We Must Not Only Form a Government, but Also Take Power

The series of events dubbed 'We Win, They Lose', organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights, continued with a panel discussion on the second Trump administration. Spencer Chretien, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project initiated by the Heritage Foundation, was interviewed by Zoltan Koskovics, geopolitical analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights. They discussed, among other things, that winning the election does not automatically mean gaining power, and the document prepared by the project contains policy recommendations for each state agency.

Zoltan Koskovics, geopolitical analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights, and Spencer Chretien, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, launched by the Heritage Foundation (Photo: Magyar Nemzet)

The Heritage Foundation has already launched a project to lay the foundations for a successful second Trump administration in 2022, Spencer Chretien, Director of the Heritage Foundation's 2025 Presidential Transition Project said during the latest panel discussion, as part of the "We Win, They Lose" series of events organized by by the Center for Fundamental Rights regarding this year's US presidential race.

The project has a number of pillars. The first is a document of some nine hundred (!) pages called Mandate for Leadership. It is written by the Foundation's staff and the experts who work with them, including former Republican administration officials and those who served in the first Trump administration. It contains policy proposals and specific ideas for the Republican administration for the various government agencies. 

More than a hundred partner organizations were involved in the preparation of the document.

The Heritage Foundation has a decades-long track record of producing similar compilations, the expert explained. The first was produced in 1980, when Ronald Reagan was preparing to take office after his election at a time when the United States was facing an energy crisis, a migration crisis, and an economy in the doldrums – just as it is today. At the time, the Heritage Foundation convened more than 400 people from conservative circles to provide specific recommendations for each state agency. At the first meeting of the Reagan cabinet, every cabinet member had the Heritage Foundation's hundreds of pages on his desk, and the incoming president made it mandatory for all of them to read it.  – "That's the blueprint for what we're going to do in the federal government," Reagan told his cabinet members.

The Foundation has also produced similar documents later, but these were far less voluminous than the first - until now.

A summary of policy proposals was also prepared for former US President Donald Trump's first term, and Trump implemented roughly two-thirds of them, Mr Chretien pointed out.

The current document is not at all classified. Not only was it shared with all Republican candidates during the primaries, but it was also made available online for free to all.

The second pillar of the project is a "telephone directory" of people who can help the president to implement his program. "Traditionally, the US president appoints three or four thousand people who work in the federal government and their job is to push the president's progra through the bureaucracy, the so-called deep state," the expert explained.

The third pillar is effectively a series of online video lessons that equip these people with what they need to know to be effective in Washington. This is particularly important because the Heritage Foundation is not only trying to prepare for a successful Donald Trump administration, but also to make a long-term difference by preparing conservatives to serve effectively in Washington.

In this respect, the Republicans certainly need to catch up with the left, because at the moment, even if they come to power, the left wing's deep entrenchment in bureaucracy is preventing them from gaining real power and implementing their ideas. 95-97 percent of the Washington bureaucracy is Democrat, Mr Chretien pointed out.

During the first Trump administration, most of the big decisions were made in the last two years, because those around the president had gained the necessary experience. The second presidential term tends to benefit from the experience of the first one, he underlined.

Changes of power are always fraught with tension for US presidents, as elections are usually very close and the stakes are high. The current US President, Joe Biden, will certainly not walk away, after more than half a century in US politics," Mr Chretien explained.

Regarding Donald Trump's ongoing criminal case in New York, it is but a showcase trial, the policy expert said. No one other than Trump would have been prosecuted for what he is being tried for. However, so far nothing that has been used against Trump has worked," he said, adding that the election of several district attorneys who brought these cases to court was funded by very large sums of money from organizations linked to George Soros.

What is certain is that the American electorate will see through the machinations of whatever decision is made in the New York courts. And the chances of the former president getting a prison sentence are slim, if only because of the nature of the charges," Mr Chretien emphasized. 

There are differences of opinion within the US conservative camp regarding the war in Ukraine, another important issue brought up by the think tank's policy expert. But one thing is clear: every day of war means more death and destruction, and the Ukrainians will be worse off if they commence peace negotiations from a worse position. 

Yesterday would have been the best day for a ceasefire, Spencer Chretien said, concluding his thoughts.

Cover photo: Zoltan Koskovics, geopolitical analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights, and Spencer Chretien, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, launched by the Heritage Foundation (Photo: Magyar Nemzet)