• Advancing American Freedom - Advisory Board

• ont-uid: ereig4oh ... Andrew Wheeler; • Betsy DeVos; • Brent Bozell; • Callista Gingrich; • David Bernhardt; • David Friedman; • David McIntosh; • Doug Ducey; • Ed Feulner; • Ed Meese; • Gary Bauer; • Jeb Hensarling; • Jenny Beth Martin; • Jessica Anderson; • Jim Daly; • Jim DeMint; • Joan Lindsey; • John Ratcliffe; • Kay Coles James; • Kelly Craft; • Kellyanne Conway; • Ken Blackwell; • Ken Cribb; • Kevin Roberts; • Kirk Cameron; • Larry Kudlow; • Lisa Nelson; • Marjorie Dannenfelser; • Mike Farris; • Newt Gingrich; • Penny Nance; • Rebecca Hagelin; • Rick Santorum; • Robert Jeffress; • Robert Lighthizer; • Russ Vought; • Scott Turner; • Scott Walker; • Seema Verma; and, • Star Parker. }.Source (2023-01-23): https://advancingamericanfreedom.com/about/

Advancing American Freedom - Advisory Board

Advancing American Freedom advisory board members:

• see also: Politics - Political philosophy - Political theories - Political ideologies - Conservatism - Conservatism in the United States - Conservative organizations in the United States - Council for National Policy

• Politics - Political philosophy - Political theories - Political ideologies - Conservatism - Conservatism in the United States - Conservative organizations in the United States - Conservative Action Project

• (2021-10-25, https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/10/25/god-trump-closed-door-world-council-national-policy/) "God, Trump and the Closed-Door World of a Major Conservative Group.

What internal recordings and documents reveal about the Council for National Policy - and the future of the Republican Party." In 2015-10 Donald Trump was still a laugh line for right-wing Christian activists.

By their lights Donald Trump was a failed casino owner and thrice-married playboy.

Donald Trump had no apparent principles, no policy blueprint and no grasp of the Bible.

Donald Trump didn't even understand free-market theory, something they consider to be a fountainhead of American liberty.

Yet here Donald Trump was in a conference room at the Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Virginia soliciting support from a closed-door group of conservative leaders called the Council for National Policy.

Donald Trump looked the part - he wore a blue suit, white shirt and shiny blue tie.

But Donald Trump seemed to lose his way during the pitch and began riffing about his hair.

Donald Trump turned his head to various angles for the crowd.

"It looks pretty good back here," Donald Trump said, as CNP's president, Bill Walton, would later recall during a confidential talk captured on video.

It was too much for Marjorie Dannenfelser, an antiabortion activist also in the crowd.

"This is insulting," Marjorie Dannenfelser said, according to her recorded recollection.

Marjorie Dannenfelser pulled on Bill Walton's sleeve.

"Can you believe what is happening here?" she asked.

For months after the event, Marjorie Dannenfelser and some other CNP members were determined to stop Donald Trump.

While Donald Trump solidified his lead as GOP front-runner, they denounced him as a "charlatan" in the conservative magazine National Review, blasted his prior support of abortion rights and implored Republican voters to choose another candidate.

"America will only be a great nation when we have leaders of strong character who will defend both unborn children and the dignity of women," Marjorie Dannenfelser and other women wrote in an open letter to Iowa voters in 2016-01.

"We cannot trust Donald Trump to do either." Then came a great swerve that would upend politics in America: Millions of conservatives - Marjorie Dannenfelser and other CNP members among them - got firmly behind Donald Trump.

Today, the Republican Party has been transformed, and Donald Trump or one of his ideological heirs is likely to be the GOP nominee in 2024. ... Enmeshed in these efforts was the Council for National Policy (CNP).

CNP may be the most unusual, least understood conservative organization in the nation's capital.

A registered charity, it has served for 40 years as a social, planning and communications hub for conservative activists in Washington and nationwide.

One of its defining features is its confidentiality.

In a town where people and groups constantly angle for publicity, CNP bars the press and uninvited outsiders from its events.

All members - even such luminaries as former vice president Mike Pence, Ralph Reed and Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas - agree to remain silent about its activities. ... CNP members have also joined Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a new group co-founded by Mike Pence.

About half of the 40-some people on the group's advisory board and its board of directors have been CNP members or guests in recent years, a review of internal directories and videos shows.

And Mike Pence himself recently became a "dues-paying CNP member," according to Feulner's speech.

Marc Short, Mike Pence's former chief of staff, told me that, for AAF, Mike Pence wanted a combination of people who served in the Trump administration and those "who represent the more traditional elements of the conservative movement." "I think we can marry them together to sort of build a winning coalition," Marc Short added. ...

• (2022-06-15, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/group-behind-trump-scotus-picks-brought-in-nearly-50-million-in-secret-money/) "Group behind Trump SCOTUS picks brought in nearly $50 million in secret money." As the Supreme Court stands on the brink of loosening gun restrictions and rolling back decades of abortion protections, tax documents obtained by CREW show that the dark money group that poured millions of dollars into helping former President Trump swing the Court sharply to the right raised a record $48.1 million between July 2020 and June 2021, all from deep-pocketed donors who will remain secret.

Filing as the Concord Fund, but better known by its alias, the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the group has deep ties to Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo, who played a key role during the Trump years helping select Trump's judicial nominees.

Throughout that time, JCN acted as the firepower in the effort to reshape the judiciary, spending millions of dollars from anonymous donors on ads to stymie President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland and to boost Trump nominees Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. ... Other grantees include evangelical and anti-abortion groups like Susan B. Anthony List ($2.2 million) and the Faith and Freedom Coalition ($1.1 million), and conservative groups like Mike Pence's new organization Advancing American Freedom ($1 million), the Heritage Foundation's sister organization, Heritage Action for America ($1.9 million), and Club for Growth ($1.1 million). ...

• (2022-06-24, https://www.levernews.com/dark-money-went-in-supreme-court-rulings-are-coming-out/) "Dark Money Led To This Moment.

A secretive donor network built the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority, and brought them the case and arguments to overturn Roe v. Wade." The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday (2022-06-24) overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, invalidating federal protections for abortion rights. ... According to a Lever review of their most recent tax returns, the Concord Fund and the 85 Fund donated to a long list of groups that filed amicus briefs in the Supreme Court abortion case: the Susan B. Anthony List ($2.3 million from the Concord Fund); Former Vice President Mike Pence's Advancing American Freedom ($1 million from the Concord Fund); Concerned Women for America ($440,000 from the Concord Fund, $100,000 from the 85 Fund); the Ethics and Public Policy Center ($488,000 from 85 Fund); the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty ($150,000 from the 85 Fund); CatholicVote.org Education Fund ($50,000 from the Concord Fund to Catholic Vote Civic Action); and Family Research Council ($25,000 from the Concord Fund to Family Research Council Action).

This scheme has been consistently replicated in other cases before the high court.

CARSON V. MAKIN.

In a 6-3 decision handed down Tuesday (2022-06-21; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_v._Makin), the U.S. Supreme court's conservatives held that Maine must give public money to private religious schools.

The decision represents a major infringement on the notion of separation between church and state in the U.S., and threatens the concept of a secular public education.

The Carson v. Makin decision was undergirded with an amicus brief signed by 21 Republican state attorneys general, who are generally elected with support from the Concord Fund-backed RAGA.

Briefs were also filed by Advancing American Freedom and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which received $150,000 from the 85 Fund in 2020. ...

• (2023-01-21.

• https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/mike-pence-courts-controversial-pastors-john-hagee-robert-jeffress/) "Mike Pence Is Courting Controversial Anti-Gay Pastors.

He's appearing tomorrow with John Hagee, who said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights." When he ran for president in 2008, the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) denounced the views of Texas evangelical minister John Hagee as "crazy and unacceptable" and rejected his endorsement for the GOP nomination.

But tomorrow (2023-01-22) former Vice President Mike Pence - who has presidential aspirations for 202 - will engage in a fireside chat with John Hagee at his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, where Mike Pence is scheduled to appear as part of his book tour for his memoir "So Help Me God".

John Hagee, now 82, had been popular with Republicans in the George W. Bush administration, but by the time John McCain ran, John Hagee's toxic rhetoric had become too much even for most Republicans. ... Robert Jeffress has been denounced by many other Republicans, most notably Senator Mitt Romney, for attacking people of other faiths and declaring that "Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell." Mike Pence seems undeterred by the troubling records of John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, and he seems to be actively attempting to lure them away from backing Trump again.

In fact, Robert Jeffress is now on the advisory board of Mike Pence's new nonprofit group, "Advancing American Freedom".

Mike Pence met with anti-abortion protesters on Friday (2023-01-20) in Washington, D.C. during the "March for Life" at the group's headquarters - shoring up his bona fides with another part of the GOP base.

• (2023-02-10, https://truthout.org/articles/pences-iowa-strategy-ads-and-rallies-attacking-schools-that-protect-trans-kids/) "Mike Pence's Iowa Strategy?

Ads and Rallies Attacking Schools That Protect Trans Kids.

Mike Pence's political action committee has made moves that suggest he's planning a 2024 presidential run." Former Vice President Mike Pence has signaled that he will likely run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, as his political action committee is planning to advertise and win over Iowa voters in the next few months (2023), with a focus on attacking LGBTQ people in Iowa.

While Democrats have changed the order of their state nominating contests, Iowa remains the Republican Party's first-in-the-nation contest for the 2024 presidential election season.

Advancing American Freedom - the PAC that Mike Pence formed in 2021 - will buy digital ads and potentially radio and television advertising as part of a more than $1 million spending campaign to promote Mike Pence in Iowa.

The organization will also hold rallies and canvass Iowa residents' homes.

According to reporting from The Associated Press, the PAC (Advancing American Freedom) will focus on attacking schools in the state that seek to provide a safe environment for transgender students, targeting one district near Cedar Rapids in particular.

Linn-Mar Community School District implemented a policy last year (2022) that would allow transgender students to request a gender support plan from their school.

The policy does not require parental permission, as some students may feel unsafe at home or have parents who don't accept them for who they are.

The school is currently involved in a lawsuit regarding that policy, as parents in the district claim it deprives them of their rights.

Mike Pence and his Advancing American Freedom PAC have capitalized on the situation in order to win over conservative voters in Iowa, sacrificing the wellbeing of trans children in the process.

"The strength of our nation is tied to the strength of our families, and we cannot stand idly by as the radical left attempts to indoctrinate our children behind parents' backs," Mike Pence claimed in a statement.

"Advancing American Freedom will not rest until parental rights are restored in Iowa and across the nation." Mike Pence has not officially declared himself a presidential candidate, saying he needs to discuss the issue with his family before making a decision.

But his PAC (Advancing American Freedom)'s investments in Iowa indicate that Mike Pence is leaning toward running.

Mike Pence has a long history of introducing anti-LGBTQ legislation as a member of Congress and former governor - and his emphasis on attacking the LGBTQ community is also unsurprising given that other potential GOP contenders for president have recently employed a similar strategy.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has not yet announced a presidential run but who is likely to do so, has backed several policies targeting LGBTQ people in the state of Florida, including the infamous "Don't Say Gay" law.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump vowed in a video on his Truth Social account in 2023-01 to pass a law declaring that there are only two genders if he becomes president again - a promise that falsely suggests that a person's gender identity is inherently tied to their sex.

Scientists and health experts largely agree that this line of thinking is inaccurate.

"Research confirms a strong biological basis for gender identity. ... Though some conservatives have a strange obsession with focusing on other elements of biology (i.e., genitals and chromosomes), it doesn't make scientific or medical sense to give these unconscious parts of our bodies primacy over our conscious brains, where gender identity resides," wrote Jack Turban, a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, and Jules Gill-Peterson, an associate research professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, in a joint op-ed for CNN last year (2022).

Contrary to conservatives' claims, gender-affirming care has been shown to be life-saving - and school policies to support transgender youth have yielded overwhelmingly positive outcomes.

According to a study conducted by The Trevor Project, which used a sample size of more than 8,000 transgender and nonbinary youth across the country, the likelihood that a trans child will attempt by suicide drops by 39 percent if even one adult expresses acceptance for their identity.

A separate study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health last year (2022), found the same positive outcomes in schools that instituted trans-friendly policies.

Meanwhile, schools that were intolerant of transgender students had a negative impact on those students' mental health.