Heritage Foundation Suffers Defections as MAGA Tensions Grow

December 22, 2025, 8:07 PM UTC

More than a dozen staffers departed the Heritage Foundation over the weekend to join a rival organization, the latest sign of ideological tumult at the think tank once considered the central node in Washington’s conservative ecosystem and an intellectual bastion for President Donald Trump.

The departures included the entire leadership and staff of the Heritage Foundation’s legal, economic and data teams, according to a press release from Advancing American Freedom, a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, who’s emerged as prominent Republican critic of Trump after serving as his running mate.

Pence told The Wall Street ...



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