An ‘America First’ transition: Ready on day one

OPINION:

In theory, winning a presidential election should be the ultimate expression of the people choosing the direction of the executive branch of which policies they want to see enacted over the next four years. The idea is simple enough. In reality, however, an election is only just the beginning. The enactment of the policies that define a presidency is oftentimes left to the whims of unelected bureaucrats who seek to slow-walk or completely stop the will of the people. 

On November 5, 2024, an incoming administration will have less than three months—only 76 days—to prepare for the inauguration and the start of a new presidency. Among other priorities, this includes hiring a small army of appointees and developing a suite of mature policies. But perhaps most importantly, a new America First presidency will have to confront an entrenched administrative state – the principal barrier to effectively carrying out a presidential policy agenda.  

Of all the major institutions created in the past hundred years, the administrative state is at once the most consequential and the most threatening. It usurps the power of the people and their elected officials and leverages knowledge of the bureaucratic process to pursue its own agenda. This subversion of the Constitution used to occur mostly in the shadows, but in the last administration, we saw corrupt actors of the administrative state boldly and openly undermine the elected President in favor of their own policy goals.

The mission of the America First Transition Project is to ensure that any incoming administration is prepared to take over the reins of government by creating a plan for what they must do to rein in the administrative state and quickly advance an America First agenda. Put simply, our work will help ensure the next administration is ready on day one. Delayed transition planning efforts only benefit the entrenched bureaucracy, the political elites, and the status quo.

Our work will help restore the relationship between the people and their government. As it stands, this relationship is broken. Overcoming the obstacles erected by entrenched liberal bureaucrats is too big a task for any one organization. The work we’re engaged in builds on the key strength of our organization—our people were on the ground last time.

Many of the America First Transition Project’s staff and advisors were inside the White House and government agencies. Our team includes nine former Cabinet officials and 20 former White House Senior Staff members, drawing on the real-world experience of more than 400 former senior leaders who served in the trenches of government, worked closely with an America First White House, and were in the Oval Office when decisions were made to put America First. This group has experience that is unmatched by any previous presidential transition effort, and it has spent this past year building action plans for 30 departments and agencies. 

We know where the swamp hid their landmines and how they use their knowledge of the bureaucratic process to thwart the elected President and his appointees and advance their own agenda. We know what works and what doesn’t, and we know what we need to do to get our government working for the American people again.

Since 2021, we’ve seen three years of bad policies that have hurt Americans’ economic prosperity and risked our national security. An America First administration must be ready to turn the tide immediately. Hitting the ground running on day one of the next conservative administration will be no easy task. We have witnessed how the unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy thinks they are in charge. And now, we know that conservatives must assemble a bigger and better-prepared team to tackle these challenges. The next administration must bring a game plan to overcome the dangerous resistance to enacting the policy agenda of the elected president.

The clock is ticking. The American people think our country is moving in the wrong direction. It’s going to take a lot of work with our partners to get our country back on track. Together with our partners in the conservative movement, we can make America’s economy the greatest in the world; restore America’s historic commitment to freedom, equality, and self-governance; build the wall, end human trafficking, and defeat the cartels; deliver peace through strength; and return our nation to the ideals of its founding—that government works for us, the people, and not the other way around. Day in and day out, the America First Policy Institute, through its America First Transition Project, seeks to tackle this incredibly difficult task.