Last December a group of Never Trump Republicans announced the formation of the Lincoln Project. The group has a single goal – to work for the defeat of President Trump in November. The names of the people behind this effort will likely be familiar to you if you keep up with Republican politics or are active on Twitter. These are blue check Never Trumpers.
Not all members are mentioned but these names and short descriptions are at the bottom of the front page of the website: All are between the ages of 50 – 60 years old and have a longtime involvement in Republican politics. Take a look:
George T. Conway III is an attorney in New York. Steve Schmidt is a Republican political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Weaver is a Republican strategist who worked for President George H.W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. John Kasich. Rick Wilson is a Republican media consultant and author of “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and the forthcoming “Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America From Trump and Democrats From Themselves.”
You can see them on CNN and MSNBC quite often. These are the Republicans in demand by the anti-Trump cable news networks. They align with the political views of the show hosts. It is to their benefit to help oust President Trump, even though that means we will get President Joe Biden. Trump broke a lot of people and that includes Republicans dependent on maintaining the status quo in Washington. They are shut out of the loop during the Trump administration, though Conway is married to Kellyanne Conway.
So, it is extremely cynical of these men to hold themselves out as the stand-bearers of the “muh principles” wing of the Republican Party. What that means is that President Trump is a street fighter and they prefer an old school Republican president – one who goes along with Democrats to get along. It is the uniparty approach to government that led us to the election of Trump. Look, it took me a while to understand that. Trump was my 17th favorite choice in the Republican primary race in 2016. When he became the party nominee, however, I adapted. It would have gone against everything I believed to vote for Hillary Clinton, that’s for sure. Instead of #NeverTrump, I became #NeverHillary.
It’s been bumpy at times but it turns out that a businessman in the Oval Office gets results that run of the mill politicians don’t. Credit where credit is due – judicial nominations, a booming economy, Americans held hostage in dangerous parts of the world being released (just today an American was released by Lebanon and is on his way home), convincing other countries to pony up and honor monetary commitments to NATO, loosening regulations on businesses, and tax cuts. Does Trump talk pretty? No. That’s the trade-off for success in other areas.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The president is success-oriented. He tried to keep Americans calm and he shouldn’t be faulted for that. It is reasonable to criticize the slowness of some of the national response but he did act quickly to close off air travel from China as the news grew worse out of China. That happened while he was also dealing with being impeached. To act as though everyone was focused on working to contain the pandemic while Trump ignored it is re-writing history.
The CDC dropped the ball on testing. As Dr. Fauci explained on television, the CDC isn’t set up to distribute tests at an increased level overnight. Plus, the tests available were not deemed effective. The CDC had to scramble to get a proper test and that has taken time. To blame Trump for that is not fair. For those blaming him for dissolving the pandemic response panel, I point to this article in the Washington Post, not exactly a Trump-friendly newspaper.
The latest ad from the Lincoln Project compares Trump to the coronavirus. How’s that for showing leadership as calls for unity abound? Country over party, right guys?
In the face of a profound threat to America, what kind of leadership do we expect and deserve?https://t.co/2EHU0nqro6@gtconway3d@reedgalen@NHJennifer@madrid_mike@SteveSchmidtSES@RonSteslow@jwgop@TheRickWilson#CountryOverParty pic.twitter.com/uiHOTquf0k
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 18, 2020
Rick Wilson tweeted out some malicious-sounding snark Wednesday to the first lady. What’s that again about tone?
#BeInfected https://t.co/TZD35uaEvq
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 19, 2020
As I have heard others mention, Trump’s superpower is causing his critics to act exactly as they criticize him for doing.
If we get President Joe Biden in the November election, the Never Trumpers will have back their old status quo. That includes a president who is a 40-year veteran lawmaker with no real accomplishments, a track record of wrong opinions on foreign policy, tasked with heading up the “shovel-ready” jobs of the Obama economic stimulus package which failed to produce all those jobs and let’s not forget the Obama administration’s response to the H1N1 virus and Ebola, too. No thanks.