Earlier this year in The New York Times, Jessica Grose unearthed a new Heritage Foundation initiative that continues to fly under the radar amid news of war, scandal, and increasingly outrageous posts on Truth Social. Grose’s article, “The Heritage Foundation Wants to Send American Women Back Half a Century,” considers the implications of a recently released report by the authors of Project 2025 that, in Grose’s words, “seems to want to take a time machine back to when women were financially dependent on men and gay marriage was not legal.” The Heritage Foundation paper, “Saving America by Saving the Family,” seeks to “restore the family home” by ensuring all children inhabit an “ideal environment” in “a loving and stable home with their married biological parents.” They write that the “family is the foundation of civilization, and marriage — the committed union of one man and one woman — is its cornerstone.”
“What happens to a nation,” it asks, “when its citizens largely stop having children and eschew marriage?” The report concludes that children are entitled to “the presence of their mom and dad under the same roof for the entirety of their childhood,” and that “the answer to the problem of loneliness and decline must begin with marriage.” The think tank that has had so much influence over policy in Trump’s second term refers to its report as “a culture-wide Manhattan Project that marshals America’s political, social and economic capital to restore the natural family.” Apparently, the nuclear family is going full nuclear.
By what means does the Heritage Foundation intend to implement these goals? If they are as successful in this scheme as they have been in enacting Project 2025, what could this mean for working women, gay families, unmarried parents, and supporters of abortion rights? Are they envisioning a Handmaid’s Tale-type scenario in which dwindling birth rates are increased by whatever means necessary? And why hasn’t this report attracted more attention?
We’ll speak to all of that later today, Thursday, April 16, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern — in a live conversation with Jessica Grose, who is also author of the book Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood.
We’ll also be checking in on our April Ink Book Club selection, Ibram X. Kendi’s Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age. So many timely threads in his latest, which we are eager to discuss with Professor Kendi on Wednesday, April 29 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The book is divided into ten sections, each chronicling the ascension of right-wing leaders in various countries, among them Viktor Orbán in Hungary. What does Kendi make of Orban’s defeat? And when it comes to Kendi’s take on Great Replacement Theory, how does Executive Order 14398, issued on March 26 of this year, fit with the book’s findings? That order establishes a mandatory clause prohibiting “racially discriminatory DEI activities,” and requires federal government contractors to provide access to their books and records for “compliance audits.” What else is Kendi seeing as he assesses the damage being done to diversity initiatives under this administration?
We’ll also ask Kendi for his reaction to a recent New York Times review of Chain of Ideas which deemed the book simultaneously “too pessimistic” and “too naive.” What are your thoughts?
Ibram X. Kendi is an author, activist, historian, and Howard University Professor. He won the National Book Award for 2016’s Stamped From the Beginning, which Kendi’s production company made into an Emmy-nominated documentary.
Join the Ink Book Club today to learn more about why we are where we are, and how to curb the further spread of this dangerous theory, and call it out when we see it.
These people with their dark fantasies should not be anywhere near the nexus of power. They are simply fools with money.
Susan. The author isn’t feeling well. We have had to cancel today’s Live unfortunately.