Source: Politics<\/p>\n
It was the darling of the resistance for savagely attacking Donald Trump. But now, everyone keeps rolling their eyes at the Lincoln Project and fears they may be clearing a path for the former president\u2019s reemergence.<\/p>\n
The outside political organization headed by disaffected Republicans and other top Democratic operatives has experienced caustic blowups, internal disputes over beach house-level paydays, and disturbing allegations involving a disgraced co-founder. A recent campaign stunt evoking the march on Charlottesville to close the Virginia governor\u2019s race earned them near universal scorn. And one of the organization’s most recognized members is facing blowback for rooting for another Trump nomination on grounds that he\u2019d be the easiest Republican to beat in the general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cRead the room,\u201d said Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist and former senior aide to Hillary Clinton. \u201cThey sound like me in 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is incredibly important that we all head into the upcoming elections with a level of humility and fresh eyes about what the political landscape is going to look like,\u201d Petkanas added. \u201cIt would be a mistake to know for certain who is easier to beat than somebody else. We\u2019ve all seen this movie before and they occasionally have a twist ending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials working for the Lincoln Project contend they\u2019re simply being practical \u2014 even shrewd \u2014 about the new political climate, in which Trump is likely to be the GOP nominee anyway and brass-knuckle tactics are now the norm. <\/p>\n
But a year after delighting liberals with their insistence on bringing guns to a gunfight, operatives across the spectrum now say the group is, at best, ineffective and prodigal, at worst, counterproductive. In particular, fellow never-Trumpers and moderate Republicans have recoiled at Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson\u2019s recent encouragement of a Trump presidential run in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is the mother of bad ideas,\u201d said conservative commentator and Trump critic Charlie Sykes. \u201cBut also the father, brother, sister, and cousin of a truly bad idea. [It] ignores the fact that Trump could actually be elected again, and you would\u2019ve thought we had all learned our lesson from playing games with that possibility the last time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist and Trump critic who started Defending Democracy Together, joined in a chorus of other anti-Trump Republicans baffled by Wilson\u2019s strategy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a high impact event on our democracy if Trump were reelected and you want to do everything you can to keep him from getting one step closer,\u201d Longwell said. \u201cThe best way to ensure Trump doesn’t win the election 2024 is to make sure he doesn\u2019t become the nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with POLITICO, Wilson defended his position by arguing that Trumpism was a greater problem now than just Trump himself. He pointed to his response on Twitter<\/a> and added that the idea that he actually wants the 45th president to run again is \u201crisible.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that I want [Trump] to be here, I\u2019d love for him to be eaten by a shark tomorrow,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI want Trump to run to destroy the people who are more sophisticated than Trump. I want to use Trump\u2019s psychological problems to weaken him because I think the most dangerous thing we face is Trump with an Ivy League degree. All the abrasive authoritarianism and nationalism and none of the obvious deficits.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lincoln Project was started in 2019 by a number of prominent Republican operatives who opposed Trump\u2019s presidency and feared the direction their party was taking. They faced charges of self-dealing and ineffectualness \u2014 both of which they heartedly dismissed. And along the way, the group raised tens of millions of dollars, in large part because of the splashy web and TV ads it ran going after the sitting president and his family in visceral, personal ways. <\/p>\n The post-Trump presidency has been a more difficult era. The group was rocked by the allegations that co-founder John Weaver sexually harrassed young men, and finger-pointing over the fallout has lasted for months. A law firm, Paul Hastings LLP, hired by the Lincoln Project found \u201cno evidence that anyone at The Lincoln Project was aware of any inappropriate communications with any underage individuals at any time prior to the publication of those news reports.\u201d Critics have questioned the independence of that inquiry. <\/p>\n There are questions about who remains in the group and directs day to day strategy. There have been internal frustrations over resources being put towards things like an online streaming show. After the scandal involving Weaver went public, one of the co-founders, Jennifer Horn, as well as fellow officials or advisers Kurt Bardella, Ron Steslow, Mike Madrid, and George Conway all resigned, with some publicly calling for the group to be permanently shuttered. <\/p>\n Currently, the group\u2019s website names co-founders Rick Wilson and Reed Galen, Tara Setmayer, Stuart Stevens and Steve Schmidt as involved in the project, although it is unclear how involved some remain. Two people close to the group said there have been internal tensions and disputes with Schmidt, who resigned from the board of the Lincoln Project after the sexual misconduct charges against Weaver surfaced. <\/p>\n Schmidt reappeared months later vowing for the group to fight on. But he also tore into the organization for being \u201crecklessly stupid,\u201d and \u201cdishonest\u201d for the stunt involving actors posing as Charlottesville white nationalist protesters at a stop made by incoming Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin. <\/p>\n A McAuliffe adviser conceded that the Lincoln Project\u2019s ads in the governor\u2019s race were solid, but echoed Schmidt\u2019s assessment, saying the Charlottesville stunt backfired so spectacularly \u2014 at least in the cable news-social media bubble \u2014 that the group\u2019s involvement was altogether unhelpful. <\/p>\n More broadly, Democrats who once saw the Lincoln Project as a helpful compliment to their efforts to defeat Trump now view the group as a distraction and a drain of broader campaign funds. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen it first started, I was like, \u2018This is so great. I love it,\u2019\u201d said Tim Lim, a veteran Democratic digital strategist. Now, Lim added, \u201cmost of the left is not sure why they’re still around. That\u2019s the prognosis in story after story, and it\u2019s been brutal for them.\u201d<\/p>\n With fewer allies and Trump off the ballot, the Lincoln Project has suffered financially. In the first half of 2021, the most recent figures available, the group raised $4.8 million and spent $8.7 million, an exceedingly high burn rate. But digital strategists predicted that the organization, with its robust email list, could survive down cycles. The idea that it\u2019s so far been able to withstand so much scandal and infighting has surprised people familiar with the dynamics, including several who believe the Lincoln Project long exceeded its expiration point.<\/p>\n Still, the group has a formidable online following, boasting just as many Twitter followers as the Republican National Committee at 2.7 million followers, for example. And those involved with the group say their daily work and mission is simply different without Trump on the ballot right now. <\/p>\n