Arnn served as its president from 1985 until 2000, when he became the twelfth president ofHillsdale College.[8]Thomas Klingenstein has been the chairman of the board of trustees since approximately 2010.[c][9]Michael Pack was president from 2015 to 2017.[10] Ryan P. Williams assumed the post in 2017.[2][11]
The Claremont Institute publishesThe Claremont Review of Books,The American Mind,The American Story Podcast, and Claremont Books.[citation needed]
The Claremont Institute was an early defender ofDonald Trump.[4]The Daily Beast stated Claremont "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism".[24]
In September 2016, the institute'sClaremont Review of Books publishedMichael Anton's "The Flight 93 Election" editorial. Written under a pseudonym, it compared the prospect of conservatives letting Trump lose toHillary Clinton in the2016 presidential election with passengers not charging the cockpit of theUnited Airlines aircraft hijacked by Al-Qaeda in 2001.[25][26] The article went viral and received widespread coverage across the political spectrum.Rush Limbaugh devoted a day of his radio series to reading the entire essay.[27] Anton would go on to serve under President Trump as spokesman for theNational Security Council, holding the position from 2017 to 2018.[26]
The institute became a significant player in the Trump administration, adding a Washington office and contributing ideas and personnel to the administration.[28] In 2019, Trump awarded the Claremont Institute with aNational Humanities Medal.[29][30] In June 2020, former Claremont Institute presidentMichael Pack became head of theU.S. Agency for Global Media under Trump.[31]
According to a November 2021Vice article,[33] the actions ofpro-Trump Claremont Institute leaders—senior fellowsJohn Eastman, Brian Kennedy,Angelo Codevilla, and Michael Anton, as well as Ryan P. Williams (the institute's president), andThomas D. Klingenstein[34][35] (chairman of the board)—culminated in theJanuary 6 attack on the Capitol. Williams has stated that the institute's mission "is to save western civilization".Vice asserted that Codevilla, who frequently denounced the "ruling class", coined the term "cold civil war" in 2017. On January 5, 2021, using the hashtag #HoldTheLine, Claremont president emeritus Brian Kennedy tweeted fromCapitol Hill: "We are in a constitutional crisis and also in a revolutionary moment... We must embrace the spirit of the American Revolution to stop this communist revolution."[36] In early January 2021, along with Trump and other advisors, Eastman unsuccessfully attempted to persuade then-vice presidentMike Pence tooverturn the 2020 presidential election results. He also spoke at Trump's rally on January 6, 2021, before the attack on the Capitol.[6][37][38] The details of Eastman's attempt, described ina book by journalistsBob Woodward andRobert Costa, made national headlines in September 2021.[37][38]
Shortly afterward, theAmerican Political Science Association canceled panels involving Eastman and Claremont at its 2021 conference.[37] In April 2022,Thomas B. Edsall ofThe New York Times wrote in a guest essay that the Claremont Institute, as well as the institute's magazineAmerican Mind and other publications, comprised the "substantial intellectual infrastructure that has buoyed the Trumpist right and its willingness to rupture moral codes and to discard traditional norms".[39] An anonymous former fellow said Eastman's ideas are based on the doctrine of natural rights, which has been a key element of the institute's politics for many years. He said, "That's how Claremont goes from this quirky intellectual outfit to one of the main intellectual architects of trying to overthrow the republic."[28] Senior fellowCharles Kesler, who believes Eastman's advice was wrong, said the institute is split between "some who continue to believe that the election was stolen and some who have denied that from the beginning".[28]
The Claremont Institute has hostedCharles Haywood on their podcast. Haywood, a far-right extremist, has described the January 6 attacks as an "electoral justice protest" and wrote about his desire to lead as a "warlord" of an "armed patronage network" following the collapse of the United States.[40] Haywood founded an organisation, theSociety for American Civic Renewal, to which Claremont has donated $26,248.[41] Claremont's president Ryan Williams acknowledged that Claremont "acted as a fiscal sponsor to help the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) establish itself as an incorporated 501(c)(10)"; he also acknowledged being a founding board member of SACR, continuing into 2024.[42]The Guardian described SACR as an "exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian 'aligned regime', and which experts say is rooted in extreme Christian nationalism and religious autocracy.[42]
In 2021, Claremont senior fellowGlenn Ellmers wrote a controversial essay inThe American Mind, arguing that the United States had been destroyed by internal enemies and that a "counter-revolution" was necessary to defeat the majority of the people who "can no longer be considered fellow citizens". According to Ellmers, "Most people living in the United States today—certainly more than half—are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term."[43]
Williams, the institute's president, said its mission is to "save Western civilization", particularly from the threat he said is posed by theprogressive movement.[44] In 2023, the Claremont Institute hiredBoise State University professorScott Yenor as its inaugural senior director of state coalitions.[45]
