America First Policy Institute (AFPI)

AFPI was founded in 2021 by Brooke Rollins and Larry Kudlow as a 'Trump administration in exile,' and its identity is organized around fidelity to Donald Trump as the movement's figurehead rather than an internal cult-of-personality CEO. Leadership has rotated normally (Rollins to Sindelar in 2025), which is typical of a professional think tank, not a single irreplaceable charismatic leader. The orienting charismatic figure is Trump himself, external to the org.[1][3][12] AFPI describes itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank founded in 2021 to promote an America First public policy agenda, and its current leadership page lists Greg Sindelar as interim president and CEO, with Larry Kudlow as vice chair and several other senior officers.[1][8] Influence Watch likewise identifies AFPI as founded by Rollins and Kudlow, former Trump advisors, and notes that the organization supports policies of the Trump administration.[3] Monitoring Influence reports that AFPI was informally described as a 'White House in waiting' and that it 'remains faithful to Donald Trump,' reinforcing that the central charismatic reference point is Trump rather than an internally sacralized leader.[11][12]

AFPI's published handbook 'Biblical Foundation' frames the U.S. as 'a nation founded by people rooted in Biblical truth' and calls to 'maintain the foundational Judeo-Christian values' and 'bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth,' and leaders have described their work as a 'spiritual war.' This is a documented shared ideological/sacred assumption (Christian nationalist 'America First' creed). It functions as a political-religious premise rather than a coercively enforced belief among captive members.[1][2] AFPI's own website states that it exists to advance policies that put 'the American people first' and lists guiding principles including 'liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers, families, and communities in all we do.'[2] Right Wing Watch reports that AFPI claims 'biblical foundations' and asserts that 'The Ten Commandments and Christian teachings have been the foundation that created the American leg...' while GPAHE describes AFPI as advancing Christian nationalist rhetoric in its policy framing.[1][2] The evidence shows a shared sacralized worldview embedded in public messaging, but not a closed doctrinal system enforced as a membership test.

AFPI casts its work as a civilizational/existential mission to reclaim the country, with leaders framing it as a 'spiritual war' and advocating sweeping institutional change (e.g., abolishing the Department of Education, Schedule F mass civil-service firings). This is documented transcendent/movement framing typical of advocacy organizations, though the 'sacrifice' demanded is political effort, not personal destruction. It is a high-stakes mission framing rather than a sacrifice-justifying total ideology.[1][2] AFPI says it exists 'to advance policies that put the American people first' and describes its guiding principles as including 'national greatness' and 'American military superiority.'[2] Its public materials and allied reporting frame the agenda as restoring a threatened national order, including broad policy overhauls such as workforce, education, and civil-service changes.[1][2] The result is a mission language that elevates the organization’s goals above ordinary partisan programming, while still operating within conventional advocacy and think-tank structures.

AFPI is structured as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank and research institute, which points toward professional roles rather than mandated personal transformation. Its public descriptions emphasize policy development, research, and advocacy, not surrender of private identity or ritualized absorption into a collective self.[1][2][6] The organization says it was founded in 2021 to promote an America First public policy agenda, and its website describes it as a 'research institute' that advances policies for 'the American people.'[1][2] Digital Democracy Project describes AFPI as a nonprofit policy organization founded to develop and promote 'America First' policy proposals and to produce research and analysis for conservative reforms.[6] AFPI also maintains a conventional staff hierarchy on its team page, listing a president/CEO, vice chair, executive vice presidents, chiefs, and legal and policy officers.[8] That formal organizational structure suggests a standard professional identity centered on officeholders and expertise rather than a system that requires members to subsume individuality into a communal persona.

AFPI is not structurally an enclosed or separatist community; it is a public-facing think tank, advocacy, and litigation organization with a website, public policy centers, state chapters, and external partnerships.[2][6][8][14] Its website hosts ordinary consumer-facing pages such as 'about,' 'team,' 'issues,' 'privacy,' and membership-style sign-up or 'insider' pages, indicating outward recruitment rather than social isolation.[2][4][8] The organization says it exists to advance policies for 'the American people' and lists public policy areas, including economics, litigation, education, immigration, and state action.[2][8] Digital Democracy Project says AFPI frequently collaborates with like-minded policy and advocacy organizations and is associated with former Trump-administration officials and allied conservative legal groups.[6] A public think-tank model like this does not normally restrict members from outside contact, and the available materials do not show enforced separation from family, work, or broader society.

AFPI uses a distinctive in-group political vernacular ('America First,' 'woke,' 'weaponized' government, 'Schedule F,' 'spiritual war') characteristic of the broader MAGA movement. This is standard political branding/jargon shared across a movement rather than a secret coded language designed to bind captive members. Documented but weak as a cultiness marker.[1] AFPI's own website repeats movement shorthand such as 'America First,' 'put the American people first,' and 'our guiding principles,' while an 'America First Insider' page invites supporters to 'become an insider in Washington' and 'help shape the policy and personnel leading our great nation.'[1][2] Those phrases show a recognizable movement lexicon and insider framing, but they are public-facing rhetorical devices rather than a private vocabulary reserved for an enclosed membership.

Reporting documents AFPI's polarizing us-vs-them framing: it characterizes government institutions as 'weaponized' against Trump, uses 'woke' as a catch-all enemy label, and frames cultural issues as cultural preservation versus existential threat. Co-founder Pam Bondi is described as having a history of targeting Trump's political opponents. This adversarial framing is documented, though typical of partisan advocacy generally.[1][2] AFPI's public materials also frame foreign-policy and education disputes in adversarial terms, including concern about hostile outside actors and efforts to limit what it sees as harmful influence.[2][3] Media coverage has described AFPI as right-biased and closely affiliated with Trump, while The New York Times said the group had 'the look of a Trump administration in waiting.'[4][5] The available evidence supports a strong in-group/out-group political frame, but not a sealed social world with compulsory shunning.

AFPI's public materials do not document exploitation of labor in the classic cult sense, but they do show a strong policy focus on labor regulation, wages, and employer obligations. AFPI has published materials on work, jobs, and overtime rules, including a public comment on the Department of Labor's salaried overtime rule.[1][2] The organization also positions itself as advancing the 'primacy of American workers' and claims its policy agenda is designed to benefit workers and families.[2] Separate research from the Economic Policy Institute notes that wage theft and overtime violations are common problems in the labor market, including employers paying less than the minimum wage or failing to pay overtime, but that is general labor-market context rather than evidence that AFPI itself exploits labor.[3][4] ProPublica's nonprofit filing data and AFPI's public profile can be used to inspect compensation and finances, but the provided results do not show documented abusive labor practices by AFPI.[5][6] On the current evidence, labor exploitation is not established; only labor-policy advocacy and standard nonprofit employment structure are documented.

AFPI appears to have meaningful reputational and career-linked exit costs because many of its leaders and alumni are deeply embedded in Trump-world politics rather than in a neutral professional labor market. Wikipedia notes that 73 of its alumni had been hired by the Trump administration, indicating that AFPI functions as a staffing and credentialing hub for a broader political network.[1] The organization was founded by former Trump administration officials and is described by multiple outlets as a 'White House in waiting' or a group closely tied to the Trump movement.[1][3][12] This kind of networked affiliation can raise exit costs in the sense that departure may mean losing access to a political patronage ecosystem, future appointments, donor networks, and aligned media opportunities.[1][3][11][12] AFPI's public opposition work also suggests a litigation- and influence-centered culture, such as its threat of legal action over a school course and its broad policy campaigns, which can further tie personnel to a continuing movement infrastructure.[3][14] The current evidence supports network-based exit costs, but not coercive retention or formal barriers to leaving.

AFPI's public activity includes aggressive legal and political tactics that can be read as instrumental 'ends justify the means' behavior in a partisan advocacy setting. CREW reports that AFPI's state chapters have been led by election deniers, including Doug Collins in Georgia, tying the institute to figures who challenged the legitimacy of the 2020 election.[1] AFPI has publicly filed or threatened litigation against targets such as Meta and HHS, and its own website describes requests for government records that explicitly sought terms like 'misinformation,' 'fake news,' and 'narrative.'[2][5] AP also reported that AFPI said its systems were breached by 'hostile foreign actors,' underscoring its posture in information conflict.[6] SourceWatch says AFPI launched a 'Center for Election Integrity' that aimed to 'amplify the importance of voter identi...' and AFPI's Election Integrity work sits inside a broader campaign to shape election administration and public perceptions.[4][7] These facts document hardball political tactics and a willingness to use litigation, investigations, and election-fraud framing to advance goals, though they do not by themselves prove illegality or universal endorsement of unethical conduct.