Heritage Explains

President Trump’s posture toward the war in Ukraine is very different from his predecessor. To understand what we might expect to see in Ukraine over the next few weeks, months, and years, I sat down with Rob Greenway, Director of the Allison Center for National Security, here at the Heritage Foundation—Follow Rob Greenway on X: https://x.com/rc_greenway?lang=enLearn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org—Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

American taxpayer money can be used to great effect, and we like to think that our civil institutions would always be dedicated to delivering such good return on investment. But that is not always so. The Trump Administration’s DOGE effort has shed much light in recent weeks on waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government. Now the spotlight has been turned on NIH. Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Jay Greene has been studying the federal grant process through NIH for many years, and has warned that the system has its problems. —Follow Jay Greene on X: https://x.com/jaypgreene Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org—Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

On January 28th, President Trump signed an executive order on banning the use of federal funds for so-called “gender transitions”. But some states Attorneys general have taken exception to this, and filed suit. Here to explain their position, and its likelihood for success, is Heritage Senior Legal Fellow, Sarah Parshall Perry. —Follow Sarah Perry on X:https://x.com/SarahPPerryFollow Chloe Cole on X:https://x.com/ChoooColeLearn more about The Heritage Foundation:www.heritage.org—Have thoughts? Let us know atheritageexplains@heritage.org

$32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru. $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala. Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban This sounds like the wishlist of a crazy progressive NGO. But it’s not. These are all grants of US Taxpayer money, made by USAID. The United States Agency for International Development. Over the last week, the Trump Administration has taken steps to rein in such questionable uses of public funds in the federal government. Here to explain what they’re doing and why it matters is David Ditch, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation.  — Follow David Ditch on X: https://x.com/davidaditch Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

Over just the last week, the number of daily border crossings has crashed compared to the Biden administration. Border enforcement in the interior has been seriously undertaken. The US military has been deployed to assist Customs and Border Protection.  Here to walk us through the details of this Sea Change is Lora Ries, Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center, here at the Heritage Foundation.  — Follow Lora Ries on X: https://x.com/lora_ries Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

The executive order is a tool the Constitution places at the president’s disposal, allowing him to effect changes within the executive branch of government. As President Donald Trump steps into office this week, he has signed many such orders, which have already had a broad impact on the way the federal government works. I sat down with Heritage Fellow Steve Groves to better understand these changes.  — Follow Steve Groves on X: https://x.com/stevegroves Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

One of the key components of the incoming Trump administration was securing the southern border. President Trump campaigned heavily on this issue, and now it is time to implement policy to deliver. To get a sense of what the Trump administration may pursue in the first hundred days of the new administration, I sat down with Simon Hankinson, Senior Reseaarch Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center here at the Heritage Foundation — Follow Jim Carafano on X: https://x.com/jjcarafano Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

One of the key components of the incoming Trump administration was securing the southern border. President Trump campaigned heavily on this issue, and now it is time to implement policy to deliver. To get a sense of what the Trump administration may pursue in the first hundred days of the new administration, I sat down with Simon Hankinson, Senior Reseaarch Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center here at the Heritage Foundation — Follow Simon Hankinson on X: https://x.com/watchfulwaiter1 Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your friends at the Heritage Foundation! This week, we bring you a classic of the Christmas season.  “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was composed by New York writer and businessman Clement Clark Moore in 1823. Now over 200 hundred years old, it remains one of the most well-known and iconic American poems ever. It established many key characteristics of Santa Claus as we know him today. Prior to Moore’s poem, St. Nicholas (or in the Dutch, Sinterklaas) enjoyed his jolly, gift-giving reputation primarily among Dutch immigrants. Moore embellished the historical bishop with a sleigh, reindeer, white beard, chimney-diving ability, and the Santa-esque physique we all know and love.  — Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org

President Trump has promised new policies on border enforcement, designed to make Americans safer and to protect national sovereignty. To this end, he has selected career law enforcement officer Tom Homan as his Border Czar. I sat down with Tom to ask him about this new position and specifically, to shed light on one of the more contentious parts of Trump’s vision: the removal of illegal aliens from the American interior via deportation.  — Tom Homan on X: https://x.com/RealTomHoman — Have thoughts? Let us know at heritageexplains@heritage.org