When then-President Donald Trump finally arrived in Washington, the “swamp” he had railed against for a year on the campaign trail was ready.
Heavily liberal — 50% Democratic to 26% Republican in one key survey — the bureaucracy was fired up to shut him down. Few of the president’s Cabinet members felt that sting more than Ben Carson at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Carson recalled that not only were Democratic senators holding up the confirmation of his top picks, but longtime bureaucrats were angling to stall his program changes until Trump was gone.
“They move things along expeditiously that they agree with. They put obstacles in the way of things they don’t agree with, and sometimes, they can drag something out until they get someone of their liking in office. It’s a sad fact,” Carson said in an interview.
But instead of just taking that sour medicine forever, the brain surgeon is coming up with a cure.
“We need to try to bring some equity” and bolster the ranks of conservatives in government, said Carson, who formed the American Cornerstone Institute after leaving office.
His plan is to draw up a college-level program for conservative students, congressional staffers, and business leaders that will make it easier for them to get hired and quickly influence federal policy on the staff level where decisions are made and implemented.
“Many of us at HUD had not really worked in the federal government and had to blaze our own trail,” said Carson. “Why should everybody have to blaze this trail? Why not let them benefit from the experiences that we’ve had?”
Carson calls his program the “Executive Branch for America,” and it will be offered free to conservative colleges known for feeding students into government. It features interviews of several Trump- and Bush-era officials talking about how they got into government and the tips to succeeding.
The interviews were conducted by former Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders, now running for governor of Arkansas. “Serving our country and the American people in the White House was the honor of a lifetime. It was demanding, rewarding, and challenging. It’s difficult to prepare yourself for that kind of experience, but that is exactly what Dr. Carson and the American Cornerstone Institute are accomplishing with the Executive Branch for America program,” she told Secrets.
Among those she interviewed for the project so far have been former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Trump political director Brian Jack.
Jack told us, “Developing case studies from our stories, Dr. Carson and American Cornerstone Institute will enable the next generation of conservative leaders to learn best practices and explore different career paths to the White House and future Republican administrations.”
Andrew Hughes, the CEO and executive director of the American Cornerstone Institute, said when he was in government, it “oftentimes felt like drinking out of a fire hose as private citizens, like myself, were quickly required to learn how to navigate unfamiliar processes.”
The new program, he added, will provide new hires “with the tools and knowledge they need to hit the ground running as they aspire to play a role in the vast and winding federal government.”
The change could come fast and furious if Trump runs and wins in 2024, said top ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “One of the things that stand out to me is he knows who his enemies are in Washington. And I think when he comes back, he will definitely drain the swamp,” she said in an interview. “I fully believe that President Trump will be coming back with a vengeance.”
