Dr Kevin Roberts

President of the Heritage Foundation

​Dr. Kevin Roberts is the president of The Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank in the United States. He assumed this role in December 2021, becoming the organisation's seventh president. ​

Upon earning his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Texas, Kevin entered the field of academia. First teaching history at New Mexico State University, he later founded the John Paul the Great Academy, a co-educational K–12 Catholic liberal arts school in Louisiana, serving as its president and headmaster for seven years. From 2013 to 2016, he was president of Wyoming Catholic College.

Later, Kevin traded classrooms for think tanks, serving as CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation before joining the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, he was instrumental in launching Project 2025, an initiative aimed at preparing a comprehensive policy agenda for a potential future conservative administration. ​

Today, Kevin also hosts The Kevin Roberts Show, advocating conservative principles and policy through the medium of podcasting.

Why did we invite him on?

In the months before the 2024 election, Project 2025 quickly became one of the most hot button issues in America. It took centre stage in the Democrats’ anti-Trump rhetoric, President Biden himself describing its agenda as something that “should scare every single American”, threatening that its implementation “would give Trump limitless power over our daily lives and let him use the presidency to enact 'revenge' on his enemies.” Part manifesto, part playbook, mere mention of the document’s title was enough to inspire wrath and adulation in millions of Americans.

But how many people have actually read it? The whole thing spans 900 pages; it’s hard to believe that most of the people decrying it are intimately familiar with its doctrines. We wanted to know more, and who better to ask than the man behind it?

What did we learn?

With Trump in the White House, step 1 is already in motion. Had Kamala won back in November, this whole conversation would be null and void. While Trump made efforts to distance himself from the initiative, he’s the first domino. So what now?

Kevin is optimistic. For the first time in decades, he argues, America has a President and a cabinet that actually seems motivated by the principle of returning self-governance to the American people. Almost every President in living memory has promised it, but this is different - at least, it looks like it might happen.

”Trump and Vance have the courage and the spine to implement this idea that you can dismantle the administrative state, not just for saving money, but to give Americans their rights back. It’s a glorious time to be alive.”

It’s often taken as a given that big government is something to be corrected, particularly in right-wing circles. But is it actually that bad? We might argue against it in principle, but are there not a wealth of benefits to a strong, observant state? Do we not risk material, tangible losses by going at it with a hacksaw?

”History shows that the larger the government, the less freedom people have … Heritage is a conservative, not a libertarian entity - we’re not anti-government, we understand it serves a role. It just needs to be the right size. [Right now], the government is doing the job that individuals and mediators ought to be doing. The federal government could be half its size, probably smaller. ”

That much is true, but not everything can be handled by the market. What happens to the select institutions that ought not be made private? As Francis puts it, how do we make sure we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water?