Politico dropped a bombshell report on Friday that Jim DeMint is going to be ousted from his position as president of The Heritage Foundation. DeMint has been in that position since 2012, when he stepped down from the Senate to take over Heritage from the then-outgoing president Ed Feulner. The news of DeMint’s ouster has been a shock to the conservative movement at large.
Here are five things you need to know about DeMint’s ouster.
1. The report states that Heritage is in “massive turmoil.” That is not a good sign for the premiere conservative think-tank on the Right.
2. Heritage board members were irked that DeMint “made the think tank too bombastic and political.” The report quotes an anonymous Heritage board member stating, “He has been a congressman and senator. They are solo performers. When you are in the Senate, life is all about the senators. CEO skills are different than senator skills. I think it boils down to attributes. I don’t think it is particularly personal.”
Another board member said, “Jim brought everyone in from the Senate to Heritage and made it hyper-political. Heritage is also about civil society and culture. He’s taken that off of the table.”
The report points out that DeMint inserted Heritage into various policy battles thus far in the Trump administration by scathingly attacking Congress for backing a bill that didn’t repeal Obamacare. Heritage also attacked the border-adjustment tax proposal made by Paul Ryan.
3. The beginning of the end for DeMint was when the Republican Study Committee severed its alliance with Heritage. Political reporter Tim Alberta revealed the following on Twitter:
The “Action” that Alberta is referring to is Heritage Action, which DeMint utilized as an attack dog against establishment Republicans.
4. A number of conservatives are not happy with DeMint’s ouster. An unnamed conservative operative was quoted in the report as saying, “If Heritage pushes Jim DeMint out, it was because a few board members, who are close to the Republican establishment, never wanted him to be president and have been working to push him out ever since. DeMint is one of the most respected and selfless conservative leaders in the country and pushing him out would be a big mistake.”
A number of conservatives seem to agree:
5. It is believed that Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham will eventually be DeMint’s replacement.
This struck a number of people as odd given that Needham played the role of DeMint’s political attack dog well. In fact he was one of the key figures behind the 2013 government shutdown. Johnson explained further:
In the meantime, Feulner will serve as Heritage’s interim president.