# Claremont Institute The intellectual headquarters of [[the New Right]]. Founded in 1979, the Claremont Institute has evolved from a West Coast Straussian think tank into the idea factory powering JD Vance's political circle, the [[Rockbridge Network]], and the "post-liberal" turn in American conservatism that rejects classical liberalism itself as insufficient to save the republic. If the [[Heritage Foundation]] provides the *machinery* of conservative governance (policy papers, personnel databases, [[Project 2025]]), Claremont provides the *justification* — the philosophical framework that says the emergency is real, the old rules don't apply, and extraordinary measures are necessary. ## Origins Founded by four students of **Harry Jaffa**, a political philosopher at Claremont McKenna College who was himself a student of [[Leo Strauss]]. Jaffa's central argument: the American founding was grounded in natural right (via the Declaration of Independence), and the primary crisis of modernity is the abandonment of that grounding by both the progressive left *and* the libertarian right. This Straussian DNA matters: Claremont's intellectuals don't think in terms of policy preferences but in terms of **regime questions** — is the current political order legitimate? Is it capable of self-correction? Or has it become so corrupted that extraordinary action is required? The answer, increasingly since 2016, has been: extraordinary action is required. ## "The Flight 93 Election" The essay that put Claremont on the political map. Published in September 2016 under the pseudonym "Publius Decius Mus" in the *Claremont Review of Books*, later revealed to be **[[Michael Anton]]** — who subsequently joined the Trump NSC. The argument: American conservatism has failed. The republic is on the verge of permanent progressive capture. Electing Trump is like charging the cockpit on Flight 93 — you might die, but you're going to die anyway if you don't act. The essay framed the 2016 election not as a policy choice but as an **existential crisis** requiring a break with conservative institutional norms. This essay did more than endorse Trump. It provided the *intellectual permission structure* for the New Right to abandon procedural conservatism (the Heritage/AEI/National Review establishment) in favor of what Claremont calls "the politics of the exception" — emergency measures for emergency times. ## Fellowship Programs Claremont's primary mechanism for building the New Right's intellectual cadre: ### Lincoln Fellowship The most important. A multi-week intensive program for young professionals. Notable Lincoln Fellows include: - **[[Nate Fischer]]** — [[New Founding]] VC, [[Christian Network State]] financier - **[[Joshua Abbotoy]]** — New Founding MD, Highland Rim Project architect - **[[Blake Masters]]** — Thiel protégé, 2022 Arizona Senate candidate - **J.D. Vance associates** — Multiple members of Vance's inner circle ### Publius Fellowship Named after the pseudonym used by the Federalist Papers authors (and by Michael Anton). Focused on constitutional theory and political philosophy. ### John Marshall Fellowship Focused on constitutional law — the Claremont equivalent of the [[Federalist Society]]'s pipeline, but ideologically more aggressive. ### The Claremont-to-Government Pipeline Claremont fellows don't just write essays — they enter government. The fellowship programs serve as a **vetting and development operation** for New Right personnel who will populate Republican administrations. This is the intellectual twin of Heritage's Project 2025 personnel database: Heritage provides the *quantity* (30,000 names), Claremont provides the *quality* (ideologically intense cadres for the most sensitive positions). ## Publications ### *Claremont Review of Books* The flagship. A quarterly journal that functions as the New Right's intellectual organ. Published the "Flight 93 Election," book reviews that shape right-wing intellectual discourse, and essays by Claremont fellows that provide the philosophical framework for policy positions. ### *The American Mind* The digital publication. More frequent, more topical, more polemical. Where Claremont engages with current events through its philosophical lens. ### *American Greatness* Founded by Chris Buskirk (Claremont Publius Fellow, [[Rockbridge Network]] co-founder). Not officially a Claremont publication but deeply connected — Buskirk is the bridge between Claremont's intellectual output and Rockbridge's donor infrastructure. ## Key Personnel and Network | Person | Role | Connection | |--------|------|------------| | **Ryan Williams** | President | Institutional leader | | **Michael Anton** | Senior Fellow | "Flight 93 Election" author, ex-Trump NSC | | **Chris Buskirk** | Publius Fellow | *American Greatness* publisher, [[Rockbridge Network]] co-founder | | **Charles Kesler** | Senior Fellow | *Claremont Review of Books* editor, Claremont McKenna professor | | **Tom Klingenstein** | Chairman | Major donor, "Cold [[American Civil War]]" framing | | **Arthur Milikh** | Center for the American Way of Life | Post-liberal policy development | | **Matthew Peterson** | Former VP of education | *American Mind* founder | ## The SACR overlap Two senior Claremont figures — president **Ryan Williams** and Boise State political scientist and Claremont official **Scott Yenor** — sit on the founding board of the **[[Society for American Civic Renewal]]**, the men-only, Christian-only fraternal order founded by **[[Charles Haywood]]** in 2020 to place vetted members into positions of institutional power. Williams confirmed it publicly: "I am proud to be one of the founding board members of the Society for American Civic Renewal. May 1,000 chapters bloom and flourish." This is the sharpest available illustration of the Claremont–Heritage divide below. An institution with a respectable Washington address and a presidential-administration pipeline is also, at the leadership level, wired into an explicitly post-constitutional placement network. In **September 2026**, [[Erick Erickson]] named Haywood in "The Midwestern Führerbunker Driving the Right Off the Cliff" and argued that "the institutions of the right are absorbing both without resistance" — the absorption he described running through exactly this kind of overlap. ## Claremont vs. Heritage: The Intellectual Divide This is the central tension in institutional conservatism: **Heritage** says: The American system works. We need better policies, better personnel, and better execution within the existing constitutional framework. Project 2025 is a plan to *govern well* within the system. **Claremont** says: The American system may be broken beyond repair within normal politics. The administrative state is illegitimate. Classical liberalism has failed to prevent its own subversion. We may need to use state power in ways that exceed traditional conservative limits to restore the republic. This is not an abstract philosophical debate — it determines whether the New Right sees itself as operating *within* constitutional norms or *against* an illegitimate regime that has already abandoned those norms. The Claremont position gives intellectual cover to actions that Heritage-style conservatives would consider overreach. ## Connection to the Dark Money Ecosystem Claremont's budget (~$10M annual) is modest compared to Heritage ($100M+). But its influence is disproportionate because it operates at the *ideas* layer rather than the *policy* layer. Key funders: - **[[Bradley Foundation]]** — Major, longstanding funder - **[[DonorsTrust]]** — Anonymous donor routing - **Tom Klingenstein** — Board chairman and major individual donor - **Thiel-adjacent donors** — Via the [[Rockbridge Network]] overlap Claremont's structural role in the [[Dark Money Ecosystem]]: it produces the *ideas* that justify the *policies* that the rest of the network funds and implements. Remove Claremont, and the New Right loses its philosophical foundation. The money would still flow, but the intellectual coherence — the "Flight 93" framing that justifies exceptional measures — would weaken. ## See Also - [[Heritage Foundation]] — Institutional conservative counterpart - [[Rockbridge Network]] — Donor infrastructure (Buskirk is the bridge) - [[Christian Network State]] — Fischer and Abbotoy are Claremont fellows - [[Curtis Yarvin]] — NRx philosopher in the same intellectual orbit - [[Dark Enlightenment]] — Adjacent anti-democratic philosophy - [[The Unholy Alliance]] — How Claremont fits into the broader coalition - [[Dark Money Ecosystem]] — The full dark money architecture