The Russell Index

“A self-described ‘boring budget guy,’ he’s best known for co-authoring the 900-page policy playbook of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which has become something of a bible for Trump’s second term. Vought’s think tank, the Center for Renewing America, has produced numerous policy papers that advocate for such Trump fixations as the annexation of Greenland (‘a prudent aim,’ according to a CRA paper) and enacting broad tariffs (‘just as sometimes a nation must go to war with guns and bombs, so sometimes are trade wars necessary’), among others. At the center of Vought’s ideology is the unitary executive theory, which critics say amounts to an argument that Trump should have wide latitude to do whatever he wants.” The always interesting Max Chafkin in Bloomberg (Gift Article) on The Architect: Behind Trump’s imperial presidency (and Elon), there’s Russell Vought.