Tell the Truth: the Lincoln Project Is a Problem
The Lincoln Project (LP) appears to be at the business of restoring America’s failing political system by combatting tribalism and hyper-partisanship – a noble, righteous cause to protect the Constitution, our Democratic institutions, and the electoral process. But appearances can be deceiving.
With clever ads and blistering social media attacks, the anti-Trump Lincoln Project has proven itself to be that which it claims to oppose – an intensely partisan, ideological group that operates under an ‘ends justify the means’ standard.
In reality the Lincoln Project says one thing and does the opposite. It opposes tribalism, so it says, by advancing tribalism, what it does. It defended, for example, Joe Biden’s infamous Philadelphia speech where the President declared war on half the country. A profoundly dishonest speech where the Commander-in-Chief rhetorically threatened to burn the country down to save his party’s congressional majorities.
The Lincoln Project has offered nary the complaint as Democrats wage war on free speech and weaponize the Department of Justice to settle scores with political opponents. It’s safe to say that tribalism and hyper-partisanship is okay as long as it’s the Democrats doing it and the Lincoln Project is raking in the cash supporting it. The truth is that the Lincoln Project is the perfect Washington hustle. As the AP reported, “of the $90 million Lincoln Project has raised, more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group’s leaders.” Suffice it to say, tribalism and hyper-partisanship is bad – very bad – as long as the Lincoln Project can throw a MAGA hat on it.
Here's the rub, though. The LP isn’t just anti-Trump. It’s pro-Democrat and Pro-Biden and it advances an ‘anything goes’ strategy. During the recent Virginia Gubernatorial campaign, the Lincoln Project was widely criticized for “what appeared to be an effort to make [Republican Glenn] Youngkin appear racist.”
In November 2022 Lincoln Project adviser Stuart Stevens said,
"Just to be clear, at the Lincoln Project, we are not trying to save the Republican Party. We are trying to burn the Republican Party to the ground. Because I think that is the only way that you are ever going to be able to rebuild a sane, center right party. Pain is the teacher here. And that is the only thing that will make these people try to run more normal candidates."
Can we take Stuart Stevens seriously? If the Lincoln Project is all about supporting ‘normal candidates’ to run for office, why is it targeting moderate Republican Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ)? For clarity, Tom Kean is a freshman Congressman from New Jersey with a long track record of working across the political aisle (he served nearly two decades in the NJ Legislature). The Congressman is widely respected by the NJ political and business establishment. He is the son of Tom Kean Sr., one of the most popular governors in New Jersey history (a blue state) and later co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. His grandfather Robert Kean served in the House for 20 years. His great-grandfather Hamilton Kean was a U.S. senator. Actually, the Kean political lineage goes all the way back to the Continental Congress, where his great-great-great-great-grandfather John Kean was a delegate. Can you get a more ‘normal candidate’ to run?
What’s more, why is the Lincoln Project attacking No Labels? No Labels describes itself as “a national movement of commonsense Americans pushing our leaders together to solve our country's biggest problems.” Sounds radical, hyper-partisan … right?
Earlier this month, Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson said in an expletive-laced diatribe, “they [No Labels] need to be burned to the ground politically.” Wilson made the ridiculous claim that No Labels is a pro-Trump super PAC. This is the same group that tapped anti-Trump, moderate (former) Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland as its national co-chairman in 2020 as it pushed lawmakers to embrace centrist policies in a new Congress. The truth is that No Labels is a bipartisan political organization that supports moderates (or in the words of LP adviser Stuart Stevens ‘normal candidates’).
The Lincoln Project, itself a super PAC, is run by a host of self-identifying Never-Trump Republicans who claimed its goal was to "defeat Trump and Trumpism" in 2020. However, the group kept going in 2022 to defeat Republicans in the mid-terms and are gearing up now for the 2024 elections – already targeting 'the Beatable 18' House Republicans.
The Lincoln Project supports Democrats. It should be honest. It’s not trying to keep Republicans honest or attempting to rebuild the party – LP isn’t really trying to get ‘normal candidates’ to run. The Lincoln Project is a progressive super PAC looking to expand the Democrats control of our politics and culture.
Many people are hurting while the White House doesn’t seem to care. Joe Biden’s economy is a disaster. Americans have effectively taken a massive pay cut every month since Joe Biden’s inauguration. With Democrat majorities in Congress and Joe Biden in the White House, inflation consistently outpaced wage growth. Even today Senate Democrats and the Biden administration are strangling the American economy through executive orders and regulations.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) emphasized this startling reality in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week: “Americans have received a pay cut for 24 consecutive months — the longest streak in American history — as inflation has persisted.” Speaker McCarthy continued, “in fact, since President Biden took office, families have lost the equivalent of $7,400 worth of income.”
Working-class Americans see the Biden Presidency as a catastrophe. By almost every measure Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats have failed on the things that matter most to the American people.
Joe Biden and progressive Democrats have put America into a tailspin – from historic failures internationally (the shameful Afghanistan withdrawal) to crises at home (open borders, inflation). The Lincoln Project helped put Joe Biden in the White House and supported Democrats in Congress. The Lincoln Project isn’t working to bring normalcy or decency back to our national discourse – it’s not looking to solve our problems. No, what the Lincoln Project supports is the root cause of our problems.
Let’s tell the truth. That’s what our politics needs – the truth. Let’s find the truth, plant our feet, and stand firm.
