‘The whole thing is imploding’: Chaos erupts inside America's top right-wing think tank

Founded in 1973, the Heritage Foundation has become what its president, Kevin Roberts, now hails as the “intellectual backbone” of the conservative movement. It crafted the policy blueprint that powered President Ronald Reagan’s right-wing revolution — and today, under Roberts’s leadership, it’s once again shaping the machinery of power. Through its highly controversial Project 2025 — a plan widely credited to Roberts as its chief architect — Heritage laid out a road map for President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda. But Roberts’s recent missteps have rattled the institution, raising strong questions about his leadership — and the future direction of the conservative movement itself.

Roberts gained widespread attention in July 2024 when he issued a warning to Democrats: “we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

At the time, Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said, “they are threatening violence.”

As did others.

“Kevin Roberts is threatening violence to anyone not following his dear leader,” former Republican and former U.S. Congressman Denver Riggleman wrote. “Every network should cover this."

Roberts’s remarks had come just after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a new constitutional principle of “presidential immunity” for official acts — a decision critics say President Donald Trump has wielded to expand his power.

Late last month, Roberts came under tremendous criticism after throwing his support behind former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who had a two-hour interview with far-right extremist leader Nick Fuentes, whom many see as promoting Christian nationalism, white supremacy, racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.

"There has been speculation that @Heritage is distancing itself from @TuckerCarlson over the past 24 hours," Roberts wrote on October 30 when posting the video that sparked this current firestorm. "I want to put that to rest right now."

The editors of the right-wing National Review in a scathing editorial explained the issue: “Tucker Carlson, knee-deep already, has taken another step into the muck with a friendly interview with Nick Fuentes.”

HERITAGE "WILL ALWAYS DEFEND OUR FRIENDS ... THAT INCLUDES TUCKER CARLSON"

Roberts had wasted no time in coming to Carlson's defense.

“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,” he said in his video supporting Carlson.

Roberts insisted that Heritage "will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation.”

Criticism of Roberts was immediate.

Journalist Yashar Ali called it a "watershed moment."

"In his statement," Ali wrote, "Kevin condemns what he calls a 'venomous coalition' that is 'sowing division' by attacking Tucker. That 'venomous coalition,' includes MAGA Republicans as well as Jewish conservative commentators, activists, and donors."

"Kevin also frames Nick Fuentes’s rhetoric as worthy of debate, rather than something to be condemned outright. A shift like this would’ve been unthinkable for Heritage just three years ago."

Condemnations came, and continue to do so — from both outside and inside Heritage.

CNN's Andrew Kaczynski on Thursday reported on what one senior staffer called the "absolute s--" swirling inside Heritage.

"The staff that we talked to told us the Heritage Foundation is in open revolt over the president's defense of Carlson," Kaczynski explained.

That senior staffer also told CNN that Roberts had "lost control over the organization."

Kaczynski noted that they also "said there's an open rebellion, and this really all came to a head [Wednesday], where they had this all hands meeting ... this was kind of going around social media, where Roberts publicly apologized, according to her recording we obtained, Roberts told employees, 'I made a mistake. I let you down. I let this institution down. I'm sorry.'"

"But," Kaczynski added, Roberts "also made clear he has no plans to resign."

On Friday, Reason senior editor Stephanie Slade wrote that at a Thursday night event, "I was asked if the crisis at Heritage Foundation seemed to be blowing over. This morning I received a message from someone inside the building about Kevin Roberts: 'He needs to be made to resign by the [Heritage] Foundation Board of Trustees.'"

"In speaking to current and former Heritage staffers over the last week," Slade continued, "the emotion I've most commonly encountered is disgust and the words I've most commonly heard are 'Kevin Roberts has to go.'"

By Wednesday, as Ali noted, Roberts had "made his fourth public statement on the Tucker Carlson/Nick Fuentes situation ... over the course of six days." After the initial video that ignited the firestorm, Roberts made three other attempts to "clean up" his remarks.

According to The Wall Street Journal's Elliot Kaufman, Heritage senior fellow Amy Swearer, in remarks before Heritage staff, told Roberts, "over the last week, you have shown a stunning lack of both courage and judgment."

She called Roberts' initial defense of Carlson "at best ... equal parts incoherent, unhelpful and naive."

"At worst, it was more akin to a master class in cowardice that ran cover for the most unhinged dregs of the far right."

"LOST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DONATIONS"

Heritage also appears to be losing important donors.

"One major donor, whose organization contributes more than a half million dollars annually to Heritage Foundation, told us that they had totally lost faith in Roberts," Kaczynski reported.

"They said, 'I see how things play out, but if Kevin remains as president, we will not be giving to Heritage.'"

"Likewise, the Zionist Organization of America, that's actually the oldest pro-Israel group in the United States, announced that it has withdrawn from Heritage's initiative on antisemitism, unless Roberts publicly apologized, and retract his praise for Carlson."

Newsmax reported that "Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein told Newsmax Friday that Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts should resign immediately."

"My organization has many of the same donors as Heritage," Klein also said. "They've told me that they're stopping all funding for Heritage until they get rid of Kevin Roberts, so yes, they have lost millions of dollars in donations since this controversy arose."

Klein also "pointed to longtime Heritage fellow Stephen Moore's recent departure."

"He doesn't want to be involved with Heritage, which is now tainted as an antisemitic, bigoted organization," Klein told Newsmax. "It's harmed everything else they do."

Mark Goldfeder, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that “Any tent that is big enough for them ...is too big for me,” referring to Fuentes and his allies.

The Journal reported that "Goldfeder resigned from Heritage’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism in the aftermath of Roberts’s video."

"CIVIL WAR AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION"

Other critics outside Heritage have also been observing Roberts' crumbling support, and what it means for the future of the organization, its president, and the conservative movement.

"The civil war at the Heritage Foundation is far more consequential than most people realize," noted Mike Madrid, the prominent Latino Republican political consultant. "The divide seems irreconcilable and it could splinter the American right irreversibly."

Conservative New York Times opinion columnist David French wrote on Sunday, "I don’t know if Roberts will survive at Heritage."

"I do know that Carlson and Fuentes and their constellation of friends and allies are far too popular to cancel or even to contain," he noted, and observed: "The fight for the future of the Republican Party is underway."

And pointing to a Washington Post article on the crisis at Heritage, Madrid declared: "The whole thing is imploding."