Russell Vought, Trump’s 49-year-old Director of the Office of Management and Budget, represents a new breed of Washington operative: the unapologetic Christian nationalist armed with both ideological certainty and institutional power. The son of a Marine and schoolteacher from Connecticut, Vought spent two decades rising through conservative ranks—from Capitol Hill staffer to Heritage Action vice president to Trump’s first OMB director. After Trump’s 2020 defeat, he founded the Center for Renewing America and became lead architect of Project 2025, the controversial blueprint for remaking the federal government. In undercover recordings, Vought candidly explained how conservatives exploit culture-war panics over critical race theory and immigration to mask their real agenda: consolidating executive power, gutting civil service protections, and slashing social programs. He’s openly stated he wants to put federal workers “in trauma” and has called Trump “God’s gift” to restore America as a Christian nation. Now confirmed for a second term, Vought is freezing billions in federal funding to Democratic states, threatening mass layoffs, and using the government shutdown as cover to permanently dismantle agencies. Unlike Trump, who governs by impulse, Vought is methodical, deeply committed, and young enough to pursue his vision for decades—transforming American democracy into something else entirely, one budget cut at a time.
