Claremont Institute#Publius Fellows program

The Claremont 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. 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.{{Cite web|title=The Claremont Institute|url=https://www.neh.gov/article/claremont-institute|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=The National Endowment for the Humanities|date=November 21, 2019}}{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}}

Arnn served as its president from 1985 until 2000, when he became the twelfth president of Hillsdale College.{{cite news |title=National News Briefs; Conservative College Names New President |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 7, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/07/us/national-news-briefs-conservative-college-names-new-president.html |access-date=February 26, 2011}} Thomas Klingenstein has been the chairman of the board of trustees since approximately 2010.{{efn|name=Klingenstein|Klingenstein became chairman in fiscal year ending June 30, 2011}}{{cite web|title=Claremont Institute – IRS Form-990 yr2010|website=ProPublica – Nonprofit Explorer|access-date=June 16, 2023|date=December 27, 2012|url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/953443202/2012_03_EO%2F95-3443202_990_201106}} Michael Pack was president from 2015 to 2017.{{Cite web|title=Michael Pack|url=https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/management-team/michael-pack/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=USAGM}} Ryan P. Williams assumed the post in 2017.

{{cite web |url=https://www.claremont.org/page/board-of-directors/ |title=Board of Directors |website=The Claremont Institute |access-date=December 3, 2021 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.claremont.org/leadership-bio/ryan-p-williams|website=Claremont Institute|title=Leadership|access-date=April 13, 2023}}

The Claremont Institute publishes The Claremont Review of Books,{{Cite web|title=About us|url=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/about-us/|access-date=June 24, 2021|website=Claremont Review of Books}} The American Mind,{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://americanmind.org/about/|access-date=September 21, 2020|website=The American Mind}} The American Story Podcast,{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://theamericanstorypodcast.org/about/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=The American Story}} and Claremont Books.{{Cite web|title=Claremont Books|url=https://www.claremont.org/page/claremont-books/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=claremont.org}} A Washington, D.C., branch of the Claremont Institute, called the Center for the American Way of Life, opened in February 2021.{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://dc.claremont.org/about/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=The American Way of Life}}

Claremont Institute fellowships have gone to prominent figures on the right such as Laura Ingraham, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, Mary Kissel, and Charles C. Johnson.{{Cite web|title=Publius Alumni|url=https://www.claremont.org/page/fellowships/publius-fellowship-alumni/|access-date=June 24, 2021|website=claremont.org}}{{Cite news|last=Fisher|first=Mark|date=July 30, 2022|title=The Claremont Institute triumphed in the Trump years. Then came Jan. 6.

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/24/claremont-john-eastman-trump/|access-date=August 23, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite web|title=Lincoln Fellowship Alumni|url=https://www.claremont.org/page/fellowships/lincoln-fellowship/former-lincoln-fellows/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=claremont.org}}{{Cite web|last=Ball|first=Molly|date=September 17, 2014|title=The Making of a Conservative Superstar|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conservative-superstar/380307/|access-date=June 24, 2021|website=The Atlantic}} The institute caused controversy by granting a fellowship in 2019 to the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.{{cite news|last1=Charen|first1=Mona|date=July 12, 2019|title=Claremont's New Class of Fellows Would Make Its Founders Weep|publisher=National Review Online|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/claremont-would-make-its-founders-weep/|access-date=July 12, 2019}}{{Cite web|last=Stuart|first=Gwynedd|date=September 10, 2020|title=Donald Trump's Politics of White Fear Have Roots in Southern California|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/claremont-institute-trump/|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=Los Angeles Magazine}}{{Cite web|date=August 13, 2020|title=Qwazy for QAnon|url=https://thebulwark.com/qwazy-for-qanon/|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=The Bulwark}} National Review columnist Mona Charen wrote that "Claremont stands out for beclowning itself with this embrace of the smarmy underside of American politics." In 2020, Mark Joseph Stern of 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's eligibility for the vice presidency.{{Cite web|last=Eastman|first=John C.|date=August 12, 2020|title=Some Questions for Kamala Harris About Eligibility|url=https://www.newsweek.com/some-questions-kamala-harris-about-eligibility-opinion-1524483|access-date=May 8, 2021|website=Newsweek}}{{Cite web|last=Stern|first=Mark Joseph|date=August 14, 2020|title=The White Supremacist 'Scholars' Pushing the Kamala Harris Birther Lie|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/08/kamala-harris-birther-birthright-citizenship-claremont.html|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=Slate}} In 2022, The American Mind published an editorial by Raw Egg Nationalist,{{Cite web|last=Nationalist|first=Raw Egg|date=March 1, 2022|title=The Decline is Real |url= https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-decline-is-real/|access-date=June 16, 2022|website=The American Mind}} an author affiliated with neo-Nazi publishing house Antelope Hill.{{Cite web|last=Field|first=Laura|date=April 22, 2022|title=The Decay at the Claremont Institute Continues |url= https://www.thebulwark.com/the-decay-at-the-claremont-institute-continues/?amp|access-date=June 16, 2022|website=The Bulwark}}{{Cite web|last1=Gais |first1=Hannah |last2=Squire |first2=Megan |last3=Wilson |first3=Jason |last4=Hayden |first4=Michael Edison|date=June 13, 2022|title=White Nationalist Book Publishers Revealed |url= https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/06/13/white-nationalist-book-publishers-revealed|access-date=June 16, 2022|website=Southern Poverty Law Center}}

The Claremont Institute was an early defender of Donald Trump. The Daily Beast stated Claremont "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism".

In September 2016, the institute's Claremont Review of Books published Michael Anton's "The Flight 93 Election" editorial. Written under a pseudonym, it 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 in 2001.{{Cite news|last=Schuessler|first=Jennifer|date=February 20, 2017|title='Charge the Cockpit or You Die': Behind an Incendiary Case for Trump (Published 2017)|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/arts/charge-the-cockpit-or-you-die-behind-an-incendiary-case-for-trump.html|access-date=December 14, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Review of After the Flight 93 Election by Michael Anton|url=https://www.realclearbooks.com/books_of_the_week/2019/02/22/after_the_flight_93_election_by_michael_anton_110189.html|access-date=December 13, 2020 |website=RealClearBooks |date=February 22, 2019}} Anton would go on to serve under President Trump as spokesman for the National Security Council, holding the position from 2017 to 2018.{{Cite web|date=April 9, 2018|title=Trump's national security spokesman Michael Anton is resigning|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/08/trumps-national-security-spokesman-michael-anton-is-resigning.html|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=CNBC}}

The institute became a significant player in the Trump administration, adding a Washington office and contributing ideas and personnel to the administration. In 2019, Trump awarded the Claremont Institute with a National Humanities Medal.{{cite web |title=The Claremont Institute |url=https://www.neh.gov/award/claremont-institute |website=National Endowment for the Humanities |access-date=November 20, 2020}}{{Cite web|date=November 18, 2019|title=White House announces first National Medal of Arts recipients of Trump administration: Jon Voight, more|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/11/18/president-donald-trump-announces-his-first-medal-arts-recipients-jon-voight/4226868002/|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=USA Today}} In June 2020, former Claremont Institute president Michael Pack became head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media under Trump.{{Cite news|last=Ellison|first=Sarah|date=June 19, 2020|title=How Trump's obsessions with media and loyalty coalesced in a battle for Voice of America|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/how-trumps-obsessions-with-media-and-loyalty-coalesced-in-a-battle-for-voice-of-america/2020/06/19/f57dcfe0-b1b1-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html|access-date=September 21, 2021|issn=0190-8286}}

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.{{Cite news |title=Trump's Small Biz Rescue Bailed Out Kushner's Family, Obama's Aides and Other Political Elite |work=The Daily Beast |date=July 6, 2020 |access-date=July 9, 2020 |url= https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-small-biz-rescue-bailed-out-kushners-family-obamas-aides-and-other-political-elite/}}{{Cite web |title=Claremont Institute for the Study lf Statesmanship & Political Philosophy |last1=Syed |first1=Moiz |last2=Willis |first2=Derek |work=ProPublica |date=July 7, 2020 |access-date=July 9, 2020 |url= https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/claremont-institute-for-the-study-of-statesmanship-political-philosophy-3cc47182cc3ec82aa59bcb92e06d503e}}

According to a November 2021 Vice article,{{Cite news| last = Joseph| first = Cameron| title = Meet the Obscure Think Tank Powering Trump's Biggest Lies| work = Vice| access-date = July 28, 2022 | date = November 4, 2021 | url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/john-eastman-claremont-institute-supporting-jan-6-trumpism/ |location=Washington}} the actions of pro-Trump Claremont Institute leaders—senior fellows John Eastman, Brian Kennedy, Angelo Codevilla, and Michael Anton, as well as Ryan P. Williams (the institute's president), and Thomas D. Klingenstein{{Cite web | last = Klingenstein| first = Tom| title = Winning the Cold Civil War |url=https://tomklingenstein.com/assets/pdfs/winning_the_cold_civil_war4.pdf}}{{Cite AV media| people = Tom Klingenstein (Director)| title = Defending The American Way of Life During a Cold Civil War| access-date = June 16, 2022| date = November 29, 2021| time = 4:28| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKaru9ZZdtw}} (chairman of the board)—culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Williams has stated that the institute's mission "is to save western civilization". Vice asserted that Codevilla, who frequently denounced the "ruling class", coined the term "cold civil war" in 2017. On January 5, 2021, using the hashtag #HoldTheLine, Claremont president emeritus Brian Kennedy tweeted from Capitol Hill: "We are in a constitutional crisis and also in a revolutionary moment... We must embrace the spirit of the American Revolution to stop this communist revolution."{{Cite news| last = Joseph| first = Cameron| title = Meet the Obscure Think Tank Powering Trump's Biggest Lies| work = Vice| access-date = June 16, 2022 | date = November 4, 2021 | url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/john-eastman-claremont-institute-supporting-jan-6-trumpism/ |location=Washington}} In early January 2021, along with Trump and other advisors, Eastman unsuccessfully attempted to persuade then-vice president Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. He also spoke at Trump's rally on January 6, 2021, before the attack on the Capitol.{{Cite web|last=Jenkins|first=Cameron|date=September 21, 2021|title=Trump lawyer offered six-point plan for Pence to overturn election: book|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/573133-trump-lawyer-offered-six-point-plan-for-pence-to-overturn-election|access-date=October 2, 2021|website=The Hill}} The details of Eastman's attempt, described in a book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, made national headlines in September 2021.

Shortly afterward, the American Political Science Association canceled panels involving Eastman and Claremont at its 2021 conference.{{Cite web|last=Hedgepeth|first=Lee|date=September 27, 2021|title=Conservative group calls decision to not host Trump lawyer at conference 'gutless,' others say it's not enough|url=https://www.cbs42.com/news/politics/conservative-group-calls-decision-to-cancel-its-in-person-panels-at-political-science-conference-gutless-but-some-say-the-move-doesnt-go-far-enough/|url-status=live|access-date=October 2, 2021|website=Nexstar Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929055523/https://www.cbs42.com/news/politics/conservative-group-calls-decision-to-cancel-its-in-person-panels-at-political-science-conference-gutless-but-some-say-the-move-doesnt-go-far-enough/ |archive-date=September 29, 2021 }} In April 2022, Thomas B. Edsall of The New York Times wrote in a guest essay that the Claremont Institute, as well as the institute's magazine American Mind and other publications, comprised the "substantial intellectual infrastructure that has buoyed the Trumpist right and its willingness to rupture moral codes and to discard traditional norms".{{cite news |last1=Edsall |first1=Thomas |title=With or Without Trump, the MAGA Movement Is the Future of the Republican Party |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/opinion/trump-trumpism-republican-party.html |access-date=July 3, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=April 20, 2022}} An anonymous former fellow said Eastman's ideas are based on the doctrine of natural rights, which has been a key element of the institute's politics for many years. He said, "That's how Claremont goes from this quirky intellectual outfit to one of the main intellectual architects of trying to overthrow the republic." Senior fellow Charles Kesler, who believes Eastman's advice was wrong, said the institute is split between "some who continue to believe that the election was stolen and some who have denied that from the beginning".{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/24/claremont-john-eastman-trump/?carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3776ebc%2F62dd6a60cfe8a21601034d82%2F5de1dfc5ade4e25a93873aa0%2F13%2F72%2F62dd6a60cfe8a21601034d82&wp_cu=2c697e82fddcd25d73653f684bc9aa4b%7CC0D9D57CBFC5027EE0430100007F87D6|title=The Claremont Institute triumphed in the Trump years. Then came Jan. 6|last1=Fisher|first1=Marc|last2=Stanley-Becker|first2=Isaac|date=July 24, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 24, 2022}}

The Claremont Institute has hosted Charles Haywood on their podcast. Haywood, a far-right extremist, has described the January 6 attacks as an "electoral justice protest" and wrote about his desire to lead as a "warlord" of an "armed patronage network" following the collapse of the United States.{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jason |date=August 22, 2023 |title=US businessman is wannabe 'warlord' of secretive far-right men's network |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/charles-haywood-claremont-institute-sacr-far-right |access-date=November 26, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}} Haywood founded an organisation, the Society for American Civic Renewal, to which Claremont has donated $26,248.{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Jason |title=US businessman is wannabe 'warlord' of secretive far-right men's network |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/charles-haywood-claremont-institute-sacr-far-right |access-date=March 11, 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=August 22, 2023}} Claremont's president Ryan Williams acknowledged that Claremont "acted as a fiscal sponsor to help the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) establish itself as an incorporated 501(c)(10)"; he also acknowledged being a founding board member of SACR, continuing into 2024.{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Jason |title=Revealed: US conservative thinktank's links to extremist fraternal order |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/11/claremont-institute-society-for-american-civic-renewal-links |access-date=March 11, 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=March 11, 2024}} The Guardian described SACR as an "exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian 'aligned regime', and which experts say is rooted in extreme Christian nationalism and religious autocracy.

In 2021, Claremont senior fellow Glenn Ellmers wrote a controversial essay in 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."{{Cite web|last=Beauchamp|first=Zack|date=April 1, 2021|title=The conservative movement is rejecting America|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/4/1/22356594/conservatives-right-wing-democracy-claremont-ellmers|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=Vox}}

Williams, the institute's president, said its mission is to "save Western civilization", particularly from the threat he said is posed by the progressive movement.{{Cite web|last=Green|first=Emma|date=October 1, 2021|title=The Conservatives Dreading{{snd}}And Preparing for{{snd}}Civil War|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/claremont-ryan-williams-trump/620252/|access-date=January 2, 2022|website=The Atlantic}} In 2023, the Claremont Institute hired Boise State University professor Scott Yenor as its inaugural senior director of state coalitions.{{cite news |last1=Richert |first1=Kevin |title=Boise State professor Scott Yenor takes a Florida-based job with a conservative think tank |url=https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/02/09/boise-state-professor-scott-yenor-takes-a-florida-based-job-with-a-conservative-think-tank/ |work=Idaho Capital Sun |date=February 9, 2023 |access-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-date=July 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711220728/https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/02/09/boise-state-professor-scott-yenor-takes-a-florida-based-job-with-a-conservative-think-tank/ |url-status=live }}

Claremont is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,{{Cite web |title=Advisory Board |url=https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119034220/https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |access-date=July 8, 2024 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}} a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the US federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.{{Cite news |last=Mascaro |first=Lisa |date=August 29, 2023 |title=Conservative Groups Draw Up Plan to Dismantle the US Government and Replace It with Trump's Vision |url=https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922112031/https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981 |archive-date=September 22, 2023 |access-date=July 8, 2024 |work=Associated Press News}}

The Claremont Institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, edited by Charles R. Kesler, which features regular columns by Martha Bayles, Mark Helprin, Michael Anton, and Spencer Klavan. 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, Todd Young, Marco Rubio, Jim Banks, and Tom Cotton.{{Cite web|title=The Soros Cover-Up|url=https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-soros-cover-up/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=The American Mind}}{{Cite web|title=American Industrial Policy and the Rise of China|url=https://americanmind.org/memo/american-industrial-policy-and-the-rise-of-china/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=The American Mind}}{{Cite web|title=A GOP That Works|url=https://americanmind.org/memo/a-gop-that-works/|access-date=June 29, 2021|website=The American Mind}}

The fiscal year for the organization is from the beginning of July to the end of June of the following calendar year.

Finances for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021{{efn|name=irs2020|as shown on IRS Form-990 yr2020}} (the latest available), consist of: revenue of $9,466,224; expenses of $8,071,035; and donations of $8,392,413.{{cite web |url=https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2021/953/443/2021-953443202-19863635-9.pdf |title=Claremont Institute – IRS Form-990 yr2020 |date=June 30, 2021 |website=GuideStar |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

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