In tax pitch, Trump thanks group that backed him
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought to sell the GOP tax-cut plan in a speech to the Heritage Foundation Tuesday while acknowledging the role that the conservative think tank had in helping his winning 2016 campaign craft a policy agenda.
“Let’s give our country the best Christmas present of all: massive tax relief,” Trump told the annual meeting of the Heritage Foundation’s President’s Club.
Trump also saluted the organization with a nod to its name: “You understand that our glorious heritage is the foundation of everything we hope to achieve.”
During the 2016 campaign, then Heritage Foundation President
Jim Demint reached out to Trump and offered to provide free advice for the low-budget campaign team. It was a deal that worked well for both parties and set the foundation apart as a conservative think tank whose fellows were not too pure to work with the populist Trump.
“Heritage was very quick to adapt to Trump’s rise, unlike most conservative institutions,” said Steve Hayward, resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Trump “is rewarding friends and
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loyalty where it’s needed.”
In May, the Heritage board forced out Demint, a former GOP senator andrepresentativefromsouthcarolina. At the time there were rumors that then White House chief strategist Steve Bannon would replace Demint. Instead former Heritage President Ed Feulner took the helm.
“We were Ronald Reagan’s favorite think tank,” Feulner told Heritage staff, according to the Washington Examiner. “And today we are, and will continue to be, Donald Trump’s favorite think tank.”
Following footsteps
Trumpwasthefourthpresidentto speak to Heritage — following in the path of Republican Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Feulner, Vice President James Carafano and fellow Ed Meese, a former attorney general under Reagan, are amongthebigheritagenameswho servedonthetrumptransitionteam.
The Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society worked together to compile a list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees — in September, Trump expanded the list from 11 to 21 — that included eventual Trump pick Neil Gorsuch.
Heritage papers also have provided direction on tax reform, which the White House readily acknowledges, as well as on repealing and replacing Obamacare and defense spending.
Trump hit favorite themes during his speech. He praised law enforcement and the U.S. Constitution and promised attendees they would be hearing “Merry Christmas” again.
Healsogaveanodtothedow Jones industrial average briefly surpassing 23,000 for the first time — which he sees as a sign of the U.S.