Topline
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has delayed the publication of his book—featuring a foreword by vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio—until after the election, Roberts confirmed, as the book has come under significant scrutiny due to the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, at a campaign rally at 2300 Arena on August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Key Facts
Roberts’ book “Dawn’s Early Light” was originally set to be published in September, but has now delayed its publication date until November 12, according to the Heritage Foundation and the book’s online listing (the delay was first reported Tuesday by RealClearPolitics).
“Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America” is described online as outlining “a peaceful ‘Second American Revolution’ for voters looking to shift the power back into the hands of the people,” detailing “institutions that conservatives need to build, others that we need to take back, and more still that are too corrupt to save.”
The book’s title has been changed, as earlier listings suggest it was originally set to be subtitled “Burning Down Washington to Save America.”
Vance—who’s long been a close ally with the Heritage Foundation—penned the foreword for the book, in which the Associated Press reports he quotes Roberts as saying, “It’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets.”
Vance also praises the Heritage Foundation as “the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump,” according to the AP and a copy of the foreword published by The New Republic, and notes Roberts’ book “explores many of the themes I’ve focused on in my own work.”
The VP candidate’s praise of Roberts clashes with the Trump campaign’s efforts to distance itself from Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation, as the ex-president and his campaign advisor have disavowed any connection to the project as it’s come under fire for policy proposals described by Democrats and Trump alike as “extreme.”
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Crucial Quote
Roberts attributed the book’s delay in a statement to not wanting to be distracted from the November election, saying, “There’s a time for writing, reading, and book tours—and a time to put down the books and go fight like hell to take back our country.” Roberts added: “In the coming weeks, conservatives are fully committed to focusing our efforts on helping defeat the left at the ballot box and securing a resounding victory for the American people.”
Chief Critic
Roberts’ book and Vance’s involvement with it has already garnered criticism from Democrats, particularly as the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from Project 2025. “JD Vance literally—literally—wrote the foreword for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in his first speech as the Democratic vice presidential candidate Tuesday night, as part of a broader attack on his vice presidential opponent.
What Does Project 2025 Say?
Project 2025 is a multi-part project spearheaded by the Heritage Organization with help from other conservative groups, which aims to facilitate the transition for the next Republican president, namely former President Donald Trump. While the project also includes efforts to recruit and train federal workers, it’s come under controversy primarily for its 900-page policy agenda that proposes a total overhaul of the executive branch in line with conservative values like promoting the “nuclear family.” It calls for getting rid of some agencies entirely, including the Departments of Education and Homeland Security, and for upending the executive branch’s workforce to replace career civil servants with political appointees. The policy agenda lays out such proposals as getting rid of climate change and LGBTQ rights initiatives, ending student loan forgiveness, rescinding federal approval for abortion drug mifepristone and imposing baseline tax rates, among numerous other measures.
Key Background
The Heritage Foundation is a major conservative organization that has provided policy blueprints for Republican candidates since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The group published its Project 2025 policy agenda in 2023, but the policy framework has only recently garnered significant attention and come under fire, as Democrats have cast its proposals as a key reason to vote against Trump in November. Trump’s disavowal of the project also ended up giving it more visibility, as the ex-president said on Truth Social in July that he has “nothing to do with them” and decried some of its proposals as “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.” Many of the policy agenda’s authors are former members of the Trump administration, including Cabinet secretaries, and the ex-president previously praised the Heritage Foundation’s policy work, saying at a 2022 dinner for the group that it was “going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do … when the American people give us a colossal mandate.”
Tangent
Roberts’ decision to push back his book date took place days after Project 2025 leader Paul Dans suddenly resigned, which The Washington Post reports came as Trump advisors “grew furious” at the Heritage Foundation for promoting Project 2025 and threatened to blacklist employees from a future Trump administration. The Heritage Foundation said in a statement Dans’ departure coincided with Project 2025 wrapping up its policy work as planned, and the agenda would still move forward with its plans to recruit and train staffers for a future Republican administration.
