Politics

Conservative Inc Reportedly Donates Tens Of Millions For Mike Pence To Conjure Illusion Of America’s ‘Free-Market Capitalism’ For Youth

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Tom Caprara, CC BY 4.0, <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en>]

Establishment conservatives that critics view as corporate rather than organic appear to be backing former Vice President Mike Pence’s nonprofit even as younger Republicans grow weary of old-school capitalism.

Advancing American Freedom (AAF), which Pence founded in April 2021, is talking with donors to coordinate an eight-figure campaign launching in the fall and continuing through the 2028 election cycle to “sell Republican officials and candidates on the importance of free-market capitalism,” POLITICO’s “Playbook” reported Saturday. The campaign comes amid Republican infighting over what role capitalism will play in the party’s platform moving forward.

AAF did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Trump changed Republican economics. Now the GOP has to figure out how to sell it. https://t.co/iA8fFPZpGb

— POLITICO (@politico) August 15, 2026

Pence founded AAF “to promote the pro-freedom policies of the last four years that created unprecedented prosperity at home and restored respect for America abroad, to defend those policies from liberal attacks and media distortions, and to prevent the radical Left from enacting its policy agenda that would threaten America’s freedoms,” according to an April 7, 2021, press release.

A member of the Republican Party’s old guard, Pence has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s tendency to intervene in the economy, particularly with tariffs.

Because AAF operates as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, it is not required to disclose individual donors. As a result, it is not immediately clear who Pence has been talking to concerning AAF’s upcoming campaign.

The nonprofit, however, projected it will have a $35 million budget by 2023, The Hill reported in 2022. One individual reportedly gave AAF $2 million, and another gave $1 million.

AAF’s looming launch comes as political arguments over cost of living and affordability issues, such as the “Great Burrito Debate,” ensue. That debate began after Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared in an Aug. 4 X post that “[o]ne of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability: ‘A burrito shouldn’t cost $20.'”

“Cry me a river. The burritos in the college cafeteria are included in your meal plan,” conservative Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen replied in an Aug. 5 X post.

Trump’s replacement for Pence on the 2024 ticket, Vice President JD Vance, retorted on X that same day, “I’m surprised to hear Mark say this. If you’ve ever met him in person, it’s quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito.”

Many populists within the Republican Party view alleviating economic challenges through government intervention as necessary to stop socialists from seizing power.

“The fact is that young people in America today, the ones that are in college, think about their lives: It’s possible that their family lost their home in the financial crisis, that they missed out on their prom and high school experiences and dorm living during Covid, and that they then had four years of Biden inflation. They’ve gotten dealt some tough cards,” Kolvet told “Playbook.” “If we don’t speak to them where they are, that’s political suicide. That is political malfeasance.”