Inauguration Day: The weekend before President Trump’s second inauguration, The Heritage Foundation unfurled a seven-story banner congratulating him. The banner is mounted on the side of our headquarters building that faces in the direction of the White House.

Deadly unforced error: Despite what the Left says, the wildfires that devastated large parts of Los Angeles were not caused by climate change. They were the result of forest mismanagement, leadership failures, and woke politics, as we show in this short video.

• Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment, points to misplaced priorities like pouring money into EV chargers instead of desalination plants.
• The political ramifications in California from this disaster could be huge, The Daily Signal reports from the scene.

Read more here and watch the Heritage explainer here.

Unplugged: When it comes to energy, climate activists want to have their cake and eat it too. They have pushed our nation to the brink of an electricity crisis.

• “Fossil fuel plants are retiring faster than renewable sources can replace them, at the same time as electricity demand is soaring from AI data centers and the push to electrify everything,” writes Heritage Senior Fellow Mario Loyola.

Read Loyola’s op-ed here.

The Deep State is relentless, and will do everything they can to sabotage President Trump's agenda. Your gift will help to replace the Deep State’s leftist bureaucrats with loyal, Heritage-trained patriots who will advance Trump’s agenda and promote conservative policies improve American lives. Policies like:

• Closing the border and deporting illegal immigrants. 
• Removing burdensome regulations that hurt everyday Americans. 
• Eliminating wicked left-wing ideologies from our government.

You will be the reason the Deep State is thrown on the ash heap of history. Please use this secure link to activate your Heritage Foundation membership today: https://secured.heritage.org/activate-now.

Time’s up: On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company or be banned in the U.S.

• Heritage led the charge to alert the public to the dangers posed by TikTok, and to have it banned.
• Jeff Smith, director of the Asian Studies Center, writes that it would be a “fatal mistake” for President Trump to intervene on TikTok’s behalf.

Read why here.

 

The boys are back: If National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth is confirmed as secretary of defense, he has his work cut out for him.  

• Wilson Beaver, policy advisor in the Allison Center, lays out five essential reforms that Hegseth should implement as soon as he takes the reins “to rebuild the U.S. military into the lethal and capable fighting force the American people deserve.” 

Read Beaver’s suggestions here. 

The Innovation Prizes support innovative, results-oriented solutions to the most pressing issues facing America, with financial awards that, in total, amount to $1 million annually.

• The Innovation Prizes are intended to spark creative disruption within the conservative movement, particularly in the key areas such as education freedom, crime, countering China, leadership development, restoring American wellness, unleashing American energy, and more.

Click here to apply by January 31st!

A true patriot: This year’s Great American Award goes to Larry Arnn, Ph.D., president of Hillsdale College.  

• As Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts said of Arnn: “His life has been dedicated to ensuring that Americans know what it means to love our country through ‘study and learning, prayer and devotion, argument and action’ and know that through these acts we must defend our liberty.”   

Read more here. 

He’s back: Hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023, now have hope for release—no thanks to President Biden.

• “President-elect Trump’s strong leadership and negotiation skills have delivered a deal that the Biden-Harris administration, despite access to virtually unlimited resources, failed to achieve,” said Victoria Coates, vice president of Heritage’s Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy.

Read the press release here.

Want to help to restore America? Join the Heritage Academy—an eight-week online fellowship focused on America’s founding principles and the most pressing policy issues of our time. Heritage Academy fellows have access to compelling policy lectures, conversations with Heritage experts, and discussions with conservatives from across America. Apply to this part-time program by February 9!

The 2025 Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary and attorney general of the U.K. and a leading figure in the British Conservative Party, is renowned for her hardline stance on migration, law, and order, and is a champion of commonsense conservatism. In this year’s Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture, Braverman outlines a blueprint for the West to fight back against toxic ideologies and ensure the enduring prosperity of our great countries. 

 

Jan. 28, 10 a.m. Register here. 

• Republicans in Congress, It Is Time to Deliver Results—Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., and Ryan Walker 
• When Judges Act Like Politicians, They Deserve to Be Criticized—Zack Smith 
• Trump’s Targeted Tariff Proposals Are Already a Notable Success—Andrew Hale 
• The Fed Lowered Interest Rates Too Soon—Parker Sheppard, Ph.D. 
• Report: How the Nukes Were Queered: A Case Study in DEI as a Political and Bureaucratic Weapon—Nathan Levine 
• Report: America Must Prepare to Test Nuclear Weapons—Robert Peters 
• Pennsylvania Workers Harmed by Nippon Steel Rejection—Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Andrew Hale 
• Reversing the Long March Through the Institutions—Mike Gonzalez 
• Liberal Education’s Antidote to Indoctrination—Rachel Alexander Cambre, Ph.D. 

Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, appeared on Newsmax to discuss the current negotiations to release the hostages that Hamas has held for more than a year. Watch the clip here.