Mapping the Authoritarian Movement: Part Two - American First Policy Institute (AFPI)

[Celerity]

https://globalextremism.org/post/mapping-the-authoritarian-movement-part-two-afpi/



As part of a special four-part series on the influence that far-right think tanks have on the new Trump administration, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) has analyzed the staff connections at the oft-called Trump “White House in waiting,” the American First Policy Institute (AFPI). GPAHE created a database of senior officials and members of the boards of directors of organizations tied to AFPI, and those in their proximity, in order to document their relationships with other pro-Trump organizations, and calculate the extent of their “influence” in the administration (for more on GPAHE’s methodology, see the note at the bottom of the text). AFPI was formed after Trump’s 2020 presidential loss, hiring many individuals who served in the first Trump administration. The goal was to organize a very well-financed “shadow transition operation” to vet far-right, pro-Trump individuals for the second administration.

The pro-Trump dark money group affiliated with the AFPI is America First Works. AFPI has been uncompromising in their support of Trump’s agenda, defending him during his many court cases, calling for the removal of LGBTQ+ and “woke” material from public schools, and working toward the dissolution of the Department of Education. AFPI has made clear their desire for a theocratic state based on Christian nationalist principles in their handbook, “Biblical Foundation,” where they refer to the U.S. as “a nation founded by people rooted in Biblical truth,” and claim to seek to “maintain the [country’s] foundational Judeo-Christian values,” and call on the Church to “engage in the issues of the day” to “bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.” Since Trump’s return, AFPI principals have enjoyed significant influence in the administration, and according to reporting, officials still with the think tank are refocusing their efforts on preparing a “100-year plan” to maintain Trumpism long after he leaves office.

In the broader pro-Trump network of think tanks, AFPI is one of the most influential nodes in the entire dataset. Unlike Project 2025 affiliated organizations, AFPI includes few individuals who contributed to Project 2025’s 900+ page Mandate for Leadership, which laid out a detailed policy plan for Trump that is now being enacted. The exception to this are AFPI principals John Ratcliffe, a former Trump official who was nominated to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), https://americafirstpolicy.com/team/jamesbaehr" target="_blank">James Baehr, a former special assistant to the president in the Domestic Policy Council (DPC), https://americafirstpolicy.com/team/jon-sanders" target="_blank">Jon Sanders, formerly a senior fellow at the AFPI’s Center for American Prosperity, and Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, all of whom are listed as contributors to the Project 2025 plan.

AFPI is well-connected to other influential pro-Trump organizations having at least three ties to the Heritage Foundation, five ties to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), and three ties to the relatively secretive Council for National Policy (CNP). AFPI employees also have previous experiences working at major Project 2025-affiliated organizations such as the anti-LGBTQ+ Family Research Council (FRC), the Christian Nationalist legal organization First Liberty Institute, CPAC organizer American Conservative Union (ACU), Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, and the anti-feminist Independent Women’s Forum, a group formed out of another organization that sought to defend Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from sexual assault allegations in 1992.

snip



related

Mapping the Authoritarian Movement: Part One - Project 2025

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220251831