POLITICUSUSA
The “big lie” is not unique to Trump but rather constitutes a long-standing Republican tradition and political practice that, far from distinguishing itself from Trump’s governance, in fact enabled and even created it.
We keep hearing about splits in the Republican ranks between those who have sold their souls to the extremist arm of the party loyal to Trumpism, embodying white supremacist and anti-democratic values, and those more traditional Republicans who insist on sharply differentiating the ideology of conservativism from Trumpism.
When Donald Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016, he didn’t really have any political allies. So when Mike Pence was announced as his VP, it was seen as more of a strategic move. Pence was on the ticket to help Trump win the votes of Evangelical Christians.
And while the strategy worked, it was a strange partnership. Pence was given about as much responsibility as
Jared Kushner
In an op-ed for The Guardian, Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen says the New York Times story documenting years of President Donald Trump’s tax evasion is further evidence of his “con.” But he is more concerned about the president’s debts, calling them “far more concerning.”
“The New York Times report reveals that Trump is leveraged to the tune of more than $400m, much of it personally guaranteed. Most reputable lending institutions would require significant collateral to extend that kind of credit. Who then, would be willing to lend so much money to such a high-risk client We don’t know that answer, of course. It does raise the legitimate question, though: to whom does the president of the United States owe so much money, and what are they willing to do to ensure repayment?” Galen wrote.
“Especially when you consider that he has hundreds of millions of dollars in loans due for collection in the next four years,” he continues. “If he is unable to pay them back, what would these lenders be willing to accept in kind as payment for unpaid debts from the man who hopes to continue being the leader of the free world?”
Galen goes on to say that it’s likely that “Trump cannot afford to be president.”
“Though his companies generate some revenue, they won’t make him the kind of money he needs to climb out of debt. Even his hotel just across the street from the White House can’t fill all the holes. His golf courses, according to the Times, are money pits,” he writes:
“For Trump, the presidency has always been performative. Standing behind the podium, before adoring crowds – that is what Trump lives for. The actual business of the job holds little interest for him. Now that the world knows for sure he’s consistently teetering on financial ruin, it’s not hard to believe that he will focus even less on being president and more on shoring up his personal empire. And that, unfortunately, means that the American people will once again take a distant back seat to Trump’s personal concerns and needs. While Americans continue to get sick, thousands more die every week and our way of life is ruined, Trump will do what he always does: put himself at the head of the line.”
Michael Steel responded to criticism of his opposition to Donald Trump on Tuesday by calling out “collaborators” whom he suggested had abandoned Republican ideas.
The former Chair of the Republican National Committee announced on Monday he was joining the Lincoln Project, a conservative group backing former Vice President Joe Biden.
Fox Nation host David Webb tagged Steele in a tweet, asking how supporting Democrats gets him “closer to Republican principles” – clearly claiming that President Trump represents those ideas.
“Serious answer, I don’t need to get closer to my Republican principles,” Steele replied.
Serious answer, I don’t need to get closer to my Republican principles. I’ve never moved off them. I stand where Reagan stood. Where do you stand? I stand where Eisenhower stood? Where do you stand? The collaborators have to explain themselves. Not the resistors. https://t.co/xPCvSzEHFW
Due to family drama, the Lincoln Project recently lost a founding member in George Conway. While the lawyer says he is taking a break from social media, he promised that he is still completely behind the groups message.
It didn’t take long for the Trump-trolling collective to find a new prominent Republican to join their cause. On Monday, the Lincoln Project sent out an announcement welcoming former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to the team.
Steele said in a statement releaed by the group, “
The chair behind the Resolute Desk has always been bigger than any political party.
George Conway thinks Donald Trump is racist and evil, according to remarks revealed as his wife, Kellyanne Conway, prepares to leave the White House at the end of the month.
The conservative lawyer offers the severe criticism of the President in an upcoming documentary: #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump. The news comes amid reports that the Conways will step back from their roles in the administration and the anti-Trump Lincoln Project respectively.
Watch the video:
“My mother came from the Philippines. She came to the United States in the late 1950s. So I’m half Filipino, and the other half is some mixture of Irish, Scottish – you know, I’m classic American mutt,” Conway said.
“I think of myself as an American. I just assume people aren’t racist. And I tend to forget that, well, some people are. And that’s sort of the lesson with Trump is. I just gave him the benefit of the doubt.”
Conway referred to Trump’s comments about to four Democratic members of Congress, telling them to “go back” to the “crime infested” countries he believes they came from.
“It brought back that memory of the one time I really remember, wow, there really are people like that here,” Conway said.
“I was with my mother when I was a teenager in a parking lot in Massachusetts and somebody said to her, ‘go back to your country.’ It came home to me then. This man is a racist. He is evil.”
Follow Darragh Roche on Twitter
The conservative Lincoln Project will mock Donald Trump’s calls to boycott Goodyear tires in a new ad aimed at voters in Ohio – a crucial swing state in this year’s election.
The Lincoln Project and
Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) have released a new ad accusing Trump of “presidential pouting” after he called on his supporters not to buy from Goodyear.
A new ad from the Lincoln Project will target swing states and run during this week’s Democratic National Convention. The conservative group hopes to highlights’ Joe Biden’s personal qualities.
The ad, entitled “Dad”, was billed as an exposé by the Lincoln Project in a satire of many recent attacks on the former Vice President.
“
THE REAL JOE BIDEN EXPOSED!” the conservative group announced on its website.
The Lincoln Project has taken aim at President Donald Trump in a new ad featuring ex-Trump administration appointees.
“The ad speaks for itself,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, said in a press release. “President Trump has cycled through numerous cabinet officials who have left the administration disappointed by his crushing ineptitude. From his cabinet to his campaign and even in the Trump Organization itself, one thing has rung true time and again: Donald Trump is utterly unfit and unable to lead.”
The Lincoln Project has slammed Jared Kushner as “Secretary of Failure” in a new ad highlighting the Trump administration’s mishandling of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The conservative group campaigning to defeat President Donald Trump took aim at his son-in-law, who is also a senior White House official. The new doesn’t hold back, accusing Kushner of never meeting a problem he couldn’t “fuck up.”
“Jared Kushner is a failure,” the Lincoln Project said in a statement released with the ad on Wednesday. “Being rich doesn’t require skill, a pandemic response does.”
Watch the video:
The ad also pointed to Kushner father, saying he was a slumlord and a convicted felon, before morphing a photo of his father into Kushner, implying an unbroken pattern of criminality.
“Jared Kushner doesn’t care about your life or mine,” said Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen.
“He thought the pandemic was just another political prop — and now we’re all suffering. He is beyond evil.”
The Lincoln Project also reemphasized its central goal of removing Trump from office in 2020: “Defeating Trumpism means defeating cronies like Jared. Come November 3rd, it’s time to clean house. ”
Kushner has played a major role in dealing with the Coronavirus and has been widely criticized for his inadequate and reportedly partisan reaction to the deadly pandemic.
Follow Darragh Roche on Twitter
Donald Trump’s suggestion that the election should be postponed was immediately met with outrage, mockery and dismissal on Thursday from politicians, journalists and commentators.
The President mused about delaying November’s election – presumably the presidential ballot – due to what he asserted was rampant voter fraud in mail-in ballots.
Democratic Senator and possible vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris saw Trump’s tweet as evidence of his state of mind and inevitable defeat in the polls.
“Donald Trump is terrified. He knows he’s going to lose to Joe Biden,” Harris said.
Donald Trump is terrified. He knows he's going to lose to @JoeBiden. It will require every single one of us to make that happen.
We will see you at the ballot box on November 3rd, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/GeEH6Csvym
The Lincoln Project has made many headlines in recent weeks as it ramps up its ad campaign against President Donald Trump’s reelection efforts, and its latest ad features a former Navy SEAL who said the president is not a real conservative.
“I’m an American combat veteran and a conservative. I don’t agree with Joe Biden on many issues. But One thing that we agree on is we are a nation of laws and the Constitution is a sacred document. It’s a document I fought for and some of my friends died for,” says Dan Barkhuff, a former Navy Seal and ER doctor who founded Veterans for Responsible Leadership.
Trump shows “no such respect for the Constitution,” he continues, adding: “He and his cronies disrespect freedom of assembly, due process, and states rights.” Video clips then show footage from recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations as well as federal officials detaining demonstrators.
“President Trump is lost. He’s lashing out, and has resorted to displays of force in American cities to fire up his base,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, said in a press release. “While Donald Trump thinks federal thugs harassing peaceful American citizens makes him look strong, all we see is weakness.”
The Trump campaign soon responded.
“This is the swamp – yet again – trying to take down the duly elected President of the United States,” spokesperson Erin Perrine
said
While the right goes ga-ga over Tucker Carlson's ratings, The Lincoln Project got twice as many views for an ad as Carlson gets in a week.
The conservative Lincoln Project is more than happy to accept Donald Trump’s attacks because it helps them to raise money, its co-founder says. The project’s ads have hit Trump hard.
Founded by a group of former Republicans, the Lincoln Project has run a series of powerful political ads aimed at the President and his Republican supporters.
Trump has responded by attacking his conservative critics on Twitter – a move that co-founder John Weaver says only helps them.
“By attacking us, he’s become our biggest financial bundler,” Weaver said.
“If we were an administration, we’d probably make him ambassador to Slovenia or something, because he’s raising so much money for us.”
He won’t wear a mask, but he has no problem with a white hood.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 6, 2020
Indeed, the group has raised some $2.6 million through the month of March. They’re also
spending millions on ad buys in crucial swing states
The Lincoln Project republicans came out in full force last December, declaring in a New York Times op-ed their mission of defeating both Trump this November as well as Trumpism, meaning they are seeking to erase the republican majority in the senate.
Donald Trump claimed on Monday that the 2020 election will be rigged using mail-in ballots. His critics were quick to mock the President for telling his own voters not to bother showing up to the polls.
The conservative Lincoln Project, which has run a series of searingly critical ads against Trump, pointed out that Trump was basically saying his supporters’ votes wouldn’t matter.
“RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!” Trump tweeted early Monday.
4D Chess: Trump continues to persuade his base not to vote in November. https://t.co/iZHVpliBvd
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 22, 2020
“4D Chess: Trump continues to persuade his base not to vote in November,” the official Lincoln Project Twitter account wrote.
The President wasn’t finished, however. He sent a second tweet attacking mail-in voting and claiming the election would be rigged against him.
“Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history – unless this stupidity is ended,” he wrote.
“We voted during World War One & World War Two with no problem, but now they are using Covid in order to cheat by using Mail-Ins!”
Critics were quick to point out that mail-in ballots were used during both world wars, while the Lincoln Project further mocked the President
with a Jonathan Frakes video.
The Trump campaign has lashed out at the conservative Lincoln Project following their viral “Mourning in America” ad. The President’s team singled out the group’s members by name.
Donald Trump’s campaign circulated an email with the subject “The Lincoln Project Losers are Scam Artists.”
“The Lincoln Project’s scam artists are as trashy as political grifters can get,” the campaign said.
The email then took aim at individual members of the group, most prominently former Republicans Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt and George Conway.
Watch the video:
SHOT: https://t.co/RutHdvs7Sc
CHASER: https://t.co/uirOeNP4QH
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 4, 2020
The President has suggested that Congress wants the administration’s response to Covid-19 to fail. Donald Trump says this is why he won’t let Dr. Anthony Fauci testify.
Trump spoke to the press before heading to Arizona on Tuesday. This will be his first trip outside Washington, D.C. since the pandemic began. He was asked why he wouldn’t let Fauci give evidence to Congress.
“Because the House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters,” the President said.
Watch the video:
REPORTER: Why won't you let Fauci testify before the House?
TRUMP: "Because the House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters … they, frankly, want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death." pic.twitter.com/G3G5OoV5IV
President Donald Trump lashed out at attorney George Conway, the husband of presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, and other Republicans over an anti-Trump advertisement released by The Lincoln Project that criticizes the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“A group of RINO Republicans who failed badly 12 years ago, then again 8 years ago, and then got BADLY beaten by me, a political first timer, 4 years ago, have copied (no imagination) the concept of an ad from Ronald Reagan, ‘Morning in America’, doing everything possible to get even for all of their many failures,” Trump wrote late last night.
He continued: “You see, these loser types don’t care about 252 new Federal Judges, 2 great Supreme Court Justices, a rebuilt military, a protected 2nd Amendment, biggest EVER Tax & Regulation cuts, and much more.”
Trump went on to assert that he “didn’t use any of the them because they don’t know how to win, and their so-called Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe.”
A group of RINO Republicans who failed badly 12 years ago, then again 8 years ago, and then got BADLY beaten by me, a political first timer, 4 years ago, have copied (no imagination) the concept of an ad from Ronald Reagan, “Morning in America”, doing everything possible to….