Media Matters has obtained a galley copy of Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts’ now-delayed book, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America. A review found that the author repeatedly invoked revolutionary rhetoric, echoing previous comments he made on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast which seemingly prompted an attempt by former President Donald Trump to distance himself from the initiative.
Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance wrote the foreword to Roberts’ book, calling his ideas “an essential weapon” in the “fights that lay ahead.” Vance has also said Roberts is “somebody I rely on a lot who has very good advice,” and is closely connected with Project 2025, the wide-ranging policy and personnel initiative spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation and backed by a coalition of more than 100 conservative groups.
“I believe we are living at the dawn of the Second American Revolution. What is a revolution but an attempt to overthrow the institutions of society?” Roberts writes in the second chapter of Dawn’s Early Light, titled “Fighting Fire with Fire.” “In some ways, our situation is even more dire than during the First American Revolution.”
Roberts goes on to explain:
Later in the book, Roberts invokes Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and symbol of the Wild West who died in the battle of the Alamo, to cast the struggle over policy and politics in terms of life and death. “Davy Crockett had the fire. He’d rather die than let it go out. He’d die to keep it alive, just one more day.”
He challenges his readers to live up to these stakes (emphasis added):
Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America’s original subtitle was “Burning Down Washington to Save America.” The book’s original cover design featured an image of a matchstick, but was changed after the attempted assassination of former President Trump in July, according to a statement from the publisher provided to The New York Times.
Still, the galley copy reviewed by Media Matters includes a chapter that is an extended metaphor on fire and the need for conservatives to take dramatic and destructive action.
“It’s time for a conservatism of fire, to burn it down and steward once again the natural order of the world, the Western order of civilization, and the American order of government,” Roberts writes.
The focus in Dawn’s Early Light on revolution provides critical context to a viral clip of Roberts from Steve Bannon’s War Room. On July 2, Roberts told guest host and former Rep. Dave Brat, “We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Dawn’s Early Light shows this comment was not an off-the-cuff remark but a central tenet of Roberts’ worldview and agenda for conservative governance in Washington.
The negative attention prompted Trump to post on his social media website that he knows “nothing” about Project 2025. (An analysis by CNN found “nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump,” and the former president has praised Roberts as “so incredible.”)
Roberts himself has seemingly admitted that the artificial attempt to shield Trump from Project 2025 backlash is disingenuous. “No hard feelings from any of us at Project 2025,” he told conservative radio host Vince Coglianese in July, “We understand Trump is the standard bearer and he's making a political tactical decision there.”
Media Matters has previously reported on Roberts' views expressed on Dawn's Early Light, including his regressive views on reproductive rights (and dog parks), dismantling education and weakening workplace safety protections and union power.
