Edwin J. Feulner Jr., founder of The Heritage Foundation and a longtime leader of the conservative movement, died Friday. He was 83 years old. Heritage announced Feulner’s death in a statement released by President Kevin Roberts and Board Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby. They praised Feulner as “more than a leader—he was a visionary, a builder, and a patriot of the highest order.” Feulner founded Heritage in 1973 and became its president four years later. Over the course of his 37-year tenure, he transformed the small Capitol Hill policy shop into a powerhouse of policy ideas. During Feulner’s presidency, The New York Times described Heritage as “the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis.” Roberts and Van Andel-Gaby credited Feulner for “planting a flag for Truth in a town too often seduced by power.” “What started as a small outpost for conservative ideas became—under Ed’s tireless leadership—the intellectual arsenal for the Reagan Revolution and the modern conservative movement,” they added. “In the four decades that followed, Ed’s foresight, discipline, and moral clarity made Heritage a battleship, unshaken by political winds and focused solely on fighting for the American people.” Born Aug. 12, 1941, in Chicago, Feulner discovered his conservative calling at a young age after reading Barry Goldwater’s “The Conscience of a Conservative” and Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind.” Those books shaped both his thinking and the trajectory of his life’s work. After graduating from Regis University with double majors in English and business, Feulner earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 1964. He later attended Georgetown University and the London School of Economics, eventually receiving a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1981. Feulner spent time at both the Center for Strategic Studies and Hoover Institution at Stanford University before heading to Capitol Hill in Washington. He served as a confidential assistant to Rep. Melvin Laird of Wisconsin, who later became defense secretary. He later worked as chief of staff to Rep. Phil Crane of Illinois and as executive director of the Republican Study Committee. What a tremendous sorrow for our @Heritage and @Heritage_Action family — truly a family, largely because of Dr. Ed Feulner’s hard work, but also his humanity. Of all the things I’m grateful for, counting a hero as a mentor and a friend is near the top. I will miss him terribly.… https://t.co/340iw4TFRr— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) July 19, 2025 During his time working in Congress, Feulner saw a need for an innovative conservative policy organization in Washington, which led to the creation of Heritage in 1973. Working alongside Heritage leaders Phil Truluck and John von Kannon, the organization quickly made its mark—producing timely policy reports for lawmakers, then publishing the comprehensive “Mandate for Leadership,” a transformative policy book that shaped President Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1981 and beyond. In 1989, Reagan recognized Feulner’s contributions to the conservative movement by awarding him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Throughout his career, Feulner championed “big-tent conservatism,” using Heritage’s influence to convene the conservative movement. One of his favorite sayings was “You win through multiplication and addition, not through division and subtraction.” Feulner’s influence extended beyond Heritage through his work with numerous conservative organizations and leaders. “Ed didn’t just transform think tankery—he revolutionized how ideas reach policymakers and change the world,” State Policy Network CEO Lawson Bader said. “His mentorship taught me that true leadership means building institutions that outlast you, developing people who surpass you, and maintaining unwavering principles while adapting methods to maximize impact.” Several members of Congress, including past leaders of the Republican Study Committee, praised Feulner for his leadership. “As the founder of [RSC] and longtime president of the Heritage Foundation, Ed Feulner was one of the architects who built the conservative movement in this country,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., wrote on X. “I was fortunate enough to get to know Ed when I was RSC Chairman, and all of our Members benefitted from his wisdom and care for the organization. His legacy will have a lasting impact on our country, and my prayers are with his family as we all mourn his loss.” God bless the extraordinary legacy of Ed Feulner, and his singular influence upon the conservative movement. Praying tonight for his family and all who mourn his loss. “Onward. Always.” https://t.co/6Mz5rJGkSU— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 19, 2025 Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, added, “God bless Dr. Feulner’s family, as well as his vast Heritage family across the decades, and may this giant of the conservative movement rest in peace. In a time when freedom fighters in Washington were almost extinct, he laid a foundation upon which countless American victories stand today.” Feulner authored nine books, including “The American Spirit,” “Getting America Right,” and “Leadership for America.” He also served as publisher of Heritage’s Policy Review magazine and co-founder and chairman of the website Townhall.com. Former colleagues, many of whom still populate the Heritage building on Massachusetts Avenue, often share his memorable “Feulnerisms,” such as “people are policy” and “In Washington, there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats.” Bridgett Wagner, his longtime colleague who serves as executive director of Heritage’s Edwin J. Feulner Institute, called him “a giant” whose “wisdom, guidance, eternal optimism, and confidence in our cause inspired countless individuals, built enduring institutions, and shaped the conservative movement profoundly.” Ed Feulner was a movement builder, a think tank entrepreneur, and an incredible mentor and friend to thousands over the course of his extraordinary life. He will be remembered as a devoted husband and father, faithful Catholic, and selfless servant in the cause of freedom. https://t.co/sUWYabU6RE— Bridgett Wagner (@bridgettwagner) July 19, 2025 After stepping down as president, Feulner continued serving on Heritage’s Board of Trustees, offering what Roberts and Van Andel-Gaby described as “encouragement and sage advice in equal measure.” They said Heritage would honor Feulner’s legacy “by carrying his mission forward with courage, integrity, and determination,” remembering his favorite charge: “Onward. Always.” Feulner is survived by his wife, Linda, their children, and grandchildren. The post Ed Feulner, Heritage Foundation Founder and Conservative Movement Giant, Dies appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Onward! Along with a dozen other sayings, this was the signature of Edwin J. Feulner. There is not a week that goes by that I do not quote him. He was a giant of the conservative movement, but I got to work with him day to day as his chief of staff while he was carefully stewarding and looking to hand over the institution he founded, The Heritage Foundation. While he built institutions and our movement, his most lasting legacy for me is how he treated people. First, the builder. Ed was an entrepreneur. Famously, he started Heritage with a business plan he pitched to Joe Coors, the beer magnate. It would be a think tank, but with an emphasis on “tank.” He often called it a “do” tank—he could enjoy a theoretical conversation as much as the next guy, but it had to get to impact. He didn’t stop at Heritage, of course. He started Townhall.com in the early days of the internet, and then laid the groundwork for The Daily Signal as a conservative outlet that today stands on its own as one of the fastest-growing news organizations on the right. He also entrusted two of his former chiefs of staff, Mike Needham and Tim Chapman, with starting an affiliated 501(c)4 group, Heritage Action for America. “If we can’t make them see the light, then we will make them feel the heat,” he said. While he didn’t relish the combat, he knew Heritage Action was needed and then he promptly picked two of Washington’s best young operatives to make it happen. “People are policy”—and Ed had a knack for finding and promoting talent. One of today’s stars of the movement, Bridgett Wagner, started as his research assistant before rising to vice president at Heritage and becoming one of the most critical connectors in the movement. Ed would often say “everyone in Washington works for Newt Gingrich or Bridgett Wagner.” Ed had a way of personifying “adding and multiplying, not dividing and subtracting.” He hesitated to read anyone out of the conservative movement and looked for the positive in all corners of conservatism. But he tempered his good-natured conviviality with discernment, somehow avoiding getting too closely entangled with those who found scandal and controversy. He had zero tolerance for any bigotry on the basis of race or religion, and there was never a whiff of any of that at Heritage thanks to his zeal. His impeccable character ensured an upstart, nimble shop on Capitol Hill became the “beast” of all think tanks (in the words of the New York Times). In its early years, Heritage focused on economics and foreign policy while the Free Congress Foundation took the social issues. Over time, Ed moved Heritage slowly and steadily, following the Kirkian “permanent things” pathway, toward defense of traditional marriage and life in the womb. By the time he handed over the reins to his successor, Heritage was firmly conservative in every way. Ed Feulner paid attention to details. He used to refer to himself as the “highest paid proofreader in the building.” Whether it was copy to go to donors, a policy paper, or an op-ed, the men and women of Heritage cringed when they saw their copy marked with a red pen and “—EJF.” He especially took great care in communicating and caring for donors. “Donor intent” was a mantra. He personally reviewed seating charts (always an eye for protocol) and photographs. He is the reason that to this day Heritage has such top-notch events and retains a great reputation for class and elegance. For someone at the top of the Washington beltway, he never used people as a means, always an end. That is probably because of his foundational Catholic faith. His generation did not talk about religion much, and Ed was not different in that way. But he lived out his faith through devoted attendance and quiet witness. Heritage was very much a family enterprise, and it was important to Ed that spouses feel at home. Family always trumped everything for Ed. In my early years at Heritage, when I was one of the younger members of senior management, my wife always felt self-conscious among such giants. But she would ask, “Will Ed and Linda be there?” and hearing they would be present put her at ease. Ed would always seek her out early in an evening to welcome her—he had a gift to know who needed reassurance like that. He would make everyone feel comfortable. Anytime someone would sheepishly ask for time off to care for family, he would suggest they be sure to take enough time. He must have insisted “family first!” a hundred times a year. He meant it. He cared deeply for every employee of Heritage. Helping a long-time employee when her son got into trouble. Sending a note to another on his birthday. His generous gifts at Christmas to his immediate staff, several of whom—Kathy, Missy, and Kevin—worked for him for decades and remained always fiercely loyal. To the broader team, he loved to hand out the Christmas cash bonus. I’m not sure if he came up with that idea or if it was his longtime partner in the enterprise, Phil Truluck. They had such a mind meld it was hard to know where one ended and the other began. Ed and I attended Phil’s funeral service together, and even though they were both retired when Phil passed, Ed felt like he lost his right arm. He loved Phil and Anne and the Truluck kids. He knew building Heritage was a team endeavor and Phil was his partner. Ed would wax poetic about civil society, but he backed it up with time for many groups, especially the Boy Scouts. He would sign hundreds of letters congratulating those who made Eagle Scout. He was active in dozens of civil society groups. While always private about his family, it was clear where his heart was. He adored his family. Sometimes we would chat about an update from his kids or some item about his beloved Linda. Of course, the grandkids could do no wrong! He was proud of his family, and he cared for Linda intensely. She was always first in his mind. They say impact, like much else, compounds over time. I got to see the fruit of his many decades of work every day. He kept up with friends and co-conspirators over decades. He always made his friends a priority over the most powerful people in the country. He, of course, had an incredible rolodex and a packed schedule of meetings and events from coast to coast and beyond. In particular, he relished trips to Korea and Hong Kong, to connect with America’s best friends and some of the most powerful defenders of freedom. When all that is considered, I’ll remember him best as a visionary leader and uniter, a great boss, a mentor, and above all, a family and civic-minded man and a friend. Onward! Always. The post ‘Onward!’ My Boss Ed Feulner Built a Movement and Cared for People appeared first on The Daily Signal.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned the nation about New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda on Thursday at a press briefing. But there’s another name she could have added.   Meet Omar Fateh, a Muslim democratic socialist running for Minneapolis mayor.   National attention has recently turned toward this 35-year-old native of the District of Columbia, after a video resurfaced online in which Fateh dismissed concerns about immigrant terrorism and called white people the “greatest domestic threat.”  The son of Somalian immigrants, Fateh grew up outside the Washington, D.C., suburbs, graduating from George Mason University and afterward moving to the greener pastures of Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota around 2015.   Though a native of the United States, Fateh frequently refers to Somalia as “home.”   A video on X during a senate campaign speech shows him saying, “I understand that our Somali communities are all connected to each other, here in Minnesota and back home, and I ask for your support.”  Fateh was elected to the Minnesota state Senate in 2020. That’s the same year as the Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis, which cost the city around $55 million in damages, according to a New York Post report. Fateh served two terms in the Senate, where he proposed providing free college tuition for families earning under $80,000 a year.  Fateh, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, will face incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey in the November election.  Fateh’s mayoral platform looks very similar to another member of the Democratic Socialists of America—Mamdani.  Besides promising government-paid college education, Fateh is looking to freeze rent prices, raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour, and “end the cycle of the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD) violence and brutality that has held our city captive for so many years,” as he says on his website.  According to the Citizen Watch Report, Fateh “pledges to prohibit the Minneapolis Police Department from interacting with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] under any circumstance.”  Fateh is far to the left on social issues, too. His vision includes supporting illegal aliens in public education, ensuring that Minneapolis remains a “safe haven” for abortion and “gender-affirming health care,” and providing funding for employee resource groups to build and sustain a “diverse workforce.”  But Fateh’s most controversial take yet resurfaced recently on X, where a video from a 2023 Senate floor speech showed him suggesting that his white, Republican colleagues sitting next to him looked like terrorists.  Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh: "The real domestic threat is…. Whites" pic.twitter.com/ECM0hCivJx— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 16, 2025 Speaking of illegal aliens, Fateh said, “We’ve heard them being called terrorists. … We’ve heard that they’re a threat to our national security, and that’s a flat out lie.”  “You want to know who the real threat is?” Fateh continued. “They look like many of the members that sit in the front.”   The socialist then cited the Department of Homeland Security, saying, “The greatest domestic threat facing the United States comes from ‘racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.’”  The post There’s Another Democratic Socialist Running for Mayor appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. President Donald Trump is negotiating with the college presidents and elite universities in general, places like Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley. And he apparently wants them to make concessions in order for them to receive federal funds. They are resisting him, at least initially, they were. But as this duel enters the public domain, I think the university presidents are kind of worried because they know what they’ve been doing. We’ve discussed that. They were overcharging the government—maybe up to 50% surcharges, overhead—on federal grants. They had violated the Supreme Court’s 2023 civil rights rulings. They had racial preferences in hiring, promotion, admissions. Separate graduations, separate dorms, predicated on one’s race. There was an epidemic of antisemitism. They were bringing in 300,000 students, most of whom were from illiberal regimes in China and the Middle East. Etc., etc. They don’t want that to be known. And yet, if you look at the protest on campus, the students and what the faculty are saying, they don’t wanna back down. So, these presidents are saying, “Listen, we have limited funds. If we lose billions of dollars from the federal government, that’s one thing. If they tax our endowment income, that’s another. If we can only charge 15% surcharges on federal grants, that’s a third. And we’re gonna lose $400 or $500, $600 million a year. We’ve gotta cut a deal.” So, how do these presidents do it? They’re afraid of their students. They’re afraid of their Marxist faculty. So what they’re doing is, essentially, they’re talking to the Trump administration. And they’re going to go right back and they’re going to say, “You know, I did not want to do this. I really did not want to cut a deal. I want to keep going with DEI. I think we have a right to. But I can’t. Donald Trump’s a tough customer. If I don’t cut a deal with him, we’re gonna go broke. We’ll get no federal funds. We’ll get no federal grants. We’ll get an even bigger tax on our endowment. So, I’ve got to cut a deal. He made me do it.” In other words, Donald Trump will prove, if these presidents are smart, to be a useful vehicle. They will use him as the greater threat, so they can tell their own faculty and students—who would destroy the university, had their way—that the president has no choice but now to make moderate reforms on the prompt of Donald Trump or face the consequences later, which would be veritable bankruptcy. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post This Is How Elite University Presidents Will Cave to President Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

“We are in the second American Revolution,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts declared Friday.  “I don’t mean that there needs to be bloodshed,” Roberts said at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 52nd Annual Meeting. “Although [on] The Left, if you spend some time in Washington, D.C. around Capitol Hill and outside of the Heritage Foundation every Monday, you know that these people are getting more and more violent.” Roberts talked about what issues need to be addressed to promote human flourishing for the American people. Roberts said that through leadership such as that of Heritage and Gov. Mike Braun of Indiana, the country is “renewing sovereignty and self-governance and faith and fellow man.”  Over the next twelve months as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, Roberts said that we must not lose sight of the founding principles our country was built upon and remember them.  The most important institution in society in the family, Roberts said, and noted that the “health of the family determines the health of the republic,”  “We’ve been trying to figure out what’s the appropriate role of public policy, whether at the federal level or state level or local level, to arrest declining birth rates, to arrest declining marriage rates,” the Heritage president said. Immigration, whether legal or illegal, is not the answer to these declining rates, he went on.  Roberts applauded Braun for his “common sense smart conservationist” approach to environmental policy, citing the Green New Deal as one of the leading factors of overpriced housing, acting as a “barrier” to the American Dream.  Roberts also praised the Trump administration for its handling of the immigration crisis and added that Heritage would recommend that at the state level only citizens are counted in consensus. He said that “sanctuary cities and runaway municipalities” are unfortunately standing in the way of the federal government doing its job to remove illegal aliens. Another “America first” policy Roberts recommended was to replace the standard ACT and SAT test requirements for students applying to college with the Classical Learning Test.  Roberts said that he believes quality education is essential. Looking to the future, Roberts said that over the next year, Heritage will be publishing an “index of cultural flourishing” to give information on “everything we’re doing in public policy, at the state level, at the federal level, at the local level.” “If we start thinking about all of our policy decisions through that lens, then I can tell you that America’s 250th birthday next year will actually be the beginning of another, a second 250th period in which we continue to be the last best hope in the world,” Roberts said. The post Heritage President Says America’s Second Revolution Must Aim at Cultural Flourishing appeared first on The Daily Signal.