For the last half-century, the Heritage Foundation has presented itself as the right’s premier think tank, but that only tells part of the story. The organization has also been a key piece of the right’s broader political infrastructure, providing countless staffers for Republican administrations, and helping craft policy proposals adopted by GOP officials at multiple levels of government.

All the while, the Heritage Foundation enjoyed an air of respectability. Those looking for conservative cranks and conspiracy theorists were told to look elsewhere — because Heritage, the story went, was serious. These conservatives cared about substance and governing. This think tank, above all others, expected to serve as the flagship of the conservative movement, home to the right’s preeminent scholarship and academic research.

In time, however, as Republican politics grew more radical, the Heritage Foundation shifted, too. In 2013, then-Sen. Orrin Hatch told MSNBC, “Heritage used to be the conservative organization helping Republicans and helping conservatives and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual conservative ideas. There’s a real question in the minds of many Republicans right now, and I’m not just speaking for myself: Is Heritage going to go so political that it really doesn’t amount to anything anymore?”

Eleven years later, the idea that the Heritage Foundation is producing “the best intellectual conservative ideas” is plainly laughable, as its president reminded the public again yesterday. HuffPost noted:

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless ― if the left allows it to be,” Kevin Roberts, president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, said on a conservative media outlet called Real America’s Voice.

Pointing to Republican Supreme Court justices elevating the American presidency above the law, Roberts said in the same interview, “We’re in the process of taking this country back.”

Not surprisingly, more than a few observers interpreted his “bloodless — if the left allows it to be” comments as a not-so-subtle threat.

And while those concerns are warranted, they’re made worse by the broader significance of Heritage’s ongoing political efforts.

Who’s responsible for the radical Project 2025 agenda? The Heritage Foundation.

Who’s “pre-screening the ideologies” of thousands of people in the hopes of installing “a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists” across the federal government? The Heritage Foundation.

Who’s funding an apparent blacklist of federal government workers who might stand in the way of a MAGA agenda? The Heritage Foundation.

Who put up billboards in Alabama in support of Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville while he undermined his own country’s military? The Heritage Foundation.

Which group’s former staffers have complained about their former employers prioritizing political messaging over policy formation? The Heritage Foundation.

Whose president might be in contention for White House chief of staff in a second Trump term? The Heritage Foundation.

It was against this backdrop that Heritage’s chief told a national television audience, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless ― if the left allows it to be,” which was every bit as unsettling as it seemed.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com