Trump taps deep conservative network to press his agenda

WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump first became president, he lacked the infrastructure of Washington think tanks, nonprofits and advocacy groups that typically help presidents achieve their agendas.

Not this time.

The president-elect’s second term will be bolstered by a network of well-funded organizations staffed by policy experts and loyalists who have been fastidiously preparing for his return. They won’t need a warm-up period — they’re ready to help enact his plans to deport undocumented immigrants, make new tax cuts, ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender people and undo other Biden-era rules and regulations.

Already key leaders from these groups have been tapped to fill the new administration. Stephen Miller of America First Legal will serve as Trump’s policy chief, while four leaders of the America First Policy Institute are nominees for his cabinet. They include AFPI litigation head Pam Bondi for attorney general, Chief Executive Officer Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary and Chair Linda McMahon for secretary of education. Trump recently said that the AFPI’s leaders have been “so instrumental.”

“This second term, Trump is not going to want to waste time — he’s going to know what he wants,” said Alexei Woltornist, a co-founder of Athos PR, which works with Trump-affiliated groups. “He knows his allies. He knows how Washington works. He knows what his priorities are.”

Project 2025, an ultra-conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration, became a Democratic rallying cry in Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run. But while many organizations worked on it, only a handful of groups can credibly claim extensive ties to Trump and his closest advisers. All together, they are backed by hundreds of millions of dollars from major Republican donors.

Trump’s platform “is now a mandate, thanks to an overwhelming victory on Election Day,” transition spokesman Brian Hughes said. “The Trump administration will work with any American who shares the president's America First agenda."

Here’s a look at some of the key groups that will have Trump’s ear and help him figure out how to enact his policies.

America First Legal

What it is: Legal group

How much money it has: $9.6 million (All estimates are from revenue line of most recent tax filings unless otherwise noted.)

Who’s behind it: Two veterans of Trump’s first administration — Miller, who pushed a hard-line immigration policy and has been tapped as Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and Gene Hamilton, a former Justice Department official.

What it’s doing: Branding itself as the right’s answer to the American Civil Liberties Union, AFL has specialized in cases to defeat diversity initiatives in corporate America, pare back pro-immigrant action at the federal and state levels and fight the Biden administration's efforts to bar discrimination based on gender identity. “We are going to completely transform the legal architecture in this country,” Miller told Bloomberg News in an interview late last year.

Funding: AFL has received donations from groups tied to conservative donors Lynde and Harry Bradley, Texas oil and gas businessman Tim Dunn and the family foundation of the late billionaire Leandro Rizzuto.

America First Policy Institute

What it is: Think tank

How much money it has: $23.6 million

Who’s behind it: AFPI Chair McMahon is among Trump’s transition leaders as well as his nominee for secretary of education. Vice Chair Larry Kudlow, a former Trump economic adviser, took himself out of the running to head Treasury. Other leaders from Trump’s first administration include Rollins and Kellyanne Conway. Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general after Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal, is the chair of the litigation center.

What it’s doing: The group has already penned hundreds of executive orders and regulations for the next administration. The focus has been on reducing the federal government, halting funding for Planned Parenthood, supporting oil and gas production, limiting immigration and giving more resources to the police. It’s more aligned with centrist conservatism than other Trump world think tanks.

Funding: AFPI was founded by Tim Dunn, energy executive Cody Campbell and health care investor Tim Lyles. Donors also include Goya Foods Inc. CEO Bob Unanue.

American Principles Project

What it is: Political advocacy group

How much money it has: $5.1 million

Who’s behind it: APP President Terry Schilling in July advised Trump to focus on creating voter anxiety around transgender minors to win the election. Ultimately the Trump campaign poured nearly $30 million into ads about Harris’ support for trans inmates having access to gender-affirming surgery, including a widely distributed spot proclaiming, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

What it’s doing: APP spent $18 million on its own ads targeting rights for trans people, and analysis of public advertising data shows that across the country more than $215 million overall flooded into ads about the issue. Policy director Jon Schweppe says APP will continue to push its “family values” agenda into Republican campaigns and through the newly GOP-controlled Congress.

Funding: Donors to APP’s political action committee this election cycle include Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, Trump backers who gave more than $10 million; Dunn, who gave $500,000; and Texas hedge fund billionaire Brett Hendrickson, who gave $200,000.

Political spending: APP spent $8 million through its super PAC in 2023-2024, including $4.4 million on Trump.

Conservative Partnership Institute

What it is: Conservative nonprofit that incubates other right-leaning groups

How much money it has: $36.4 million

Who’s behind it: CPI’s leadership includes former Trump aide Mark Meadows, who has fallen out of favor with the president-elect. But it’s still poised to have a significant impact on policy and personnel during the second Trump term. Groups incubated by CPI include the “anti-woke” Center for Renewing America, led by Russ Vought, who is Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, and Miller’s America First Legal.

What it’s doing: Serving as a convener and central hub for the “New Right,” the Trump-led movement of populist conservatives that are set to dominate Washington over the next four years. The House Freedom Caucus and the Steering Committee, two groups of ultra-conservative lawmakers, host meetings at CPI headquarters. The group owns four adjacent properties near the U.S. Capitol, a corridor it has called “Patriots’ Row,” and it has plans to expand.

Funding: Donors include Houston software developer Mike Rydin, the Uihleins and the Christian dark money group Servant Foundation.

Alliance Defending Freedom

What it is: Legal group

How much money it has: $101.8 million

Who’s behind it: ADF has extensive ties to prominent conservatives. Its CEO, president and general counsel is Kristen Waggoner, the lead defense counsel in the landmark Supreme Court case that found a Colorado baker didn’t discriminate against LGBTQ people by declining to make cakes for same-sex couples. Erin Morrow Hawley, the wife of Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, is an ADF senior counsel. House Speaker Mike Johnson was previously an attorney with the group.

What it’s doing: The group has been advocating for a Christian agenda since 1994 but has gained newfound success since 2020, when Trump Supreme Court appointee Amy Coney Barrett gave the high court its 6-3 conservative supermajority. ADF helped to orchestrate the fall of Roe v. Wade, which had protected national abortion rights for half a century. The group employs more than 100 lawyers and boasts of thousands of ADF-affiliated attorneys. It says many of Trump’s priorities align with its own, including ensuring religious freedom, “shattering the ‘censorship regime’” and “protecting vulnerable children from gender surgeries and procedures.”

Funding: Foundations and groups associated with conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and Amway Corp. founder Rich DeVos have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into ADF, according to their tax filings. ADF has also received tens of millions of dollars from the Servant Foundation.

Heritage Foundation

What it is: Think tank

How much money it has: $106.3 million

Who’s behind it: Heritage President Kevin Roberts has helped to remake the think tank, which was once the central hub of traditional conservatism, into a more populist institution aligned with Trump.

What it’s doing: Heritage vexed the Trump campaign with its widely promoted Project 2025, a sweeping plan to enact ultra-conservative policies under the next administration that Harris used as evidence of Trump’s extremism. Heritage dismantled the project. Republican operatives have speculated that the group could retain its prominence in Washington as long as it shows deference to Trump.

Funding: Donors include major conservative foundations such as the Sarah Scaife Foundation, associated with the family of former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon; the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, a grantmaking foundation that gave $23 million to Heritage in 2023; and billionaire Peter H. Coors, a retired beer magnate.

Manhattan Institute

What it is: Think tank

How much money it has: $26.9 million

Who’s behind it: Wall Street leaders have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Manhattan Institute, which is backed by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and led by President Reihan Salam. It’s set to become a player in Trump’s Washington, not least for its hire of Christopher Rufo, one of the country’s pre-eminent foes of diversity programs.

What it’s doing: Rufo played a crucial role in turning “critical race theory,” education about the role of racism in the development of U.S. society, into a hot button Republican issue. He’s a likely contender for a Trump administration role. The institute has helped write model legislation against diversity initiatives that has been passed in states across the country.

Funding: Backers include hedge fund managers Cliff Asness, Dan Loeb and John Paulson, as well as GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow and Breitbart super-conservatives Robert and Rebekah Mercer.