DARK SIDE OF THE SWOON

Project 2025 and Project Esther, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to understand just who the Heritage Foundation was. They are the reason that those two very damning projects even existed.

The sad truth is we really didn't know who was truly running the show. This will shed light on who and what they are. Most people have heard the name before but few know what it really is or what it's really doing. I'll fix that for you right now.

First, who or what is the Heritage Foundation?

The Heritage Foundation is a right-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C., and was founded in 1973. It was founded by two Congressional aides, Edwin Feulner and Paul Weyrich, and provides research and policy recommendations to presidential administrations, Congress, news media, and academic communities.

Their stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." That's per the Heritage Foundation site. That sounds reasonable on paper, right? Well, let's take a look at what it means in practice.

My first thought was exactly where are they getting money from? Who funds them? Joseph Coors, of the Coors beer empire, seeded the organization with an initial $250,000.

Billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife followed, donating tens of millions through his family trust over the next two decades as Heritage's primary donor.

The foundation's trustees have historically included individuals affiliated with Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Mobil, and Pfizer. The Heritage Foundation has also received funding from organizations connected to the Koch brothers, at least $4.8 million between 1998 and 2012, and has accepted donations from Altria, the parent company of Marlboro cigarettes.

But get this, Heritage has taken positions favorable to the tobacco industry, including opposition to raising tobacco taxes and regulations on vaping, and as recently as 2004 worked with Altria to encourage journalists to question the science of secondhand smoke.

According to OpenSecrets, Heritage spent $780,000 on lobbying in 2024 alone.

I say, follow the money, people. Always follow the money.

Heritage claims to speak for everyday Americans. But their policy record tells a very different story.

An analysis by the Center for American Progress found that Project 2025's proposals, Heritage's blueprint for the Trump administration, would increase taxes for a median family of four making $110,000 a year by $3,000 annually, while the 45,000 households making over $10 million a year would enjoy up to $2.4 million in tax cuts.This is one of the reasons that wealthy folks support this administration. The plan also calls for cutting the corporate tax rate, which amounts to a $24 billion tax break for Fortune 100 companies.

That's not populism. That's a wealth transfer disguised as patriotism. Prove me wrong. I could be wrong if I'm looking through a lens that's not true.

Exactly who are they hurting though. Somebody is getting hurt if the wealthier folks are getting help, right?

Project 2025, Heritage's 900-page governing blueprint, would cut federal premium tax credits that help people afford health insurance, especially Black people, Hispanic people, and people with low incomes who have seen marked increases in coverage under the ACA and that's according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Project 2025 proposes the complete elimination of the Head Start program, which serves more than 833,000 children living in poverty.

The plan would impose lifetime caps on Medicaid benefits, literally a matter of life or death for millions of Americans and would time-limit housing benefits, potentially throwing families into homelessness.

Black people represent less than fourteen percent of the general population but account for thirty-seven percent of people experiencing homelessness. Project 2025's drastic cuts to subsidized housing and voucher programs would make that even worse, not better.

The Project 2025 authors have also endorsed raising the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 69, which would cut benefits for nearly three-quarters of Americans, hitting low- and moderate-income workers, particularly women, the hardest.

And unions? Project 2025 aims to eliminate card check, which is a key method workers use to form unions, and seeks to diminish the authority of the National Labor Relations Board, making it more difficult for unions to be established and recognized.

Now it should be even more clear who is running this country. The Heritage Foundation gives the ideas that the Washington powers that be implement, but making it appear that Washington political players came up with the idea.

Who are these "players" that have been playing chess with politicians and politics since 1973? Well, I'll start with Kevin Roberts, current President of the Heritage Foundation. In January 2024, Roberts told a journalist that he sees Heritage's role as "institutionalizing Trumpism." Yea, you read that right. On July 2, 2024, Roberts created controversy by saying, "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be." Feel free to fact check this. It's on Wikipedia. Roberts also stated he did not believe Joe Biden won the 2020 election, despite no evidence of material election fraud being found.

Roberts triggered further outrage after defending Tucker Carlson for interviewing a Holocaust denier and extremist who blamed "organized Jewry" for challenging American cohesion. The fallout caused more than a dozen Heritage staff members to resign in late 2025.

Then there's Paul Weyrich who is the co-founder. A founding architect of the modern Religious Right movement.

Edwin Feulner, co-founder and long-time president. According to CharityWatch, Feulner received $2,702,687 in compensation in 2013 alone, while Heritage pushed cuts to programs serving the poor.

Roger Severino, vice president of Domestic Policy at Heritage and one of the primary authors of the Mandate for Leadership.

Project 2025 is a political initiative published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation with the goal of reshaping the U.S. federal government by consolidating executive power. Its policy document calls for the replacement of federal civil service workers by people loyal to "the next conservative president" and for taking partisan control of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Commerce, and the Federal Trade Commission. And yes, it is really happening.

Four days into Trump's second term, analysis by Time found that nearly two-thirds of his executive actions "mirror or partially mirror" proposals from Project 2025.

This wasn't a simple wish list. It was a real and dangerous blueprint. And it's being executed right now.

The Heritage Foundation has every right to advocate for its vision. This is America. And YOU have every right, and responsibility, to know exactly what that vision is and who pays for it. You clearly see who is paying the heaviest cost right now.

This is not about party. This is about people. Working people. Poor people. Sick people. Children.

It's a fact that when policy is written by billionaires for billionaires, the rest of us foot the bill.

I always say, do your own research. Stay informed. Stay engaged. Stay aware (woke).

Sources:

*Britannica.com — Heritage Foundation profile

*Wikipedia — The Heritage Foundation / Project 2025

*Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP.org)

*Center for American Progress (AmericanProgress.org)

*OpenSecrets.org — Heritage Foundation financial profile

*SourceWatch.org — Heritage Foundation

*Washington Monthly

*Newsweek — "The Heritage Foundation is imploding" (Dec. 2025)