Abstract

When Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, some political pundits predicted that his 2016 campaign promise to ‘drain the swamp’ in the nation’s capital could signal the demise of American think tanks. With little tolerance, patience or interest in listening to the country’s top policy experts, it is understandable why the future of public policy institutes in the US was called into question. However, rather than succumbing to what has become an extremely toxic and hyper-partisan environment on Capitol Hill and in the White House, many prominent think tanks have continued to make their presence felt. Though unwelcome in Trump’s inner circle, these diverse and eclectic institutions have discovered how best to employ the most effective strategies to shape public opinion and public policy. In doing so, they have both demonstrated their resilience and their capacity to affect policy change.