Cliff Sims
[According to the] Bible, the true pursuit of happiness is… [about] being able to pursue true happiness, which starts with a relationship with the Living God. [When] we look right now at the two parties, it's very clear which of those two are closer—no one is going to be perfect—but is closer to what you see in Scripture of God's vision for true justice and righteousness being governed on His behalf here on this Earth. Cliff Sims on Real America’s Voice
Cliff Sims, a former Trump administration official and campaign staffer, is currently a Senior Fellow at the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security, which is part of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda. In February 2024, House Speaker Mike Johnson added Sims to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which advises on “the national security implications and impact of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the U.S. and China.” Sims has pushed anti-China rhetoric, such as asserting that China sought to influence the 2020 presidential election to defeat Trump, and claiming that China is flooding the U.S. with dangerous products that are killing American children. Per reporting by Axios, Sims is a close ally of Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.
Sims’ newest book, The Darkness Has Not Overcome: Lessons on Faith and Politics from Inside the Halls of Power, presents biblical takeaways from his experience in the Trump administration. “Jesus’ death and resurrection are the most important events in human history,” Sims wrote. “So why on Earth would we make politicians the central characters in our story today?” Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, John Ratcliffe, and J.D. Vance praised the book, along with Donald Trump Jr., who asserted that, “American Christians are under attack every day by leftwing activists, mainstream media outlets, and liberal politicians who want to take away our most basic freedoms. My friend Cliff Sims has been through the fire and lived to tell about it.”
Sims joined the Trump campaign in September 2016 as a communication advisor and then became a Special Assistant to the President. He then became the Director of White House Message Strategy where he drafted scripts Sarah Huckabee Sanders used for her daily press briefings. While at the White House, Sims reportedly developed an “uncommonly close relationship” with Trump. Mike Pompeo noted that Sims had “forged one of the stronger personal relationships with the President,” prompting him to make Sims his Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of State.
After Sims left the administration, he published Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House, which Time called “a juicy pro-Trump tell-all.” Trump was reportedly “very pissed off” and accused him of violating his non-disclosure agreement. Sims sued Trump in response, but the suit was later dropped and he was welcomed back into the fold in October 2020 when he became John Ratcliffe’s senior advisor and Deputy Director for Strategy and Communications for the DNI. In this role, Sims worked closely with Ratcliffe on a letter to the House and Senate Intelligence committees that asserted that China sought to influence the 2020 presidential election to defeat Trump. Sims also did messaging and speechwriting for Trump’s 2020 Republican National Convention.
In the 2024 cycle, Sims co-hosted a high-dollar fundraising event for Trump’s campaign in Birmingham, with Trump Jr. as the headliner, and helped Brian Jack, Trump’s former political director, secure endorsements from the Alabama state House GOP delegation.