The political world is abuzz over the incendiary new book from Kevin Roberts, the influential yet controversial head of the Heritage Foundation and chief architect of Project 2025, the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term agenda. In “Dawn’s Early Light,” Roberts pulls no punches, using fiery rhetoric and eyebrow-raising analogies to lay out his scorched-earth vision for remaking American institutions.
Burning It All Down?
Throughout the book’s 300 pages, Roberts wields terms like “fire” and “burn” with startling frequency – 149 times total. He calls for a “sacrificial transformation” and quotes Virgil: “My spirit kindles to fire, and rises in wrath to avenge my dying land.”
His targets for the pyre are wide-ranging, from Black Lives Matter to the Bureau of Land Management (he finds it amusing they share initials) to the FBI, New York Times, and even the Boy Scouts. Roberts wants to “burn it all down” to, in his words, “save America.”
Bannon Endorsement Raises Stakes
The book’s impact is magnified by the ringing endorsement of Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign chair and White House strategist. “Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda,” Bannon declared. He ominously added regarding Roberts’ incendiary plans: “The hard way.”
Kevin [Roberts] wants a roaring pyre. He has the matches out.
Inside source
“Ordered Liberty” Over Rule of Law?
Beyond the inflammatory language, Roberts’ actual policy prescriptions are equally disconcerting to many observers. He calls for “ordered liberty” as a replacement for rule of law and personal autonomy. This ideal government, in his telling, “encourages and promotes virtue” in “upright citizens” but “punishes and corrects vice” in “criminals and scoundrels.”
Critics argue this opens the door for a theocratic, paternalistic government that legislates morality according to Roberts’ particular worldview. He’s on record opposing abortion rights, contraception access, and what he calls “short-circuited” tech and social media.
A Trumpist Firebrand
While Roberts claims some independence – chiding “wax museum conservatives” on the right he sees as too squishy – he’s been lockstep in his devotion to Donald Trump and “instutionalizing Trumpism” at Heritage.
He’s an election denier regarding 2020, though he cagily told the New York Times “I don’t know the outcome,” adding unconvincingly “I am no conspiracy theorist.” His connection to Trump is more than ideological – a photo recently surfaced showing the pair grinning together on a plane.
You can’t have a blaze without some kind of sacrificial transformation.
Kevin Roberts, in “Dawn’s Early Light”
Will the Center Hold?
With figures like Roberts and Bannon ascendant in the new Trump administration, and Project 2025 apparently the governing blueprint, many in the political center and left are concerned about the future stability of core American institutions.
- Will Roberts’ slash-and-burn approach catch on beyond the far-right fringe?
- Can the country’s constitutional order and civil society withstand a “second American revolution”?
- What “sacrifices” may be demanded in service of this transformative vision?
Only time will tell if cooler heads can prevail and douse the flames being stoked by Kevin Roberts and those of his ideological ilk. But if “Dawn’s Early Light” is any indication, they certainly have plenty of kindling at the ready.
