The Lincoln Project and the Death of a Mauve Bat: Now Being Continuously Updated

A Very Brief History:  Part One

Contrary to the way people have treated it, The Lincoln Project is not a revered American political institution founded in 1979 or 1989 or 1999 or 2009.  It was founded just over one year ago, in December of 2019, more than a year after the Democrat's historic 2018 victories which put the House of Representatives back under Nancy Pelosi's gavel.  Victories which had nothing to do with a handful of former Republicans who were quickly colonizing cable teevee and everything to do with the massive and well-organized on-the-ground Democratic Party voter registration and GOTV efforts, fueled primarily by women and minorities.

A Very Brief History:  Part Two

The Lincoln Project came to be as a direct result of the mainstream media's obsession with a small number of high-profile Republicans who came to be known as Never Trumpers for their vocal criticism of Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.  The Never Trumpers bet hard that Donald Trump would lose the Republican Party nomination.  And when Trump crushed all of his Republican primary opponents, the Never Trumpers went on to bet even harder that Trump would surely lose to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election.  And (they calculated) when Trump went down in flames to the hated Hillary, their outspokenness (and the fact that they very conspicuously did not sully themselves by actually supporting  Hillary Clinton) would be rewarded by a chastened Republican Party, where they would be welcomed back as visionary leaders with a plan to destroy the Hillary Clinton administration and lead the GOP back to glory exactly as Neocon Conquistadors like Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Michael Gerson, David Frum, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, David Brooks, Richard Perle, the Kagan brothers, etc. became the dominant force in the GOP and in the mainstream media after 9/11.

However Trump won in 2016, leaving Never Trumpers cast adrift as political vagrants, evicted by the political party they had spent their adult lives building.  Fortunately Never Trumpers were members in good standing of the Beltway Media Insider Clubs, and were almost immediately given prime real estate on cable teevee and in America's leading newspapers and journals.  This amounted to a massive in-kind contribution of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of continuous free publicity for the newsletters, startup podcasts, websites, books and ideas of this tiny clutch of outcast Republican losers.  

What was especially galling about this turn of events was that the message Never Trumpers were selling -- the vocabulary, the cadence, the tone, everything -- was simply ripped off wholesale from several decades worth of the Liberal critique of their Republican Party.  Scathing Liberal critiques and dire Liberal warnings which those very same Never Trumpers (and the Beltway media which now celebrated them) had spent decades sneering at as chuckleheaded alarmist crackpottery.  

The problem of the inconvenient existence of those decades of Liberal vivisection of the Republican Party was neatly solved by simply pretending that we mouthy Liberals never existed at all.  That our body of written and spoken words did not exist, that all problems with the GOP sprang spontaneously and inexplicably into being in 2016, and that Never Trumpers were the only ones bold and insightful enough to see trouble ahead.

Because when you control access to the cameras and the microphones and the op-ed pages, the "past" can be whatever you wish it to be.

A Very Brief History:  Part Three 

Very quickly, the Never Trump media (like The Bulwark) and the mainstream non-Fox cable news outlets (CNN & MSNBC) became a closed, cross-promoting marketing machine.  For example, the deeply problematic Rick Wilson was gifted months and months of invaluable, glowing promotion on cable teevee for calling Trump a shithead.  His celebrity was reinforced with flattering turns on major Liberal podcast networks and other such outlets, as well as guest columns in American newspapers because now Rick was famous enough to qualify for those perks.  Rick parlayed that manufactured celebrity into a book contract and, once the books dropped, it was given the kind of "praise without ceasing" from Never Trump media and mainstream cable outlets that Liberal don't even dare to dream of.

Then -- bingo! -- instead of a failed Republican mercenary with a long, public history of racism, misogyny and online thuggery that would've gotten any Liberal cancelled forever...Rick Wilson was now "New York Times Best Selling Author" Rick Wilson, and a new cycle of invaluable, free, brand-building media publicity began.

And so it was for Charlie Sykes.  And Michael Steele.  And Bill Kristol.  And Tom Nichols. And on and on and on until, at any hour of any day, you're bound to find at least one (often two) Never Trumpers taking up scarce media real estate as the real Voices of the Resistance.   And as any Alert Viewer will notice, virtually all of them stick to the same basic script: that all problems with the GOP sprang spontaneously and inexplicably into being in 2016 and so on.

And once the Hero Management Team at Vought International was done with them --

-- and the soil had been properly plowed, disked and richly fertilized, it was time for a handful of these Never Trumpers to step out onto a larger stage and become ... the Saviors of the Republic.

And I'll end the history portion of my post with this.  Over the course of several careers with myriad bosses it would have been super-awesome if, just once, I had work at a job where my performance evaluations were done with anywhere near the same level of reality-bending wishful thinking with which credulous Liberals still grade the performance of the Lincoln Project.

Which is not surprising.  No one likes to admit they've been snookered.  It's a very human reaction that con men count on.  It's why Glenn Greenwald stans were willing to follow him right down the sewer and onto Fox News.  Why Republicans are still standing by Trump.  Why, decade after decade, David Brooks fans continue to valorize the Wrongest Man in American Punditry.  Why Brocialist dead-enders never give up their heroes no matter how far gone they are.  

And it's why, after a year of insisting we few mouthy grouches who dared to write stuff like this ("The Fail-Safe Election")  -- 

...there should be one fact that stands out bold and clear to anyone who has eyes to see: that the staggering amount of free publicity and hard cash lavished on the Lincoln Project on the theory that their unique insights into the Republican mind would pay big dividends for the Democrats was a complete bust.  That, outside of the tiny circle of Never Trump Republicans who seem to exist almost entirely on teevee and Twitter -- surprise! -- neither the tens of millions of dollars that credulous Liberals poured into the Lincoln Project...

...nor the Liberal Political PornHub videos they cranked out budged even a fraction of the Republican base one inch...

-- needed to STFU and get with the fucking program, so many of my fair-weather Liberals allies continue to insist that the Lincoln Lads basically won the 2020 election for Joe Biden despite incontestable evidence to the contrary.  

If you need a bylined writer to tell you bitter truths, you can heed the wise words Charlie Pierce:

The Lincoln Project Didn't Move 10 Votes in This Election

Never Trump conservatives are about as relevant to the actual election results this year as are the Whigs or the Free Soil Party.

Or you could read The Hill, although it's kind of a trash publication so I can understand why you might blow them off -- 

Lack of influence means it's time to dismiss the Lincoln Project

-- but the basic electoral math that they buried halfway down the column is not in dispute.

And that is what's been so maddening. 

Because with every performance evaluation I've ever given or gotten, while there may have been certain, ineffable qualities like "leadership" that are sometimes hard to pin down, there were always an abundance of clear, quantifiable metrics against which performance is measured.   And in the case of the Lincoln Lads, we know what those performance metrics were because they told us what they were.  From me:

A reminder that the Lincoln Project's metrics for success as articulated by the Lincoln Lads themselves were 1) drive Republican turnout down and, 2) knock off a few easy, low-hanging-and-hanging-by-a-thread Republican candidates like Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, Thom Tillis and Lindsay Graham.  

So what actually happened?

2020 Republican turnout for Trump was up by +11 million votes over 2016.

2020 Republican turnout for Susan Collins was up by 4,000 votes from 2014, which was enough for her to handily defeat her opponent.

2020 Republican turnout for Joni Ernst was up by nearly 300,000 votes from 2014, which was enough for her to score a return ticket to the United States Senate.

2020 Republican turnout for Thom Tillis was up by over 1.2 million votes votes from 2014, which was more than enough for him to knock off his opponent.

And Lindsay Graham?  Graham sailed easily to victory by almost exactly doubling his 2014 vote total.

So does anyone know when exactly was the last time Rick Wilson won, y'know, anything except a couple of book contracts and a recurring role all over cable teevee ?

By the standards they set for themselves, the Lincoln Project was a complete bust.  And yet members of the Lincoln Project (and way too many of my Liberal "allies") still continue to insist that this was an absolute win!

They have gone right on believing things that are objectively untrue (and to resent the hell out of anyone who tells them otherwise) with the same, unshakeable resolve as the millions of MAGA meatheads who continue to believe that Trump won the 2020 election despite the irrefutable arithmetic that says otherwise.  

And they believe it because they got in too deep, which is what every con man bets on.  Because they gave their hearts and dollars away to grifters that their trusted Liberal teevee network re-branded into heroes by putting them on the air practically every day while banning any discussion of their sleazy pasts.  And what would it say about them -- about their faith in their own their judgement and integrity -- if they were now to be forced to admit they were not only wrong, but that they had been so easily scammed into carrying water for and lining the pockets of a bunch of Republicans, and that the mouthy grouches who wanted them not to do it (for example "File This Under 'Selling Your Birthright for a Mess of Pottage'") were right all along?

And yet, because reality doesn't care about our feelings, and because beneath its glowing mainstream media façade, the Lincoln Project has always been a rat's nest of cynical, profit-driven and just plain skeevy Republican operatives, it came as no surprise to this tired, old blogger that when it fell apart, it fell apart really fast.

First came the revelations of scandal.  Then the attempts to cover up the scandals and smear anyone who spoke out of school.  Then the mass resignations.  And, of course, there was all of that grifting.

From the AP story that lit the fire under the timorous mainstream press:

How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks

From NYMag:

The Predator in the Lincoln Project John Weaver used his power to get jobs for young men he allegedly harassed. His colleagues were warned.

From USA Today:

Inside the Lincoln Project’s ‘toxic’ workplace: Accusations of sexual harassment and a culture of infighting

...

But as of last week, just three of the Lincoln Project’s eight co-founders remained – Rick Wilson, Reed Galen and Steve Schmidt. Schmidt resigned from the organization’s board late Friday, though he remains affiliated with the organization.

The organization faces a rapidly escalating controversy over allegations that another of its co-founders, John Weaver, sexually harassed more than a dozen young men, including some working for the project, and over what other members of senior management knew about the claims and when they knew it.

The accusations have roiled the organization, and as its current and former employees and contractors began coming forward to discuss them, they described a workplace where women in key positions were sidelined and where sexist and homophobic language was used by those in leadership posts...

Over at Yahoo, Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway would have you to believe that he barely knew these guys.

Lincoln Project co-founder says group must give 'full explanation of what happened'

One of the founding members of the Lincoln Project said in a new interview that the anti-Trump political group needs to provide a full public accounting of what its leaders knew about the sexual misconduct of one of its top officials as well as questions about the organization’s finances.

From The New Republic:

The Spectacular Fall of the Lincoln Project

From Politico:

The Lincoln Project implodes amid infighting and scandal

The anti-Trump super PAC has seen an exodus of its leading figures after investigative reports and allegations of abusive behavior.

From The Boston Herald:

Lincoln Project in it for the money

In these tumultuous and uncertain times we must beware of opportunists and profiteers masquerading as benevolent activists.

A prime example of this is the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republican consultants who banded together in recent years to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump, an exercise they claimed was born of a moral calling.

The Lincoln Project founders cast themselves as noble warriors, putting country over party, foregoing the easy money in doing compliant Republican consulting work in order to crusade against America’s greatest threat: President Donald Trump...

In fact, they continue even now to deny having had any knowledge of the events at all until they read about them in the news. Founder Steve Schmidt, who bought himself a $1.4 million mansion with his Lincoln Project earnings, said that “No Lincoln Project employee, intern or contractors ever made an allegation of inappropriate communication about John Weaver that would have triggered an investigation by HR or by an outside employment counsel. In other words, no human being ever made an allegation about any inappropriate sexualized communications about John Weaver ever.”

Strong claims that are contradicted by multiple reports in respected news outlets like the Associated Press and the New York Times. In addition, the Lincoln Project has continued to attack anyone who dares to question the integrity of its mission.

This ongoing saga should make clear that the Lincoln Project’s raison d’être was never really about Trump’s personal moral failings, many of which are shared with the organization’s leadership. It was always a lucrative scheme to simply enrich themselves from the bank accounts of unsuspecting anti-Trump voters...

Looks like Lincoln Project TV is going to need a new host:

1. Given The Lincoln Project's attacks on media and handling of recent events, I have decided to step away as host of The Lincoln Report. LPTV tapped into an audience hungry for a way forward and a discussion of the values and ideals of a democracy.

— Nayyera (@nayyeroar) February 12, 2021

Now it's gone international:

Sa'ar silent on Lincoln Project advisers despite scandals 

Last month, Sa'ar hired Steve Schmidt, Stuart Stevens, Rick Wilson and Reed Galen of the Lincoln Project.

Prime Ministerial hopeful Gideon Sa’ar declined repeated requests on Sunday and Monday to comment on the allegations against his American advisers in the Lincoln Project who are being accused of covering up the pedophilia of the project’s co-founder and pocketing millions raised by their political action committee.

Last month, Sa’ar hired Steve Schmidt, Stuart Stevens, Rick Wilson and Reed Galen of the Lincoln Project, which was formed in late 2019 by Republicans and former Republicans who aimed to prevent US President Donald Trump’s reelection and to defeat all pro-Trump Republicans in close races running for reelection in the Senate...

And, may the Flying Spaghetti Monster forgive me, the New York Post...

Millions raised by Lincoln Project went to companies run by group’s founders

...not once but twice:

Lincoln Project’s fundraising page shut down as scandals mount

But while you can take their grift, you'll never take their podcas...oops...never mind:

Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson pauses Daily Beast podcast appearances amid scandal

Also the mothership has stopped returning their calls:

MSNBC host quietly cuts show's ties to scandal-ridden Lincoln Project

Brian Williams fails to mention guest's ties to group

MSNBC's Brian Williams has quietly scaled back the number of Lincoln Project members to appear on his late-night program as scandals mount within the anti-Trump group, and what's more, he no longer mentions one guest's affiliation with it.

After having on Lincoln Project guests 13 times between December and late January, NewsBusters reported Tuesday that Williams has only had on Lincoln Project advisor Michael Steele since Jan. 27. Williams has also stopped referring to the organization when introducing him in his four appearances since that time...

And when you've lost Mr. Kellyanne Conway and Kurt Bardella and Jennifer Rubin...

I agree. None of the failures of the people at the top should be laid at the feet of diligent employees who put their heart and soul into beating Trump. Hubris and greed have ended this particular group's effectiveness. Other unrelated groups and people carry on the good fight.

— Jennifer 'pro-reality' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 16, 2021

From The Daily Beast where Lincoln Project co-founder and all around odious human being, Rick Wilson, is currently enjoys the job of [checks notes] Editor-at-Large:

Lincoln Project Chiefs Knew of Weaver Abuse Claims in March 2020, Months Earlier Than They Have Said: Report

So what's next?

Well now we all get to brace ourselves for a long round of stabbings (which have already begun) by Fox News, PowerLine, Brietbart, OANN, Newsmax, every loyal member of the House of Trump and on and on and on using the Lincoln Project sword that Liberal teevee and all my fair-weather Liberal allies forged for them.

As to what happens after that, you'll have to tune in next time to find out.

Until then...

UPDATE:  An Alert Reader alerted me to this -- 

-- which is such a weirdly, perfect collision of stuff in my head that there is a non-trivial chance that I am, in fact, George Orr, the main character in Ursula K. LeGuin's novel, The Lathe of Heaven and that my "effective dreams" have conjured all of this into existence.

In which case, I am really sorry!

 

No Half Measures