The Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind the 900-page blueprint for Donald Trump's administration, has outlined its next agenda for 2026, themed around a 'golden age' inspired by the president's own message. The group's Project 2025 and its core policy book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, were drafted by Trump aides and allies who later secured roles in the administration.
Project 2025's proposals included a radical expansion of executive authority, drastic cuts in spending and social services, gutting the federal workforce, stripping LGBT+ rights, and implementing a sweeping anti-immigrant agenda. By the end of the year, with co-authors installed in key federal roles, more than half of the items in the wishlist have been implemented.
The 2026 agenda, published earlier this year as 'Restoring America's Promise,' pledges to 'engage in Washington to dismantle the deep state and in the states to restore the family, rebuild American institutions, and restore opportunity for all' as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. A new cable ad declares 'the golden age is a choice,' featuring narration about prioritising families, empowering communities, and national security.
A Heritage spokesperson said the organisation's mission to 'build a better America' remains unchanged, but its strategy is shifting. The group is now building on 'Four Cornerstones': The American Family, The Dignity of Work and the Future of Free Enterprise, National Security, and American Heritage and Citizenship. The national ad campaign aims to 'reset and reframe the conversation.'
The agenda includes nine priorities echoing Trump-era campaigns, such as countering the Chinese Communist Party, eliminating federal regulations, ending 'immigration chaos' through mass deportation, ensuring 'election integrity' with proof of citizenship at polls, expanding 'education freedom' by abolishing the Department of Education, restoring 'digital sovereignty' by targeting Big Tech, putting 'family first' with an anti-abortion agenda, unleashing American energy by ditching climate regulations, and rooting out the 'deep state' by centralising presidential control.
Heritage has also published an 800-page analysis of the Constitution, co-written by conservative federal judges on the Supreme Court shortlist. 'The Heritage Guide to the Constitution' includes a foreword by Justice Samuel Alito and contributions from over 30 ideologically aligned judges, with an 18-member judicial advisory board, all but three appointed by Trump.
