The Deep State You've Been Looking For
The ones who warned you for years, are the ones who built it. The real deep state isn’t hiding — it has a Heritage logo.
For years, the Heritage Foundation warned you about the deep state. Unelected bureaucrats. Shadow governments. Secret cabals undermining democracy.
They were right. There is a deep state. They just forgot to mention they were the ones building it.
While you searched for anonymous bureaucrats in federal buildings, Heritage built a real shadow government at 214 Massachusetts Ave NE. Not a metaphor. Not a theory. A parallel state with 20,000 vetted loyalists,[1] a $1.6 billion war chest,[2] and a 920-page blueprint for seizing control.[3]
They told you to fear the deep state. The deep state is them, the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The Deep State Has an HR Department
Project 2025, page 43: "The President must be able to fire anyone in the executive branch for any reason."[4]
That's 50,000 federal employees[5]—the inspectors who check your meat for E. coli, make sure your drinking water is safe, ensure planes don't fall from the sky, and confirm your medicine actually works.
Heritage wants them replaced by people from their database. Trump's former personnel chief John McEntee admitted it:
"We vetted 20,000 people. We know who's loyal. We know who's not. Heritage has the list."[6]
Loyal to what? Not to you. Not to public safety. To Heritage.
Your water inspector won't be a chemist anymore. They'll pass Heritage's ideology test. Your drug safety expert won't have an MD. They'll sign a loyalty pledge.
They told you the danger was faceless bureaucrats. The real danger is ideological loyalists with no expertise.
The Deep State Captured Your Government
Every president draws from think tanks. Reagan pulled about 8% of his senior staff from Heritage.[7] Obama roughly 7% from progressive groups.[8] Normal. Democratic.
Trump 2.0? At least 66% of key appointments come from Heritage or Project 2025 contributors.[9]
From 8% to almost 70%. That's not evolution—that's capture.
Russell Vought wrote the executive power chapter. Now he runs OMB.[10] Tom Homan drafted immigration plans. Now he's Border Czar.[11] Brendan Carr authored the FCC chapter. Now he chairs it.[12]
This isn't advice—it's occupation. They didn't just sit at the table—they are the table.
They told you the deep state was bureaucrats resisting elected leaders. The real deep state is Heritage embedding loyalists across government.
The Deep State's Two Arms
Heritage handles policy and personnel. The Federalist Society handles judges and law. Two arms. Same donors. Same mission.
Leonard Leo runs FedSoc and sits on Heritage's advisory board.[13] Heritage's Kevin Roberts headlines FedSoc events.[14] The Koch, Bradley, and Scaife foundations fund both.[15]
When Barre Seid gave Leo $1.6 billion, it funded the entire ecosystem.[16] Leo's Marble Freedom Trust funnels millions to Heritage Action.[17]
Heritage writes the policies. FedSoc supplies the lawyers. Heritage fills the agencies. FedSoc fills the courts.
They told you the deep state was divided against the people. The real deep state is unified against democracy.
The Deep State Bought Your Courts
Six of nine Supreme Court justices have Federalist Society ties.[18] The same court that ruled presidents enjoy immunity for "official acts."[19]
Leonard Leo's network got $1.6 billion from one billionaire donor.[20] His groups spent $500 million on judicial confirmations—ten times the previous record.[21] Forty-three of Trump's 54 appellate judges came from his list.[22] Thirteen of 15 DOJ Assistant Attorneys General are FedSoc members.[23]
Leo said it out loud: "We're not just changing the courts. We're changing who runs the agencies that argue before those courts."[24]
Both teams now play for the same owner. Making sure there is no pushback.
They told you the deep state was shadowy judges and prosecutors. The real deep state is a court stacked by Heritage's twin arm.
The Deep State Hijacked the Shadow Docket
On September 8, 2025, the Supreme Court used its emergency—or shadow docket—powers to allow ICE to resume roving immigration raids in Los Angeles based on appearance, language, or location—overturning a lower-court injunction that prohibited discriminatory profiling.[45] The decision, reached via a brief, unsigned order, bypassed full briefing and oral argument—and came under the cover of night. Justice Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent warning it legalizes racial targeting,[46] while Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence approved profiling as a “factor” in establishing reasonable suspicion.[47]
This ruling wasn’t an outlier—it’s part of a pattern:
The shadow docket has become a go-to vehicle for rapid, consequential rulings without transparency or accountability.[48]
Decisions via this channel consistently align with Project 2025 priorities—expanding executive power, accelerating immigration enforcement, rolling back regulation, and sidelining civil liberties.[49]
The Court has turned what should be an emergency exception into a fast lane for an ideological agenda. That isn’t neutrality—it’s capture.
The Deep State Owns Congress Too
At least 67% of House Republicans have Heritage ties or scorecards above 80%.[25] Heritage Action spent $10 million in 2024 to oust Republicans who wouldn't pledge loyalty.[26]
Democrats? Only 3% have formal ties to comparable progressive think tanks.[27] No single organization controls Democratic members the way Heritage controls Republicans.
Speaker Mike Johnson? Heritage score: 96%.[28] His top policy aide? A former Heritage vice president.[29]
They told you the deep state was unelected staff. The real deep state of the unelected writes the bills, scores the votes, and pays for the primaries.
The Deep State Goes Local
Heritage's State Policy Network includes 162 think tanks across all 50 states.[30]
Florida? DeSantis pulled half his senior staff from Heritage's state affiliate.[31] Texas? Abbott's chief of staff came straight from Texas Public Policy Foundation, Heritage's partner.[32]
They ghostwrite ALEC bills—the same bathroom bills, book bans, and voting restrictions in 28 states.[33] They trained 8,000 school board candidates in 2023–24.[34]
They told you the deep state was hiding in Washington. The real deep state is already in your statehouse and your school board.
The Deep State Wants Your Money
Heritage's economics are simple: make the rich richer, and bill you for it.
In 2017, 83% of tax benefits went to the top 1%.[35] They want to eliminate the estate tax on fortunes above $13.61 million.[36] They want to privatize Social Security—sending $11 trillion to Wall Street.[37] They even want to privatize weather forecasts so companies can sell you tornado warnings.[38]
Trump spelled out the inspiration: "We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That's when we were a tariff country."[39]
That was the Gilded Age. The top 1% owned 45% of everything.[40] Senate seats were for sale. Children worked in factories. There was no FDA to stop companies from putting sawdust in your food.
They told you the deep state was about government overreach. The real deep state is about government capture for the wealthy.
The Deep State Confessed
Now they're not even hiding it:
Kevin Roberts, Heritage President: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."[41]
Ginni Thomas, Supreme Court Justice's wife and Heritage board member: "We are building an army."[42]
Paul Dans, Project 2025 Director: "We are creating a government-in-waiting."[43]
A revolution. An army. A government-in-waiting.
They told you the deep state was unaccountable bureaucrats. The real deep state is an open conspiracy to replace democracy with loyalty.
Here's What This Means for You
The "deep state" you were told to fear—career civil servants—took competitive exams, earned degrees, and swore to uphold the Constitution. They average $91,000 a year serving 330 million Americans.[44]
The deep state Heritage is building takes loyalty oaths, passes ideology tests, and serves billionaires. They're backed by $1.6 billion from one donor.
One group keeps you safe. The other keeps power safe. One group serves every president. The other serves only Heritage. One group resists illegal orders. The other exists to carry them out.
When your water gets contaminated because the inspector is a Heritage loyalist, not a chemist—that's their deep state. When the FDA approves dangerous drugs because the reviewer signed a loyalty pledge instead of having medical training—that's their deep state. When your kid's teacher is replaced by someone who passed Heritage's ideology test instead of earning a teaching degree—that's their deep state.
They told you to fear the deep state. The deep state is them.
History's Warning
Rome kept its Senate even as emperors hollowed it out. Weimar kept its constitution even as emergency decrees gutted it. The shell remained. The substance rotted.
That's where we are now. Heritage didn't abolish democracy. They rewired it to serve the few and wrapped it up in a benign word, Heritage.
The American experiment was meant to prevent this—the concentration of power in the hands of the few. But while you hunted for the deep state in the shadows, Heritage built it in broad daylight.
And they published the blueprint.
Sources & Further Reading
Axios — Trump’s loyalty-obsessed personnel plan (July 2024): https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
ProPublica / Lever — Barre Seid’s $1.6B donation to Leonard Leo’s network (Aug 2022): https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid
Heritage Foundation — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (2023, 920 pages): https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
Project 2025 — Mandate for Leadership, Chapter 3, p. 43: https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf#page=73
Partnership for Public Service — Schedule F impact analysis: https://ourpublicservice.org/publications/schedule-f/
Axios — John McEntee remarks at Heritage event (2024): https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
Heritage Foundation — Reagan administration influence analysis: https://www.heritage.org/about-heritage/heritage-impact/reagan-administration
Center for American Progress — Obama-era appointments: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-role-of-think-tanks-in-obamas-administration/
Wikipedia — Project 2025 staffing and appointments analysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
Project 2025 — author credits / Russell Vought OMB appointment: https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
Heritage Foundation — Immigration policy papers: https://www.heritage.org/immigration
FCC — Brendan Carr profile (Project 2025 authorship acknowledged): https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
Heritage Foundation — Board of Trustees & Advisors (Leonard Leo): https://www.heritage.org/about/board
Federalist Society — Kevin Roberts speaker profile: https://fedsoc.org/contributors/kevin-roberts
InfluenceWatch — State Policy Network donor overlaps: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/state-policy-network/
New York Times — Barre Seid’s $1.6B donation to Leonard Leo: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/barre-seid-donation-leonard-leo.html
OpenSecrets — Marble Freedom Trust donations to Heritage Action: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/08/secretive-donation-to-leonard-leo-marble-freedom-trust/
Ballotpedia — Federalist Society membership of SCOTUS justices: https://ballotpedia.org/Federalist_Society_membership_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_justices
Supreme Court — Trump v. United States (2024 immunity ruling): https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_2dp3.pdf
New York Times — Marble Freedom Trust reporting (2022): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/barre-seid-donation-leonard-leo.html
Washington Post — Leonard Leo’s $500M judicial campaign (2024): https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/05/03/leonard-leo-courts-money/
Federal Judicial Center — Trump appellate judges database: https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges
Department of Justice — Leadership roster (2025 appointments): https://www.justice.gov/about/leadership
Federalist Society — 2023 National Lawyers Convention: https://fedsoc.org/conferences/2023-national-lawyers-convention
Heritage Action — Congressional Scorecard (2024): https://heritageaction.com/scorecard
FEC — Heritage Action PAC spending (2024): https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00487827/
Brookings — Progressive think tanks and Democratic Party influence: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/progressive-think-tanks-and-democratic-party-influence/
Heritage Action Scorecard — Rep. Mike Johnson: https://heritageaction.com/scorecard/members/johnson-mike
Politico — Mike Johnson hires Heritage ally (2023): https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/15/mike-johnson-hires-heritage-ally-00127534
State Policy Network — Member directory: https://spn.org/directory/
James Madison Institute — Florida influence: https://www.jamesmadison.org/
Texas Public Policy Foundation — Abbott staff connections: https://www.texaspolicy.com/
Center for Media and Democracy — ALEC model legislation tracker: https://www.exposedbycmd.org/alec/
Leadership Institute — Training programs: https://www.leadershipinstitute.org/
Tax Policy Center — Distributional analysis of TCJA (by 2027): https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/distributional-analysis-conference-report-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act/full
IRS — Estate Tax Exemption 2024 ($13.61M): https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estate-tax
Heritage Foundation — Social Security Reform plan (2023): https://www.heritage.org/social-security
Project 2025 — Chapter 7, Reforming NOAA & Weather Services: https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf#page=321
White House — Trump Inaugural Address (Jan 20, 2025): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2025/01/20/inaugural-address-of-president-donald-j-trump/
Economic History Association — Wealth concentration in the Gilded Age: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/wealth-and-income-distribution-in-the-united-states/
War Room podcast — Kevin Roberts “Second American Revolution” (July 3, 2024): https://warroom.org/2024/07/03/heritage-kevin-roberts/
Washington Post — Ginni Thomas communications (2024): https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/21/ginni-thomas-project-2025/
Hillsdale College — Paul Dans remarks (Sept 2024): https://www.hillsdale.edu/
Office of Personnel Management — Federal Workforce Statistics, FY2024: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/
AP News — “Supreme Court allows ICE to resume immigration raids in Los Angeles” (Sept 8, 2025): https://apnews.com/article/57cc1f85ceafda0f11052b326c8b7173
The Daily Beast — “Justice Sonia Sotomayor shreds colleagues in blistering dissent” (Sept 8, 2025): https://www.thedailybeast.com/scotus-justice-sonia-sotomayor-shreds-colleagues-in-blistering-dissent
Vox — “Supreme Court ruling lets ICE use race and language in immigration stops” (Sept 9, 2025): https://www.vox.com/the-logoff-newsletter-trump/460712/supreme-court-ice-immigration-race-ethnicity
SCOTUSblog — “Why the shadow docket should concern us all” (Aug 2025): https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/08/why-the-shadow-docket-should-concern-us-all/
Brennan Center — “Supreme Court shadow docket and democratic accountability” (2025): https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/supreme-court-shadow-docket