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Claremont Institute

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Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy
Formation1979; 45 years ago (1979)
TypeNon-profit
Location
President
Ryan Williams[1]
Key people
John C. Eastman, Charles R. Kesler, Ryan Williams, Thomas Klingenstein[1]
BudgetRevenue: $5,588,691
Expenses: $4,972,703
(FYE June 2016)[2]
Websiteclaremont.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank based in Upland, California. The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa.[3] The Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, as well as other books and publications. The Claremont Institute offers the following fellowships each year: Publius, Lincoln, John Marshall, and Speechwriters. According to Claremont Institute president Ryan Williams[4], the Institute is a think tank fomenting a “counterrevolution” to recover civic education through teaching, writing, and litigation. Its mission to restore the natural law and natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence, the “ingenious political science of the Constitution,” and the “popular constitutionalism and reverence necessary for the maintenance of free government” to “their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.”

The institute was an early defender of Donald Trump.[3] After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Claremont Institute senior fellow John Eastman aided Trump in his failed attempts to overturn the election results.[5][6] In 2021, the Claremont Institute published an essay written by one of its senior fellows which called for a "counter-revolution" against the "majority of people living in the United States today [who] can no longer be considered fellow citizens".

History

The institute was founded in 1979 by four students of Straussian political theorist Harry V. Jaffa, a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Graduate University, although the Institute has no affiliation with any of the Claremont Colleges.[3] Under Jaffa and Larry P. Arnn, the institute became a leading Straussian-influenced conservative think tank, publishing on topics such as statesmanship, Lincoln scholarship and modern conservative issues.[7][non-primary source needed]

Arnn served as its president from 1985 until 2000, when he became the twelfth president of Hillsdale College.[8] Michael Pack was president from 2015 to 2017.[9] Ryan Williams was named president in 2017.[8]

The Claremont Institute publishes The Claremont Review of Books,[10] The American Mind,[11] The American Story Podcast[12] and Claremont Books.[13] The Washington, D.C., branch of the Claremont Institute, called the Center for the American Way of Life, opened in February 2021.[14]

The Claremont Institute provides fellowships.[15] Fellowships in the past have gone to prominent figures on the right such as Laura Ingraham, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin and Mary Kissel.[16][17][18] The institute caused controversy by granting a fellowship in 2019 to the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.[19][20][21] National Review columnist Mona Charen wrote that "Claremont stands out for beclowning itself with this embrace of the smarmy underside of American politics."[19] In 2020, Slate magazine called the institute "a racist fever swamp with deep connections to the conspiratorial alt-right", citing Posobiec's fellowship and the publication of a 2020 essay by senior fellow John Eastman that questioned Kamala Harris' eligibility for the vice presidency.[22][23]

Trump advocacy and connections

The institute was an early defender of Donald Trump.[3] The Daily Beast stated Claremont has "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump’s brand of conservatism."[24]

In September 2016 the institute's Claremont Review of Books published Michael Anton's "The Flight 93 Election" editorial. The editorial, written under a pseudonym, compared the prospect of conservatives letting Trump lose to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election with passengers not charging the cockpit of the United Airlines aircraft hijacked by Al-Qaeda.[25][26] The article went viral and received widespread coverage across the political spectrum. Rush Limbaugh devoted a day of his radio series to reading the entire essay.[27] Anton would go on to serve under President Trump as spokesman for the National Security Council, holding the position from 2017 to 2018.[26]

In 2019, Trump awarded the Claremont Institute with a National Humanities Medal.[28][29] In June 2020, former Claremont Institute president Michael Pack became head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) under Trump.[30]

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the institute received between $350,000 and $1 million in federally backed small business loans from Chain Bridge Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The institute stated this would allow it to retain 29 jobs.[24][31]

With Trump and his advisors, Eastman made a failed attempt in the first days of January 2021 to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, and he spoke at Trump's rally on January 6, 2021, before the attack on the Capitol.[6][32][33] The details of Eastman's attempt, described in a book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, made national headlines in September 2021.[32][33] Shortly afterward, the American Political Science Association canceled panels involving Eastman and Claremont at its 2021 conference.[32]

Biden years

In 2021, Claremont senior fellow Glenn Ellmers wrote a controversial essay in Claremont's The American Mind arguing that the United States had been destroyed by internal enemies and that a "counter-revolution" was necessary to defeat the majority of the people who "can no longer be considered fellow citizens”. According to Ellmers, "Most people living in the United States today—certainly more than half—are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term."[34]

Wiliams, the institute's president, said its mission is to "save Western civilization", particularly from the threat he said is posed by the progressive movement.[35]

Publications

The Claremont Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books. The CRB is edited by Charles R. Kesler and features regular columns by Martha Bayles and Mark Helprin. The Institute also publishes The American Mind. Claremont Vice President of Education Matt Peterson serves as editor; and James Poulos is executive editor. The publication has featured essays by Newt Gingrich, Sen. Todd Young, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Jim Banks, and Sen. Tom Cotton.[36][37][38]

Staff

  • Ryan Williams (President of the Institute)[39]
  • James Poulos (Executive Editor of The American Mind)[40]

References

  1. ^ a b "Board of Directors". The Claremont Institute. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Claremont Institute" (PDF). Foundation Center. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d "Trump speechwriter's ouster sparks racially charged debate". Politico. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  4. ^ Sabo, Mike (2021-04-16). "The Claremont Institute's Counterrevolution to Save America | RealClearWire". realclearwire.com. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  5. ^ Jamie Gangel and Jeremy Herb (September 20, 2021). "Memo shows Trump lawyer's six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election". CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  6. ^ a b Bump, Philip (September 21, 2021). "By memo or by mob, Trump and his team positioned the country for chaos". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "The Claremont Institute". The National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  8. ^ a b "Claremont Institute Announces Ryan Williams As New President". The Federalist. July 18, 2017.
  9. ^ "Michael Pack". USAGM. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  10. ^ "About us". Claremont Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  11. ^ "About". The American Mind. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  12. ^ "About Us". The American Story. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  13. ^ "Claremont Books". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  14. ^ "About". The American Way of Life. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  15. ^ "Fellowships | The Claremont Institute". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  16. ^ "Publius Alumni". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  17. ^ Ball, Molly (2014-09-17). "The Making of a Conservative Superstar". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  18. ^ "Lincoln Fellowship Alumni". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  19. ^ a b Charen, Mona (12 July 2019). "Claremont's New Class of Fellows Would Make Its Founders Weep". National Review Online. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  20. ^ Stuart, Gwynedd (2020-09-10). "Donald Trump's Politics of White Fear Have Roots in Southern California". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  21. ^ "Qwazy for QAnon". The Bulwark. 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  22. ^ Eastman, John C. (2020-08-12). "Some Questions for Kamala Harris About Eligibility". Newsweek. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  23. ^ Stern, Mark Joseph (2020-08-14). "The White Supremacist "Scholars" Pushing the Kamala Harris Birther Lie". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  24. ^ a b "Trump's Small Biz Rescue Bailed Out Kushner's Family, Obama's Aides and Other Political Elite". The Daily Beast. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  25. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (2017-02-20). "'Charge the Cockpit or You Die': Behind an Incendiary Case for Trump (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  26. ^ a b "Trump's national security spokesman Michael Anton is resigning". CNBC. 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  27. ^ The Editors (22 February 2019). "'After the Flight 93 Election' by Michael Anton". RealClearBooks. Retrieved 2020-12-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ "The Claremont Institute". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  29. ^ "White House announces first National Medal of Arts recipients of Trump administration: Jon Voight, more". USA TODAY. November 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  30. ^ Ellison, Sarah (June 19, 2020). "How Trump's obsessions with media and loyalty coalesced in a battle for Voice of America". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  31. ^ Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek. "CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY - Coronavirus Bailouts - ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  32. ^ a b c Hedgepeth, Lee (2021-09-27). "Conservative group calls decision to not host Trump lawyer at conference 'gutless,' others say it's not enough". Nextstar Media. Archived from the original on 2021-09-29. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  33. ^ a b Jenkins, Cameron (2021-09-21). "Trump lawyer offered six-point plan for Pence to overturn election: book". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  34. ^ Beauchamp, Zack (2021-04-01). "The conservative movement is rejecting America". Vox. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  35. ^ Green, Emma (2021-10-01). "The Conservatives Dreading—And Preparing for—Civil War". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  36. ^ "The Soros Cover-Up". The American Mind. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  37. ^ "American Industrial Policy and the Rise of China". The American Mind. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  38. ^ "A GOP That Works". The American Mind. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  39. ^ "Leadership and Staff". Claremont Institute. 2021-12-03. Archived from the original on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  40. ^ "Claremont Institute | Recovering the American Idea". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
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