NYT "Trump's Second Term Power Player is 'AFPI'"... Stronger Trumpism

"300 Executive Orders Prepared to Sign Upon Trump's Inauguration"

On the 24th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported that if former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, wins the U.S. presidential election on the 5th of next month, the next administration will be centered not on 'Project 2025' or the 'Heritage Foundation,' but on the right-wing think tank 'America First Policy Institute (AFPI).' It is explained that AFPI will exert stronger influence behind the scenes than Project 2025, a kind of pledge book led by Trump's first-term aides, or the Heritage Foundation, which promoted this project.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

According to the report, this summer AFPI invited conservative figures from across the United States to share the working methods of a second Trump administration, including strategies to fight left-wing federal officials and manage mainstream media. The NYT stated, "AFPI has quietly established itself as a key partner of the Trump campaign and has developed concrete plans to wield power."

There are also prospects that AFPI officials will occupy key positions in the cabinet if former President Trump returns to power. Brook Rollins, CEO of AFPI, is being mentioned as a candidate for chief of staff. Currently, many former Trump administration officials who have long sought to return are working at AFPI. The NYT added that some of them recently moved to work as full-time staff for the Trump campaign.

The right-wing think tank AFPI was established immediately after former President Trump lost the 2020 election to Democratic candidate President Joe Biden. It began when Linda McMahon, co-chair of the Trump camp's transition committee, and Howard Rootnik proposed to Texas billionaire oil businessman Tim Dunn to create an organization to lay the foundation for a second Trump administration. McMahon previously served as the first Administrator of the Small Business Administration under the Trump administration. Earlier, the Leadership PAC, a super PAC supporting former President Trump, donated $1 million to AFPI in 2021.

Like the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, AFPI has also completed plans for federal agency staffing and policy agenda setting to wield executive power immediately after former President Trump's re-election. Rollins, the CEO, told the NYT that AFPI has already drafted nearly 300 executive orders in preparation for a Trump victory in the election.

The AFPI policy booklet titled 'The America First Agenda' is thinner than the 900-page Project 2025 policy book. It does not include voter-attracting proposals such as banning pornography or prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills. However, the NYT analyzed that it contains a stronger form of 'Trumpism.' For example, mandatory ultrasound examinations before abortion including drug use, expansion of oil production, withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, imposing work requirements on Medicare beneficiaries, and legally recognizing only two genders.

The plan to abolish most federal employee protections is considered a step further than Project 2025. It allows for the dismissal of federal employees who do not follow former President Trump's orders or who express views acknowledging climate change contrary to the administration's policy stance.

The NYT pointed out that unlike Project 2025, the main architects of the AFPI transition plan are actually advising the Trump campaign. They are quietly moving and expanding their influence. Heath Brown, a public policy professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said, "AFPI understands what Heritage did not. Transition work is always best done very quietly."

On the other hand, Mark Lotter, AFPI spokesperson, drew a line by stating, "We do not speak on behalf of any candidate, campaign, or transition."