South China Morning Post/South China Morning Post via Get
Edwin J. Feulner, the conservative mastermind who co-founded The Heritage Foundation, has died at 83. Based in Washington, D.C., the influential right-wing think tank is behind Project 2025, a controversial playbook for President Donald Trump’s second term. The details surrounding Feulner’s death are unknown, with multiple outlets reporting that he died Friday. He served as president of the foundation from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018. He also served on the transition team of the first Trump administration. While Trump said he has “nothing to do” with the project, many of his second-term policies mirror the plans set out in the playbook, including his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, Feulner later endorsed Mike Pence in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. “Ed Feulner was more than a leader—he was a visionary, a builder, and a patriot of the highest order,” Heritage President Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby said in a joint statement, Fox News reported. “His unwavering love of country and his determination to safeguard the principles that made America the freest, most prosperous nation in human history shaped every fiber of the conservative movement—and still do.”
