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The Lincoln Project Crushed by Scandals

The Lincoln Project Crushed by Scandals

It could not happen to a more deserving bunch of political reprobates.

The Lincoln Project was started by a bunch of erstwhile Republicans – self-proclaimed conservatives.  In fact, they were neither.  It is the old “what they say and what they do” dichotomy.  They shamefully selected the good name of one of the Republican Party’s – and the nation’s – most revered presidents as a veneer for their political skullduggery.  It is no small irony that they would select the President known as “Honest Abe” to engage in a strategic campaign of lies and deceptions.

Guys like John Weaver founded The Lincoln Project. 

Even as a political consultant, Weaver was a dark and sleazy character.  His two major clients, the late Arizona Senator John McCain and former Ohio Governor John Kasich, were never known for the loyalty to the Republican Party or their firm grip on conservative principles.  They were both politely referred to as mavericks. They were very popular in Democrat circles and as go-to guys for the left-wing media.

Weaver fell from grace when the public discovered that he was a big-time gay sexual predator. He promised jobs with the Lincoln Project to potential interns for sexual favors – one of whom was 14. 

The group also included another McCain operative, Stephen Schmidt.  He become a regular on MSNBC and CNN for his uniquely vicious attacks on President Trump and the entire Republican Party – from public officials to everyday voters.

Another despicable character was George Conway.  From the very onset of the Trump administration, he was the mad pit bull snipping at the feet of the President to the delight of Democrats and the Anti-Trump media.  What made Conway particularly loathsome was that all the time he was demonizing Trump and those associated with him, his wife, Kellyanne, was serving in the White House as a top advisor to the President.

I understand free speech, and all that, but there were more than enough critics of Trump to carry Mr. Conway’s water without him having to humiliate and degrade his own wife.

Other false-flag conservative Republicans

The Lincoln Project became the rallying point for a range of false-flag conservative Republicans. That includes former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, consultant and author Rick Wilson and Republican strategist Susan Del Percio – to name a few.

Although all the leaders claimed to be unaware of Weaver’s dark and criminal side, evidence surfaced that they were well aware of his activities months before 21 men blew the lid off the cover-up.  Wilson claimed the revelations were just a bogus attack on the organization. 

Despite the shocked protestations of ignorance and false claims against the Trump camp, the leadership of The Lincoln Project knew much earlier that Weaver was “a problem.” 

Both Schmidt and Wilson allegedly told a staffer last September that Weaver was “depraved” and “twisted.”

But they still took no action.

Apart for the Weaver issue, these folks were not merely disenchanted Republicans.  They were operating as an auxiliary of the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Joe Biden.  Not only were their supposedly insider attacks on Trump and GOP officeholders given maximum exposure in the elitist east coast news media, but there is also the issue of money.  They were funding independent attack campaigns against a range of Republican candidates  — especially Republican senators. 

The sources of their money explain this.

The biggest donor was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Majority Forward Political Action Committee (PAC) – kicking in $1.9 million.  The donor list has numerous big name Democrat fat cats. It includes six-figure donations from two family members of Illinois’ billionaire Governor J.B. Pritzker and Hollywood’s uber liberal honcho David Geffen.  Enough said?

According to media reports, The Lincoln Project raised more than $90 million.  Now there is the issue of what did those folks do with all those millions of dollars?  Well, a large portion paid fees to … take a guess … the political consulting firms of the folks who founded the operation. 

In fact, more than half of that $90 million dollars flowed to the benefit of the principles of the Project.  In a sense, it was a money laundering scheme.  Schmidt – who sanctimoniously resigned from the Project in mock outrage — but only after profiting by at least $1.5 million. 

In a CNN interview, Wilson claimed that the money to be made was on the pro-Trump side. 

“Clearly, we are in the wrong line of work,” he proclaimed.  I guess the money that flowed to him was not enough.  In fact, Wilson desperately needed the money from the Lincoln Project to pay off his hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes and to settle tens of thousands of dollars owed to credit card companies.

There is still a question as to what happened to the rest of the money.  The Federal Election Commission and others will be looking into that – so the movie-script story of politics, sex, money, betrayal and depravity has not reached the final scene.

We can say– with satisfaction and a sense of moral justice – that The Lincoln Project is dead – meeting its demise appropriately coinciding with the national celebration of the birth of the real Lincoln.  The careers and reputations of the cabal of political operatives who engaged in one of the most despicable and phony enterprises in modern political history are in shambles.  Justice has been served.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.