Former Vice President Mike Pence’s advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, is seeking to find the right balance during President Trump’s second term.

So far, it’s made a splash in being one of the few conservative organizations to publicly oppose Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation, and it’s torn into Trump’s proposed tariffs.

But at the same time, it doesn’t want to fall into being “Never Trump” – a category that would get it largely dismissed by the bulk of the right.

“It can sound, at times, like it's adversarial. We don't intend for it to be adversarial. We intend for it to be entirely independent,” said Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom. “We intend for it to be something that, when functioning, can really, actually make the administration better.”

I talked to Chapman about that strategic challenge: How do you critique a president with whom the founder had a major falling out (for those who need a reminder: January 6th, Pence’s presidential bid, Pence declining to endorse Trump) — while also maintaining influence among the right in Trump’s Washington?

The headwinds go beyond the personal bad blood between Trump and Pence. Advancing American Freedom is holding to traditional, Reagan-eque conservatism, publicly rejecting populist instincts on economics and trade while being highly skeptical of new alliances with former Democrats.

“We're obviously in a populist age, and there is a lot about populism on the right that's being commended and is good. But there's also parts of the populist right that really are veering from where conservatives have been for so long on issues that are really important, whether they're national security issues, or whether it's a strong economy, or even some areas in the in the socially social conservative sphere,” Chapman said.

The majority of other organizations on the right, meanwhile, have either embraced those aspects of Trumpism or kept their critiques to themselves.

“A lot of groups that used to exist as independent, outside entities that kind of advised Republican leadership on conservative policy, have ceased to be those kind of independent, outside entities,” Chapman said. “And a lot of them have adopted a framework more of cheerleading what the administration is doing, no matter what the particular policy is.”

Not Advancing American Freedom. The organization advocated against Kennedy’s confirmation based largely on concerns with how he would handle abortion issues. In one letter to senators, the group called on them to “reject the nomination of any pro-abortion nominees to serve at HHS.”

Last week, it launched a project

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