DAVID MARCUS: What the conservative think tank wars have to do with you |
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts talks to Fox News Digital about the future of the conservative movement, the energy at AmericaFest and how the right recovers from 2025 election losses.
Generally speaking, nobody outside of Washington, D.C., brunch spots cares very much what happens at think tanks. But recent upheavals at the Heritage Foundation are not only making news, they are potentially framing what the Republican Party will look like after President Trump leaves office.
The current kerfuffle at Heritage, the nation’s leading conservative think tank, began on Oct. 30, when its president, Kevin Roberts, gave a speech defending Tucker Carlson for interviewing a snarky young Holocaust denier.
"The Heritage Foundation didn't become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won't start doing that now," Roberts said.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. (Tom Williams/CQ-Getty Images)
A pitter-patter of outraged resignations came almost immediately, even after Roberts apologized for his remarks, but last week, almost two months later, nearly an entire division of Heritage's legal and economic experts jumped ship to former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom (AAF).
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The significant question in all of this is whether Roberts playing footsie with antisemites is the real or only reason why so many top experts joined the exodus to Pence’s outfit, and there is some........