I've mentioned my lukewarm feelings towards the Lincoln Project before, but I wanted to get some more insight.
Who they are: The Lincoln Project is a PAC founded by a group of current and former Republican party members who have declared themselves anti-trump. They started out by dedicating themselves to his defeat in the 2020 election and have expanded that to include his supporters in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Their founders include Republican operatives like Steve Schmidt, George Conway, and Rick Wilson. The group consists of Republican strategists, media spokespeople, and various people who have either worked on campaigns or within the party itself.
What are they doing: They are collecting lots and lots of money to run ads attacking Trump on various topics. Whether it's on his disastrous economic policies, his seemingly intentional attempts to inflame racial tensions, or his awful handling of the coronavirus, they have ads stripping him down. They are also attacking Republican Senators up for re-election and backing their Democratic opponents.
Who likes them: Establishement Republicans. The people who couldn't muster enough support in their own party to beat him in the 2016 primaries.
Political commentators i nthe media. the same people who had no idea how to handle Trump in 2016 and basically handed him a billion dollars in free advertising in 2016.
Centrist and establishment Democrats. The folks who blew a seemingly slam dunk general election against Trump in 2016.
Anyone seeing a pattern?
Who hates them: You know who. It seems that, if nothing else, their commercials are great for getting under his skin. They can needle him in ways an actual political opponent can't.
My problems with them:
1) For starters, I'm not a fan of the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" line of thinking. We've seen that blow up before. Ya, Trump is obviously the bigger threat right now, but that brings me to my next point.
2) They are a big part of how we got into this mess. They laid the ground work for the rise of Trump by waging wars on the institutions that were supposed to protect us from his brand of psuedo populism. Public education, higher learning, unions, government itself. Their strategies to turn the American populace against our own self interests mad eus distrustful of the very foundations of our society. Their unabashed love for Ronald "Southern Strategy" Reagan kind of drives this home. A handful of these guys were in W's ear when the invasion of Iraq started. And they don't seem to have an ounce of remorse over any of it. In fact,
3) They are trying to pull the Democrats further to the right and shape them into a new Republican party. They don't seem to have any actual remorse for the damage they have caused and instead are trying to drown out progressive voices. In essence, Republicans are trying to shut Democrats out of the Democratic party. they are pretty open about how they still maintain "Conservatice principles", whatever that means anymore, and are still pretty derisive when it comes to actual Democratic platforms and ideas. This wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact they are trying to leverage their assumed influence on voters to change the Democratic party. Which goes to my next point.
4) Just how effective are they? I mean, the commercials are great. I can't front. "Mourning in America" hits home emotionally. But, the Pod Save America guys have been doing a series on political ads and they have mentioned that just because an ad is memorable or emotional, doesn't mean it is effective. It should fit in with an over al lstrategy. My wife is a marketing director and has said similar things. She points to how much companies spend on SuperBowl ads. They used to be huge productions that took multiple spots. Now, not so much. It seems big production ads are like a mediocre laugh track sitcom. They might trigger a response in the moment, but you totally forget it five minutes later. I've tried to look for any sort of polling about their ads, but haven't found anything.
Also, it seems most of their ad plays are online. If they are supposed to be getting white, older, middle class voters in swing states, is that really where you run the ads? I know they have run them on TV, but it seems they aren't doing it very frequently. We watch then news a lot these days (probably too much) and I'm seeing those Trump ads where America has collapsed into anarchy way more than any Lincoln Project ad. Granted, I am in a safe blue state.
The finance stuff I won't say much about since I don't know anything about starting a PAC, so their burn could be very similar to a tech startup's.
I'm not suspicious of them because they aren't ideologically pure or anything. It wouldn't bother me if they stuck to the "true conservatives against Trump" shtick. My issues are their influence-peddling and how they seem to refuse to acknowledge that Trump is their monster. They are being given way more screen time and money than I think they actually deliver on. They aren't just Republican in ideals or ideology. they are Republican in sleezy tactics.
Who they are: The Lincoln Project is a PAC founded by a group of current and former Republican party members who have declared themselves anti-trump. They started out by dedicating themselves to his defeat in the 2020 election and have expanded that to include his supporters in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Their founders include Republican operatives like Steve Schmidt, George Conway, and Rick Wilson. The group consists of Republican strategists, media spokespeople, and various people who have either worked on campaigns or within the party itself.
What are they doing: They are collecting lots and lots of money to run ads attacking Trump on various topics. Whether it's on his disastrous economic policies, his seemingly intentional attempts to inflame racial tensions, or his awful handling of the coronavirus, they have ads stripping him down. They are also attacking Republican Senators up for re-election and backing their Democratic opponents.
Who likes them: Establishement Republicans. The people who couldn't muster enough support in their own party to beat him in the 2016 primaries.
Political commentators i nthe media. the same people who had no idea how to handle Trump in 2016 and basically handed him a billion dollars in free advertising in 2016.
Centrist and establishment Democrats. The folks who blew a seemingly slam dunk general election against Trump in 2016.
Anyone seeing a pattern?
Who hates them: You know who. It seems that, if nothing else, their commercials are great for getting under his skin. They can needle him in ways an actual political opponent can't.
My problems with them:
1) For starters, I'm not a fan of the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" line of thinking. We've seen that blow up before. Ya, Trump is obviously the bigger threat right now, but that brings me to my next point.
2) They are a big part of how we got into this mess. They laid the ground work for the rise of Trump by waging wars on the institutions that were supposed to protect us from his brand of psuedo populism. Public education, higher learning, unions, government itself. Their strategies to turn the American populace against our own self interests mad eus distrustful of the very foundations of our society. Their unabashed love for Ronald "Southern Strategy" Reagan kind of drives this home. A handful of these guys were in W's ear when the invasion of Iraq started. And they don't seem to have an ounce of remorse over any of it. In fact,
3) They are trying to pull the Democrats further to the right and shape them into a new Republican party. They don't seem to have any actual remorse for the damage they have caused and instead are trying to drown out progressive voices. In essence, Republicans are trying to shut Democrats out of the Democratic party. they are pretty open about how they still maintain "Conservatice principles", whatever that means anymore, and are still pretty derisive when it comes to actual Democratic platforms and ideas. This wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact they are trying to leverage their assumed influence on voters to change the Democratic party. Which goes to my next point.
4) Just how effective are they? I mean, the commercials are great. I can't front. "Mourning in America" hits home emotionally. But, the Pod Save America guys have been doing a series on political ads and they have mentioned that just because an ad is memorable or emotional, doesn't mean it is effective. It should fit in with an over al lstrategy. My wife is a marketing director and has said similar things. She points to how much companies spend on SuperBowl ads. They used to be huge productions that took multiple spots. Now, not so much. It seems big production ads are like a mediocre laugh track sitcom. They might trigger a response in the moment, but you totally forget it five minutes later. I've tried to look for any sort of polling about their ads, but haven't found anything.
Also, it seems most of their ad plays are online. If they are supposed to be getting white, older, middle class voters in swing states, is that really where you run the ads? I know they have run them on TV, but it seems they aren't doing it very frequently. We watch then news a lot these days (probably too much) and I'm seeing those Trump ads where America has collapsed into anarchy way more than any Lincoln Project ad. Granted, I am in a safe blue state.
The finance stuff I won't say much about since I don't know anything about starting a PAC, so their burn could be very similar to a tech startup's.
I'm not suspicious of them because they aren't ideologically pure or anything. It wouldn't bother me if they stuck to the "true conservatives against Trump" shtick. My issues are their influence-peddling and how they seem to refuse to acknowledge that Trump is their monster. They are being given way more screen time and money than I think they actually deliver on. They aren't just Republican in ideals or ideology. they are Republican in sleezy tactics.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/30eR9kw
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