaign spokesman, said in a statement announcing the upcoming July 4 holiday: “America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense. On January 6, they proudly stormed our Capitol to overturn an election that Donald Trump lost fair and square — something even the Confederacy couldn’t accomplish — now they dream of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”
Allies of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump himself, have long used extreme rhetoric and incitements of violence against his political opponents and the left generally. Actual violence has occurred several times, most notably at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And the rhetoric has escalated during the 2024 campaign.
Among other things, Trump has said that shoplifters should be shot; he has suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be executed for treason; he has called on his supporters to “go after” the New York attorney general, whose office has filed a fraud lawsuit against him; he has suggested that his supporters might use violence if the Supreme Court rules against him; and he has refused to rule out political violence if he loses in November.
Mr. Trump has also repeatedly dehumanized political opponents and immigrants, using terms like “vermin” and “poisoning the blood of our country” in a manner similar to Hitler and other authoritarian leaders. And over the weekend, he posted an image on social media declaring that former Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic of his, should be subjected to “televised military tribunals” for treason.
The policy plan that the Heritage Foundation helped coordinate with similar groups is called Project 2025. It is not Trump’s official platform; his campaign instead points to Agenda47which focuses on curbing immigration and boosting economic growth. Some of the authors of Project 2025 served in Trump’s first administration or are seen as candidates for office if he wins another term.
Trump’s campaign has stressed that Heritage is an outside group and that proposals not personally endorsed by Trump should not be taken as statements of his plans. In some areas, however, there is significant overlap between what Heritage has proposed and what he has proposed, including plans to centralize power in the executive branch and eliminate legislative restrictions and personnel from his first term.
