Summary
- A new conservative training organization has arrived in Washington.
- American Ascent aims to create the next generation of statesmen.
- “A sweeping generational transfer of power approaches,” and American Ascent plans to offer practical training to young leaders on the rise.
A new America First conservative training organization has emerged in Washington. With a $12 million investment, American Ascent is seeking to place the next generation of leaders in power.
“We’re going to be the largest and most respected organization in the country for the production of the next generation of leadership,” Ryan Neuhaus, president of American Ascent, told the Daily Signal when asked where he saw the organization in 20 years. “Like, the best talent in the country is going to go through American Ascent,”
The new 501(c)(4) will open its fellowship application process Dec. 1, scouting “candidates who are more closely aligned with our [the America First] worldview,” Neuhaus said.
He described the in-person and online program as “intense” and “active.”
“It’s not going to be, ‘here’s a box of books and a reading list I hope you can learn a couple things along the way,’ It’s going to be in the states with voters; it’s going to consist of programming that is very practical in nature, not strictly ideological,” Neuhaus explained.
The organization has been in the works for over a year, with the goal of scouting young future candidates and equipping them with the tools they need to run and get elected to higher office.
“In the 120th Congress, 39% of the House and 62% of the Senate are 60 or older. A sweeping generational transfer of power approaches,” the website reads.
“We want to create a governing class of American statesmen that are unafraid to put America first, and that are not captured by ideologies because ideologies are inherently anti-conservative that have led to the degradation of American families, American communities, and Americans and American national power, both economically and militarily,” Bradley Devlin, vice president of strategic communications, told the Daily Signal, where he previously served as a senior politics editor.
Funded by an initial $12 million investment from Claremont Institute Chairman Thomas Klingenstein, a hedge fund manager and investor, the group is partnered with the American Conservation Coalition, American Moment, the Claremont Institute, the Oversight Project, Turning Point Action, and more.
It will be overseen by Neuhaus, a former chief of staff at The Heritage Foundation; Vice President Jackson Hines, a former adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; and a board that Klingenstein will chair.
Also on the board are Tyler Bowyer, chief operating officer of Turning Point Action; Clint Brown, an investor and former executive director of the Senate Steering Committee; Ben Judge, the creator and executive producer of the documentary “Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates”; and Neuhaus.
While the organization has been in the works for over a year and launched just days after the midterm blue tsunami, Neuhaus said, “it only gave us more urgency.”
“It only confirmed what we recognized as people were out of step with the average American,” he continued, citing polling that shows “people prefer a younger, more energetic, and hungry Congress.”
“Opportunities are now wide open for the next generation of conservative statesmen, the generational turnover is inevitable,” Devlin added.
“When every incentive, it appears right now in Washington D.C. and throughout the country, is to stay out of politics because dishonest actors might try to ruin your life, we need to make sure that we have good people’s backs as we continue the fight,” he continued.
Continue reading...
[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
