NEW YORK — The leader of a conservative think tank that is orchestrating plans for a major overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential election victory, said the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “taking this country back.”
Democrats are “outraged right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Congressman Dave Brat, who is hosting the podcast while Bannon is serving a four-month prison sentence. “And so I’m going to come full circle with this answer and I want to encourage you with some substance that we’re in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left lets it.”
Roberts’ comments shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is the driving force behind Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling of aspects of the federal government And the dismissal of thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will uncomplainingly carry out a far-right agenda.
His call for revolution and vague references to violence also raised concerns among some Democrats, who saw it as a threat.
“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social media platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first.”
James Singer, a spokesman for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, referenced the July 4 holiday this week in an emailed statement.
“248 years ago tomorrow, America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies “dream of a violent revolution to destroy the idea of America itself.”
Roberts, whose name was recently Bannon floating to The New York Times as a possible chief of staff for Trump, also said in the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision.
He said Monday’s decision, which gives presidents the ability broad immunity from prosecution — is “essential” to ensure that a president does not have to “second-guess or triple-guess every decision he makes in his official capacity.”
Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said Roberts’ comments about a “second American Revolution” were “a little scary but also illuminating.” The 1,000-page Project 2025 Playbook calls for sweeping changes in government, including rolling back protections for the LGBTQ community and embedding Christianity more deeply in society.
“Roberts, the Heritage Foundation and its allies in Project 2025 want to reorder and fundamentally change American society,” Beirich said. “He’s said the quiet part out loud.”
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