An army of MAGA think tanks behind him, it’s Trump’s Washington now

There are now MAGA-specific think tanks, MAGA recruiting and training organizations, like American Moment, and MAGA incubators.

They say they are in it for the long haul, hoping to outlast would-be movements like the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street that faded away after upending their parties.

"The vision is, We’re not going back to [former President George W.] Bush’s Bush ," says one think tank executive.

Groups like CRA and America First Policy Institute have laid the groundwork for a MAGA agenda.

Some conservatives say access has become the driving force behind many of these groups, prompting them to impose loyalty tests rather than vet ideas with intellectual independence.

Some think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute say they have resisted a full-on MAGA makeover.

If you guys just renew [ the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ] with a bunch more tax cuts, we’re not going to pretend like that’s some sort of incredible breakthrough for the working class,” said Abigail Ball , executive director of American Compass . But broadly, she added, American Compass is focused on figuring out what comes next. “We very much have always seen Trump as this transitional figure,” Ball said. “We need to figure out what comes after Trump .” Sophia Cai contributed to this report..