By Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics .
Named a White House waiting list during his exile, the America First Policy Institute now feels almost like another White House campus— nearly half of President Trump’s cabinet is expected to speak at the AFPI Policy Summit in Washington this week.
The speaker list reflects not only the growing influence of the new think tank but also a stunning turnaround in Republican political fortunes. AFPI was born out of failure. After the 2020 election, founder and then-CEO Brooke Rollins was looking for a way to salvage the “Trump 2.0” policy portfolio—the detailed plans for a second presidency that never came, or rather were delayed.
His motivating question at the time: “How do we move forward when we’re no longer in the White House?” The answer will be fully revealed when various MAGA dignitaries kick off a summit at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, raising a toast to “America First Moment.” After a two-day retreat to a nearby Beltway hotel, they will celebrate the young institute’s crowning achievement.
According to a first report by RealClearPolitics, over 86% of the 196 federal policies that AFPI drafted and recommended in 2022, when Republicans were still in the development nest, have been further developed or adopted during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
“President Trump has delivered on his promises. The speed and clarity of his administration in implementing these priorities is not only impressive, it’s historic,” said Greg Sindelar, who took office as interim CEO this year. “The America First agenda was always rooted in the needs of real people, not the whims of Washington. What we’re seeing now is the natural result of a movement aligned with the public, driven by conviction, and led by urgency.”
Some of the policies now in place were already standard Republican Party templates, such as border security and economic deregulation, when AFPI made its recommendations. Others directly reflect the institute’s white papers, such as a plan to reclassify the employment status of thousands of civil servants, lay off a large portion of the federal workforce, and reshape the bureaucracy in Trump’s own image.
The expansion of executive power, known as “Annex F,” was the brainchild of the Institute. Its mastermind, a policy guru named James Sherk, went to the White House with Trump. So did many AFPI staffers, and while some in the circle argue over who originated which policy idea, it is undeniable that the Trump think tank took the maxim that personnel is politics to the extreme.
AFPI alumni are everywhere in the White House and in key positions in the administration. By their count—and this is the first time they have been reported here—at least 73 alumni currently work for the president. The most prominent of them sit next to Trump in the Cabinet Room.
Rollins took a break from the think tank to lead the Department of Agriculture, while Linda McMahon, who was the chairwoman of AFPI and later co-chair of Trump’s second transition, now leads the Department of Education. They are not the only former colleagues at the cabinet desk.
Before the Justice Department took over, Attorney General Pam Bondi led the think tank’s legal department. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was previously the Georgia chapter chair of AFPI. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin led the institute’s China Initiative. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner led the Center for Educational Opportunity.
Other cabinet officials who are AFPI alumni include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
It’s a full house. And that’s entirely intentional.
“When we get to 2024, we’ll have policies and people ready to leave,” Keith Kellogg predicted before Biden’s presidency was even halfway through. When they were new in town, Trump’s first transition team faced a staffing crisis, the retired Army lieutenant general told RCP, forcing the incoming White House to rush to find qualified staff. But as AFPI is a talent scout, he said, Trump “doesn’t have a joint venture team.”
Kellogg is now the US special envoy to Ukraine.
And so, by identifying key players early and working out policies in advance, AFPI created a ready-made guide for the current president. Trump 2.0, more effective than the original, is characterized by a zone-flooding strategy. The speed has even left some former Biden officials in awe. One person recently told Axios, “Oh my God, I wish I could work in an administration that could act that quickly.”
While the administration has been looking for talent among AFPI members, the think tank continues to develop policy from its new headquarters, located next to the luxurious Willard Intercontinental Hotel across from the White House. It has already added 56 new employees this year. It is designed to be a full-fledged company.
Kellyanne Conway, who was senior adviser to the president in the first Trump White House, is leading the AFPI polling operation. [ZH: hmmmm] The main result of the poll, commissioned ahead of the policy summit: the public supports the “America First” policy by a 12-point margin (47% to 35%).
These numbers are at the heart of the institute’s current and broader argument. They argue that Trump’s populism is more enduring than just the present moment. They believe it can and should be the enduring foundation of the Republican Party for decades to come. Their ambitions are high. “The road ahead is clear,” said AFPI spokeswoman Jen Pellegrino. “Build on that foundation and lay the foundation for an America First century.”
