Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, February 23, 2017
The Revolving Door Project, a Prospect partner, scrutinizes the executive branch and presidential power. Follow them at therevolvingdoorproject.org.
From the presidencies of Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush, conservatives envisioned a fairly consistent vision of America, defined by tax cuts, deregulation, neoliberal trade deals, corporate giveaways, a strong military that is used in regular wars of aggression, and “traditional” family values. Republican apparatchiks like Karl Rove and George Will pushed for this set of priorities for decades. Their efforts yielded inconsistent successes, due in large part to broad public disagreement with most of their policy recommendations. However, through the support of notorious oligarchs, especially the Kochs, and right-wing shops such as Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative movement made many of these ideas a reality across the country.
However, this conservative vision splintered with the rise of Donald Trump. Here was a guy who easily won the Republican primary in 2016 bitterly attacking Bush’s Iraq invasion, criticizing corporate elites, and promising to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The traditional Republican program of tax and welfare cuts seemed to be in jeopardy.
But when Trump won, right-wing activists regrouped and came to terms with him. He neither understood nor cared about most traditional policies, and the old policy guard filled the void. Trump’s only big legislative achievement was a massive tax cut for the rich, and his only other attempt was a repeal of Obamacare that thankfully failed by one vote. Where Trump did care, like with racist attacks on Muslims and immigrants, or ultra-restrictive immigration policy, activists simply embraced them eagerly. Gone were the days of Reagan’s mass amnesty policy.
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In short, where conservatives could not beat Trump, they joined him. It’s a legacy that Jim DeMint, former senator from South Carolina and head of the Heritage Foundation, and current chair of the Conservative Partnership Institute, seeks to continue and deepen.
DeMint has only ever fancied himself a conservative activist. Even while in office, his actions were primarily geared toward advancing the conservative movement. That’s why he’s most notable for his unsuccessful but well publicized fights over Medicare, the fiscal cliff, the Affordable Care Act, and even … abolishing the Internal Revenue Service. His singular focus on generating headlines out of noncontroversial situations set him apart from run-of-the-mill Republicans, who sometimes profess an interest in actual policy.
In fact, his clear preference for bombastic statements and his willingness to kneecap Congress’s ability to legislate helped usher in a then-nascent Tea Party movement in 2010. Indeed, he was centrally involved in the victory of the movement by aiding the victories of former Tea Party heroes like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Pat Toomey. The through line from Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination, to the Tea Party movement, to the rise of Trump and other right-wing bomb throwers, including Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, is obvious. It’s a policy establishment characterized by power-hungry conservatives who believe the only way to obtain that power is for conservatives to abandon any sense of dignity or morals and gleefully embrace their worst instincts. It’s an attitude that’s completely unsuitable for democratic governance.
But it’s one DeMint has spent the past decade working to infuse across the conservative movement. First at Heritage and now at the Conservative Partnership Institute, which he founded to embolden conservatives in their bid to take over government at all levels and—as Trump tried to do on January 6th—destroy democracy. Backed by Republican billionaires and Wall Street firms, CPI trains and recruits conservative activists to take positions in Congress and the executive branch, while also providing resources for the movement to launch organizations devoted to creating a frightening pro-corporate, Christo-fascist social order.
CPI is unique among right-wing influence groups. DeMint’s organization aims to complement the work of traditional thought leaders such as the Heritage Foundation with its network of think tanks, legal shops, and training centers. This network includes the Center for Renewing America, the American Accountability Foundation, the State Freedom Caucus Network, American Moment, the American Cornerstone Institute, America First Legal, and the Election Integrity Network. Each one of these organizations plays a key role in advancing the CPI agenda through either direct litigation, coordination with friendly government offices, policy papers, or training programs. The institute’s training programs have been successful thus far, with 246 of its trained staffers holding positions in offices of the 132 members of Congress.
In addition to these training successes, the Institute has also found willing co-conspirators in office such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. When Paxton and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott needed a pseudo-official imprimatur for their rogue border policy, they turned to Ken Cuccinelli, a senior legal fellow at the Center for Renewing for America. Gov. Abbott’s usage of so-called state war powers to deploy the National Guard to tackle immigration, which was then copied by other Republican governors, was based on a policy paper penned by Cuccinelli. The policy was subsequently defended by another CPI franchise, America First Legal, in conjunction with Paxton. Meanwhile, the Idaho Freedom Caucus, a state affiliate of the State Freedom Caucus, another franchise, cheered it on from the sidelines.
Worst of all is CPI’s embrace of Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. One of its major franchises, the Election Integrity Network, dedicates significant resources toward vote suppression. Led by Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who has recruited “election conspiracists into an organized cavalry of activists monitoring elections,” EIN is another example of CPI’s growing influence on the Republican Party. Mitchell’s army of conspiracists introduced the bogus claim that the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an interstate system for voter roll maintenance, was compromised. With this conspiracy in hand, numerous Republican states exited the system, which the state of Georgia had once credited with removing 100,000 ineligible voters. Worse, a suburban county in Georgia signed on to use EagleAI, a new voter database endorsed by Mitchell’s band of election denialists. Judging by their involvement in the 2022 midterms and their wish to “take back our elections,” Mitchell’s minions pose a real threat to the safety of poll workers and smooth operation of the upcoming elections.
What’s more, DeMint’s empire of conservative activists are also key partners in the Heritage-led “Project 2025” plot to “institutionaliz[e] Trumpism” and destroy the federal government as we know it today. CPI’s top brass has been deeply involved in the process, contributing chapters to Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, which maps out an agenda for major departments and agencies in the federal government.
In the chapter focused on the Department of Justice, AFL’s vice president Gene Hamilton called for an end to DOJ independence to allow law enforcement to target Trump’s political opponents. To address another of Trump’s ridiculous obsessions, Hamilton proposes a reassignment of election-related offenses from the Civil Rights Division to the Criminal Division, which would facilitate the provision of more resources toward investigations of spurious claims of voter fraud. Hamilton also recommended using this nonindependent Justice Department to prosecute mail distributors of abortion medication. CRA’s Cuccinelli packed the section on the Department of Homeland Security with various ideas to aggressively curtail immigration, including a recommendation to repeal immigrants’ temporary protected status.
Taken together with this deepening conservative policy agenda and the corresponding rise of Trumpism, DeMint’s decision to leave Congress makes sense. It was clear that the mission of developing and advancing the modern conservative movement could not be achieved from the halls of the Senate. Rather than winning elections, he proposes to attack the American system of self-rule head on, backed by ghoulish financiers eager to throw their weight behind wannabe fascists like Donald Trump. And if Trump were to win the upcoming election, CPI, its franchises, and affiliated organizations will be well positioned to implement this disturbing mission.
