Right-wing think tank chief defends ties to wannabe warlord's extremist group

The president of a right-wing think tank defended his ties to a Christian nationalist organization aimed at replacing democratic institutions with a religious autocracy.

Claremont Institute president Ryan P. Williams and other senior officials from the think tank have contributed money and maintained contacts with Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), an all-male fraternal order seeking to remake the U.S. government as a theocracy, according to documents gathered though public record requests by The Guardian.

“Their planned regime is obviously far from a multiracial democracy," said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project on Hate and Extremism. "The documents appear to be describing a religious autocracy.”

The Claremont Institute's Scott Yenor, who was appointed as director of state coalitions in February 2023 to work closely with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is an ideological and organization leader in SACR, which is funded by former soap manufacturer and wanna-be “warlord” Charles Haywood.

Williams confirmed that he serves on SACR's board and defended his involvement with the group, whose mission statement seeks the permanent dominance of their political and social viewpoints.

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"While the Claremont Institute acted as a fiscal sponsor to help the Society for American Civic Renewal establish itself as an incorporated 501(c)(10), that was the end of any corporate collaboration between the Claremont Institute and SACR," Williams said. “As a founding board member of SACR in my personal capacity, obviously I think that a fraternal order dedicated to civic and cultural renaissance and rooted in community, virtue, and wisdom is a very good thing.”

However, experts disputed his anodyne description of the group's intentions.

"SACR's mission [is] essentially a stealth plan to replace everything about the current government with a religious autocracy ... [and] fashion young people behind closed doors for the eventual takeover of the regime, right?” Beirich said. “They’re going to grow them up as Christian autocrats.”

Haywood envisions himself as a “warlord” at the head of an “armed patronage network” that would stand against the federal government, and he hopes to recruit "shooters" to help defend the "compound" where he lives in Carmel, Indiana.

He has been in frequent contact with Williams and Yenor, who is also a professor of political science at Idaho’s Boise State University, and as well as Claremont chairman Thomas Klingenstein and Nathanial “Nate” Fischer, a Claremont Lincoln fellow.

SACR is structured as a 501(c)(10) nonprofit organization with a fraternal purpose, and the group has established lodges in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Couer d’Alene and Moscow, Idaho.

Members hope to “identify and provide formation for local elites... capable of exercising authority and who are aligned with our goal of complete civic renewal," according to SACR's mission statement.

They would then help those local elites build “fraternal networks which will advance both the members of those networks and our collective goals” including “direct preferential treatment for members, especially in business."

SACR documents state that their aim is "civic renewal," but experts say they violate the nation's founding spirit and make no mention of the U.S. Constitution.

“George Washington, Jefferson, [and] Madison all embraced religious pluralism very explicitly, and the constitution reflects that,” said Laura Field, a political theorist and senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. “This is anti-constitutional, and I think many, many faithful Christians would say it’s anti-Christian.”