Council for National Policy

Council for National Policy

Background

The Council for National Policy (CNP) has been described as an “umbrella” group of conservative political figures in the United States1Council for National Policy,” Greenpeace. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/E8sym and is funded in part by Koch Family Foundations.2Adam Clymer. “Conservatives gather in umbrella council for a national policy,” New York Times, May 20, 1981. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/sK0dF

According to The New York Times, CNP is made up of “a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country.”3David D. Kirkpatrick. “THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: THE CONSERVATIVES,” New York Times, August 28, 2004. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/MgQmu The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a hate-group-watchdog and legal advocacy organization, described CNP as “a key venue where mainstream conservatives and extremists mix.4”Heidi Beirich, Mark Potok. “The Council for National Policy: Behind the Curtain,” Southern Poverty Law Center, May 17, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bxULi

While most of its website is restricted and only accessible to members, the CNP’s homepage states the group believes in “limiting the size and scope of government,” that “the Founding Fathers created this nation based upon Judeo-Christian values and that our culture flourishes when we uphold them,” and that “America, a nation founded on the premise that ‘all men are created equal,’ is worth defending.”5Homepage,” Council for National Policy. Archived August 23, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/Fum03

The group was founded in 1981 by a number of wealthy individuals including Christian fundamentalist leader Tim LaHaye, oil company executive and once the world’s richest man, Nelson Bunker Hunt, and co-founder of both the Heritage Foundation and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Paul Weyrich, and Leadership Institute founder and president Morton Blackwell among others.6Heidi Beirich, Mark Potok. “The Council for National Policy: Behind the Curtain,” Southern Poverty Law Center, May 17, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bxULi 7Robert D. McFadden. “Tim LaHaye Dies at 90; Fundamentalist Leader’s Grisly Novels Sold Millions,” New York Times, July 25, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/0lBeV 8Rupert Cornwell. “Nelson Bunker Hunt dead: Former world’s richest man dies in ‘modest circumstances’ in US after losing his fortune,” Independent, October 22, 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/sObB0

In the 1960s and 1970s, Tim LaHaye was active in the John Birch Society (JBS), a “conspiracist group” that faced charges of racism and anti-Semitism since its earliest days according to the SPLC, which noted the group “opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960s, saying the African-American freedom movement was being manipulated from Moscow with the goal of creating a ‘Soviet Negro Republic’ in the Southern United States.”9Don Terry. “BRINGING BACK BIRCH,” Southern Poverty Law Center, March 1, 2013. Archived September 1, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/oCCgO

CNP membership, as revealed by leaks of its membership directories, include a mix of powerful conservative and evangelical leaders. Just some examples include American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) CEO Lisa Nelson, Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, State Policy Network (SPN) president and CEO Tracie Sharp, FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon, and Lawson Bader of DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Evangelical, anti-choice, and anti-LGBT groups are well represented at CNP, with multiple members from the Family Research Council, the Family Policy Alliance, Focus on the Family, the Susan B. Anthony List among many others.

In 2016, the group backed Ted Cruz, rival of Donald Trump, in the United States Presidential primaries. In 2020, Trump gave a speech at a CNP meeting.10Betsy Swan. “Inside the Doomed Conservative Dump-Trump Plot,” Daily Beast, March 18, 2016. August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/VxJAl 11President Trump Delivers Remarks at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting,” YouTube video uploaded by user The White House on August 21, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

CNP Membership & Document Leaks

March 2022

A CNP membership list was shared by a member of CNP in January 2022 and obtained by Documented.

October 2020

Documented obtained a large collection of leaked CNP documents in 2020. Its archive of CNP materials included (via DocumentCloud):

2020

2019

2018

2017

Documented also obtained and published internal videos from the Council for National Policy’s secret meetings. “Members of the press are not welcome at the events, and participants are warned against revealing anything that is said. Despite this, Documented has obtained and is publishing 59 recordings from inside CNP meetings between 2017 and 2020, providing an insiders perspective on how the right has organized during the Trump administration,” Documented reported.12Recordings and Materials From Council for National Policy Meetings,” Documented, November 10, 2021.

August 2020

Reporter Max Blumenthal obtained CNP‘s full October 2018 membership list. “The CNP’s personnel comprise a blend of conservative movement leaders, industry moneymen, foreign policy hardliners, and culture war activists enforcing right-wing unity at the base of a Republican Party that has cohered around the doctrine of ultra-nationalist Trumpism,” Blumenthal wrote at The Grayzone.13Max Blumenthal. “This is the full membership list of the Christian Right’s secretive and powerful Council for National Policy,” The Grayzone, August 30, 2020. Archived November 27, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/hAQXA

May 2016

In May 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a leaked copy of the CNP’s 2014 membership and staff directory that included a list of 413 members which the SPLC described as a “Who’s Who of the Right.”14Heidi Beirich, Mark Potok. “The Council for National Policy: Behind the Curtain,” Southern Poverty Law Center, May 17, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bxULi 15Membership Directory 2014 (PDF),” Council for National Policy (leaked by Southern Poverty Law Center), 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

An SPLC article coinciding with the leaked directory wrote, “the list is surprising, not so much for the conservatives who dominate it — activists of the religious right and the so-called ‘culture wars,’ along with a smattering of wealthy financiers, Congressional operatives, right-wing consultants and Tea Party enthusiasts — but for the many real extremists who are included.”16Heidi Beirich, Mark Potok. “The Council for National Policy: Behind the Curtain,” Southern Poverty Law Center, May 17, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bxULi

The directory listed issues that interested each of its members. SPLC analyzed those categories and found the two most predominant issues were “international/islamophobia” and “sexual morality/anti-LGBT.”17Heidi Beirich, Mark Potok. “The Council for National Policy: Behind the Curtain,” Southern Poverty Law Center, May 17, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bxULi

Statement and Values (2014)

Mission Statement: 18Membership Directory 2014 (PDF),” Council for National Policy (leaked by Southern Poverty Law Center), 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

To advance freedom by bringing together business, cultural, defense, educational, religious and public policy leaders to address the great issues confronting America.”

Vision Statement: 19Membership Directory 2014 (PDF),” Council for National Policy (leaked by Southern Poverty Law Center), 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

A united conservative movement to assure, by 2020, policy leadership and governance that restores religious and economic freedom, a strong national defense, and Judeo-Christian values under the Constitution.”

Values:

  1. Protect and Advance Essential Liberties
  2. Promote Networking
  3. Commit to Accuracy
  4. Lead and Influence Others
  5. Practice Integrity
  6. Exercise Mutual Respect
  7. Encourage Unity

Rules and Regulations

The CNP’s history has been shrouded in secrecy. According to publiceye.org (now Political Research Associates), a memorandum from executive director Morton C. Blackwell listed a number of rules and regulations that CNP members needed to adhere to. These were:20Rules and regulations,” Public Eye. August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/1Wbr8

  • Special guests may attend only with advance unanimous approval of the Executive Committee. 
  • The solicitation of funds on a one-to-one basis is prohibited at meetings. 
  • Council meetings are closed to the media and the general public. The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before or after a meeting. 
  • Speakers’ remarks at Council meetings are off the record and not for circulation later, except with special permission.
  • Members and guests are requested to keep in their personal possession their registration packets and other materials distributed at the meeting. 
  • Our membership list is strictly confidential and should not be shared outside the Council.
  • Fundraising from the list is also prohibited. 
  • Members are asked to avoid organizing and attending formal meetings of other groups or organizations in the same city before, during or immediately after a Council meeting.

Stance on Climate Change

The CNP has not publicized its stance on climate change. Various members of the group, however, have denied the scientific consensus on climate change, and the CNP’s exclusive events have involved speakers casting doubt on the dangers of global warming and criticizing policies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change.21Council for National Policy,” Greenpeace. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/E8sym

Funding

The following values are a combination of records from the Conservative Transparency project and original research of available 990 forms by DeSmog.22Council for National Policy,” Conservative Transparency. Accessed September 2, 2020.

View the attached spreadsheet for additional information on Council for National Policy’s funding by year (.xlsx).

DonorTotal
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation$490,000
Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation$277,500
Mercer Family Foundation$275,000
DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative$240,000
DonorsTrust$211,000
Richard and Helen Devos Foundation$130,000
American Values$109,652
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation$100,000
National Christian Charitable Foundation$91,160
Armstrong Foundation$82,000
Holman Foundation$80,000
It Takes A Family Foundation$66,800
Judicial Watch$60,000
Media Research Center$40,950
Castle Rock Foundation$40,000
George Edward Durell Foundation$30,000
Heritage Foundation$30,000
George E Coleman Jr Foundation$17,500
Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation$17,250
The Randolph Foundation$15,000
National Philanthropic Trust$15,000
The Vernon K. Krieble Foundation$13,750
Lynn & Foster Friess Family Foundation$13,333
Floyd Foundation$13,000
Family Research Council$5,000
Grand Total$2,463,895

The Center for Media and Democracy noted Richard DeVos, who also donated a sizeable amount to CNP via his affiliated foundations, is a former president of CNP. The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, the DeVos’s parents’ family charity, was also a donor.23Alex Kotch. “Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing,” Exposed by CMD, May 15, 2020. Archived September 2, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/BJr9f

990 Forms

Key People

2017–2022 Directories

DeSmog reviewed sample directories from Documenteds 2020 leak of CNP documents from 2017 to 2022.

2022

Copies of the 2020 and prior directories were shared by Documented on DocumentCloud:

2020

2019

2018

2017

Below is DeSmog’s analysis of CNP membership, year over year (scroll right to view more information)

View the attached spreadsheet for a full breakdown of CNP members by associated company, their spouses, committee representation here (.xlsx).

Staff (2017–2020 Directory)

Name2017201820192020Title
Amy D. GreeneYYYYDirector of Programs
Bob McEwenYYYYExecutive Director
Diana L. HonseyYYYYDirector of Constituent Services
Geneva ColeYYYYDirector of Membership
Hunter E. Gomez Y  Staff Assistant
Jennifer A. RutledgeYYYYDirector of Finance and Administration
Mary Margaret HathwayYYYYDirector of Conferences
Randy J. KeefeYYYYSpecial Assistant to the Executive Director
Sherri D. FrancesconYYYYManaging Director, CNP Action/Special Projects Manager, CNP
Thomas Olson  YYStaff Assistant

2014 CNP Directory

According to a leaked directory, the following key people were involved in CNP as of 2014: [4], 24Membership Directory 2014 (PDF),” Council for National Policy (leaked by Southern Poverty Law Center), 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Executive Committee Officers

  • Stuart W. Epperson – President
  • Tony Perkins – Vice President
  • John H. Scribante – Secretary/Treasurer

Executive Committee Members

  • J. Kenneth Blackwell
  • Morton C. Blackwell
  • Rich P. Bott
  • L. Brent Bozell, III
  • Kellyanne Conway
  • Trent England
  • Sandra S. Froman
  • Joseph R. Gregory
  • Rebecca Hagelin
  • Colin A. Hanna
  • J. Keet Lewis, III
  • Jenny Beth Martin
  • Phyliss Schlafly
  • Marcia Taylor
  • Ray F. Thompson
  • Richard A. Viguerie – Senior Executive Committee Member

CNP Action, Inc. Board of Directors Officers

  • Gary Aldrich – President
  • Kirk Elliott – Secretary
  • Ken W. Campbell – Treasurer

CNP Action, Inc. Board of Directors Members

  • Morton C. Blackwell
  • Thomas Fitton
  • Penny Pullen
  • Phyllis Schlafly
  • Mike Spence

Past presidents

  • Becky Norton Dunlop (2007 – 2011)
  • Kenneth Cribb, Jr (2004 – 2007)
  • Donald Paul Hodel (2002 – 2004)
  • James C. Miller III (1998 – 2002)
  • Foster Friess (1997 – 1998)
  • Edwin Meese III (1993 – 1997)
  • Rich DeVos (1986 – 1988, 1990 – 1993)
  • Paul Pressler (1988 – 1990)
  • M.G. “Pat” Robertson (1985 – 1986)
  • Sam Moore (1984 – 1985)
  • Nelson Bunker Hunt (1983 – 1984)
  • Tom Ellis (1982 – 1983)
  • Tim LaHaye (1981 – 1982)

Staff

  • Geneva Cole – Membership Development and communications coordinator
  • Amy D. Greene – Director of Programs
  • Mary Margaret Hathway – Director of Conferences
  • Jennifer A. Rutledge – Director of Finance and Administration
  • Diana Seutter – Member Services/Events Coordinator
  • Christina M. Stauffer – Intern
  • Clark R. Wise – Managing Director, Special Events and Presentations, Director of Congressional Affairs, Membership Directory Coordinator

Regular members from the 2014 directory included former chief strategist in the Trump Administration Steve Bannon, chairman of business magazine Forbes Steve Forbes, and anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney.25Membership Directory 2014 (PDF),” Council for National Policy (leaked by Southern Poverty Law Center), 2014. Archived August 27, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 26Ben Jervey. “Steve Forbes Echoes Koch Talking Points on Electric Car Tax Credit,” DeSmog, April 29, 2019. 27Philip Bump. “Meet Frank Gaffney, the anti-Muslim gadfly reportedly advising Donald Trump’s transition team,” Washington Post, November 16, 2016. Archived August 27, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/YDW9k

Actions

October 26, 2020

Documented reported on newly released video recordings suggesting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was working with state legislators to question the validity of the 2020 election.28Jamie Corey. “NEWLY SURFACED RECORDING REVEALS ALEC AND GOP ELECTION ATTORNEYS WORKING WITH STATE LEGISLATORS TO QUESTION VALIDITY OF ELECTION,” Documented, October 26, 2020. Archived December 3, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/tRqeG

ALEC‘s CEO Lisa Nelson commented that ALEC had been working with attorneys on “action items that legislators can take to question the validity of an election.”

“Obviously we all want President Trump to win and win the national vote. But it’s very clear from all the comments and all the suggestions up front that really what it comes down to is the states and the state legislators,” Nelson said. She added she had been working with Heritage Foundation lawyer Hans Von Spakovsky and Cleta Mitchell “trying to identify what are those action items that legislators can take in their states.”

They can write a letter to the secretary of state questioning the validity of an election and saying what did happen that night,” Nelson said. “So we are drafting a lot of those things. If you have ideas in that area, let us know and we’ll get those to the state legislators and they can start to kind of exercise their political muscle in that area.”

August 21, 2020

U.S President Donald Trump gave a speech at a CNP meeting where he criticized the Paris Climate Agreement, a global agreement under the United Nations to deal with greenhouse gas emissions which Trump pulled the U.S out of in 2017: 29President Trump Delivers Remarks at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting,” YouTube video uploaded by user The White House on August 21, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

I withdrew from the one sided Paris… If you see it, the Paris Climate, I call it the Paris Climate Disaster. This was a way of taking advantage of the United States. We wouldn’t be able to drill, we wouldn’t be able to frack, we wouldn’t have energy. Russia went way back into the dirtiest years, China didn’t even come into it until 2030 or 2035 and when they did, they came in very lightly. We came in immediately and we would have had to close down many, many businesses in order to achieve the goals that they set, which are totally unrealistic. It was a disaster.”30President Trump Delivers Remarks at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting,” YouTube video uploaded by user The White House on August 21, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

April 2020

The Intercept, in partnership with Documented, reported on audio recordings obtained from a February 2020 strategy session sponsored by CNP. The recordings discussed a plan to have Republican poll watchers at “’inner city’ and predominantly Native American precincts” and included recruiting off-duty police officers and veterans.31Lee Fang and Nick Surgey. “CONSERVATIVE OPERATIVES FLOAT PLAN TO PLACE RETIRED MILITARY, POLICE OFFICERS AS GOP POLL WATCHERS ON ELECTION DAY,” The Intercept, April 11, 2020. Archived December 7, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/WVnwZ

You get some [Navy] Seals in those polls and they’re going to say, ‘No, no, this is what it says. This is how we’re going to play this show,’” Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, said in the audio. “That’s what we need. We need people who are unafraid to call it like they see it.”

“Using former soldiers and law enforcement as poll watchers was banned in 1981 by a judicial consent decree imposed on the Republican Party, but that ban was lifted in 2018 when a New Jersey judge declined to renew it,” The Intercept noted.

Engelbrecht outlined strategies include a phone app and other tools to monitor battleground states for alleged fraud. She claimed Democrats would use “mob rule” and fraudulent votes to win the election. “The swarming tactics of a radicalized socialist mindset is a dangerous thing to behold,” she said.

One identified meeting participate suggested Democrats have relied on voter fraud among Native American communities to win elections.

Trent England, executive director of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, commented:

“Do you want to go into an inner city precinct or a tribal precinct and be the Republican there to oversee things? I mean, that is not a comfortable place to be and that is where the fraud happens,” said England. “We have to find people.”

In response to the presentation, RNC member Morton Blackwell said he would push the RNC to “devote significant resources” into “ballot integrity.” He added that with the previous court-ordered ban lifted, the RNC now had “unrestricted authority to weigh in on ballot security operations.”

The 1981 judicial consent decree had originally been imposed as a result of the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election, where, as the Intercept described, “RNC officials sent nonforwardable letters to voters in heavily African American neighborhoods. The party then recruited off-duty police officers, many of whom reportedly carried holstered guns, to patrol nonwhite precincts with lists of people whose names appeared on the 45,000 bounced letters, claiming that the list was enough evidence to show they were illegally voting.” The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit over the tactic, which resulted in the court order.

Heritage Foundation fellow Hans von Spakovsky commented in the CNP audio, “That consent decree was one of the dumbest things that they ever did.”

Engelbrecht called for collaboration between conservative groups such as the Republican National Lawyers Association on ways to challenge voter registrations.

We have to have someone to be able to pass the baton off to. Because of the New Jersey consent decree, we are rusty,” said Engelbrecht.

May 21, 2019

The Washington Post reported Leonard Leo of The Federalist and “President Trump’s unofficial judicial adviser” had outlined a plan on judicial confirmations at a closed-door meeting of the CNP.32A conservative activist’s behind-the-scenes campaign to remake the nation’s courts,” The Washington Post, May 21, 2019. Archived December 8, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/uQJli

We’re going to have to understand that judicial confirmations these days are more like political campaigns,” Leo told the members of the Council for National Policy, according to a recording of the speech obtained by The Washington Post. “We’re going to have to be smart as a movement.”

The Post described how Leo raised over $250 million in “dark money” through nonprofits not required to disclose their donors used in part to support conservative judges and policies.

“The groups in Leo’s network often work in concert and are linked to Leo and one another by finances, shared board members, phone numbers, addresses, back-office support and other operational details, according to tax filings, incorporation records, other documents and interviews,” The Post noted. 

Nine of the groups hired the  conservative media relations firm, Creative Response Concepts (CRC) and paid the group more than $10 million in contracting fees from 2016 to 2017. During that time, CRC coordinated a media campaign supporting Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil M. Gorsuch. 

The Freedom and Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit Leo launched in 2016, gave $4 million in two years to the Independent Women’s Voice, a group that has supported Trump supreme court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. 

CNP board member Rebecca Hagelin recognized Leo’s efforts to reshape the Supreme Court. 

He is one of us. He cares about the Constitution. He understands that elections may come and go, but judges with lifetime appointments … are going to be here for a long time,” She told attendees of the CNP event. “And this is perhaps where Donald Trump is making his greatest, longest-lasting effort. But he’s doing it based on a lot of the work by Leonard Leo. And today I’m so pleased to introduce him.”

October 2018

Documented and The Intercept reported how conservative activist James O’Keefe planned to collect undercover tapes aimed at embarrassing Democratic Senate candidates, speaking at a CNP gathering in Charlotte:33PROVOCATEUR JAMES O’KEEFE HAS MORE AMBUSH VIDEOS ON KEY SENATE RACES, HE TELLS SECRETIVE GOP DONOR CONFAB,” The Intercept, October 18, 2018. Archived December 7, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/T9cob

“I’m going to tell you, in the coming weeks, my organization, Project Veritas Action, has spent the last year undercover inside the office,” O’Keefe said “And all legally filmed, all legally obtained, most of it was filmed outside of federal buildings. But we have hidden cam videotapes of U.S. senators and their staffers, and we’re going to release them starting next week up until the election.”

The Intercept interviewed some of the event’s attendees, while the event itself was closed to the media. Among those attending included a representative from CRC Public Relations, the public relations firmed used by the Judicial Crisis Network to help build support for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court.34AT SECRETIVE RETREAT, EVANGELICALS CELEBRATE BRETT KAVANAUGH’S CONFIRMATION,” The Intercept, October 7, 2018. Archived December 7, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/I4xyA

February 2019

Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Hans von Spakovsky, testified against H.R.1. or the For the People Act. The bill would modify lobbyist registration, campaign finance, and introduce laws to make it harder for lawmakers to gerrymander. In prepared testimony, Spakovsky called the bill “clearly unconstitutional” and said it would “come at the expense of federalism.” As reported at The Intercept, he later expanded on his views of the bill in a private CNP gathering that included “a who’s who of conservative pundits, evangelical pastors, and other religious right leaders, as well as Republican office holders.”35Lee Fang and Nick Surgey. “CONSERVATIVE EXPERT PRIVATELY WARNED GOP DONORS THAT A VOTING RIGHTS BILL WOULD HELP DEMOCRATS,” The Intercept, February 27, 2019. Archived December 7, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/57v2e

At the CNP meeting, von Spakovsky criticized a provision which would create independent nonpartisan commissions do determine congressional boundaries, which would work to curb partisan gerrymandering. He described it as a “really bad provision.” He said the proposed law was a “a violation of federal law to engage in partisan redistricting.” 

So if you favor the Republican Party,” in drawing the districts “you’re going to be violating federal law,” he said. 

The law would contain provisions to help make it easier to vote, like allowing for early voting in federal elections for 15 days. In closing, von Spakovsky said this early voting could undermine the GOP‘s attempt to employ “poll watchers.”

It is tough enough getting enough folks on our side to be poll watchers on Election Day,” von Spakovsky said at the event. “If you have to find poll watchers for three or four weeks before an election, at numerous early voting sites, that is next to impossible.”

February 2018

Dennis Prager spoke at a CNP event, as shown in videos obtained by Documented. Below are some excerpts from Prager’s speech:36Recordings and Materials From Council for National Policy Meetings,Documented, November 10, 2021.

“[00:09:00] I am much closer to a liberal than I am to a leftist with a liberal. I can dialogue. I don’t have to defeat liberals. I have to defeat leftists. And here is a classic example. Liberalism believed in racial integration. Liberalism believed that race does not matter. Leftism believes race matters. Leftism believes in black dorms, in black graduations. Liberals didn’t. That was called segregation. Segregation was considered racist. Liberalism hated racism. Leftism thrives on racism. That is the difference. “

[…]

[00:10:23] “The idea of defending Western civilization is dismissed as a white supremacist idea by the left. Liberals love or loved Western civilization. The left despises it. “

[…]

[00:11:30] “Liberals, unfortunately, are weak. They are not bad. They’re weak. […] Their enemy, the enemy of liberalism, is leftism. The friend of liberalism is conservatism.”

We believe in open. We believe in free speech. We believe in free markets. We believe in Western civilization. We believe in tolerance. The left doesn’t believe in any of those.”

[00:20:30] All a kid needs is a lot of love and a good education, and they’ll be a wonderful human being. That’s what they believe. But it’s not true. A lot of love and a lot of education is a well educated barbarian. You need standards. You need to feel morally accountable for your behavior.
[00:20:50] To whom will you be morally accountable? The founders understood to a God who has a moral code, who judges human beings. If you are morally accountable, if you are to use a phrase that is dead, God fearing, you might be a better person. 

[00:23:00] Bonhoeffer feared God more than Hitler. So he died rather than serve Hitler. Too few Christians fear God more than Hitler. It is a tragedy. But that’s what happened. “

[00:23:13] You have to fear, God, fear. And by the way, there’s one other person or one other being you’re supposed to fear. You know who that is? Your parents. It’s very powerful. This stuff is awesome.

[…]

[00:51:33] the left wishes to obliterate all distinctions. Man is God. Oh, another distinction. Man and animal. We are man. The human being is just another animal. There is no gender distinction there. It’s non-binary. That’s their phrase that they use. Good and evil are matters of opinion. One man’s good is another man’s evil and one man’s freedom fighter. Another is another man’s terrorist. They are obliterating all distinctions.

[…]

[00:52:27] The obliteration of male female distinction was the essential argument for same sex marriage. And I and I said it at the beginning. I said the argument is very, very dangerous. The argument was, gender doesn’t matter. Love matters. I told you, love is one of the false gods of our time and I have it in my rational Bible as a whole. 

[…]

[00:56:43] Because of the great, great line of Psalms, wisdom begins with fear of God, no fear of God, no wisdom. That’s why the stupidest place in America is the university, because it’s the most godless place in the in the United States. [00:57:00]

[…]

[00:57:42] I just spoke in Atlanta two days ago at a black college to six black students for about 40 minutes. And they were all they were absolutely certain they’re oppressed. When I said to them, I don’t believe you’re oppressed. They were stunned. And I said, not only do I not think you’re oppressed, I don’t think women are oppressed in America either. They were shocked about that. I am convinced they had never been face to face with a human being in America who said to them that they’re not oppressed [00:58:21]

May 2009

At a CNP meeting, TV host Mark Levin said:37Liberty and Tyranny,” Council for National Policy. Archived July 18, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

And now on to global warming, which I think they now call ‘manmade climate change’ because it’s colder than hotter.

Obama, Congress, and the EPA want to define as a matter of law, not science, carbon dioxide which you exhale as you breathe as a pollutant, which in turn must be reduced and regulated, and in order to do this, the Federal Government would have the power to dictate carbon dioxide emission levels and fine and punish those who exceed them.

In essence, this would empower the government to dictate economic and personal decisions at virtually every level of our economy. Breathing.”

August 2008

In a CNP speech, U.S House of Representatives member Michele Bachmann said:“38A View from Congress,” Council for National Policy. Archived September 12, 2011. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

            “Global warmism is not a scientific consensus; it is a belief system.”

September 2007

Former president of the Czech Republic and outspoken climate change skeptic Vaclav Klaus spoke at a meeting for the CNP. In his talk, titled “What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?” Klaus said:39What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?Council for National Policy. Archived September 14, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

The increase in global temperatures in the last years, decades and centuries has been very small and because of its size practically negligible in its actual impact upon human beings and their activities.”

February 11, 2006

Competitive Enterprise Institute founder Fred L. Smith spoke at a meeting of the CNP in Henderson, NV, on February 11, 2006. His talk was titled “Ego-Paganism – Eco- Socialism Severe Threats to Americas Future”:40“Ego-Paganism – Eco- Socialism Severe Threats to Americas Future,” Council for National Policy. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/pXCQK

Environmentalism poses a real and present danger to America’s future,” Smith declared in his remarks. “[…] The environmental problem is not that there is too much private property, but rather that there is too little.” He concluded that “Conservatives must reject, not compromise with, the eco-pagan and eco-socialist biases proffered by the environmental establishment.”

Council for National Policy Contact & Location

As of August 2020, the CNP lists the following contact information on its website:49Homepage,” Council for National Policy. Archived August 23, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/Fum03

Council for National Policy

444 North Capitol Street NW

Suite 830

Washington DC 20001

202.207.0165

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