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Although there has been a lot of discussion over the controversial Project 2025 which aims to increase presidential powers, and decrease the ‘wokeness’ and liberalism which the authors claim is causing American democracy to decay, there are other projects and schemes thought up by politicians in the US which similarly wish to pursue an agenda. One of these is the Lincoln Project, which seeks to oppose Project 2025. It is created by more moderately conservative Republicans, which are unaligned with the more populist and increasingly right-wing stance the Republican Party has adopted since Trump’s presidency. Due to their opposition to Trump, they are backing up Harris’ presidency in the upcoming election.
To further understand their political positions, the namesake of the project should first be assessed. The Lincoln Project is named after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, and famously led the US through the Civil War. Ideologically, he is known to be a moderate Republican, and had to navigate through negotiations with both the Democratic and Republican parties to end the Civil War. Moreover, his efforts were able to reunite the North and the South of the United States together, repairing the fractures caused by the period of turmoil. Therefore, historians see him as a protector of democracy. All of the features of Lincoln mentioned overlap with the goals and aims of the project; the founders of this project are more moderate Republicans whose goals or ideologies do not align with Trump’s increasingly far-right, populist sentiments, and also want to preserve the country’s current democracy by bridging the gap between the main two parties.
Who are the career-Republicans behind the Lincoln project-check out the video below.
The Lincoln Project is a political action committee (PAC), which is like an interest group where it can pool donations and money from supporters, to fund lobbying, ballots and their campaign efforts. It was founded at the end of 2019, during Trump’s third year as President where many of his divisive and controversial policies were put into play. Some of its founders worked during John McCain’s presidential campaign against Obama during 2000 and 2008; notably, John McCain is also a moderate Republican whose views differ from the current Republican party under Trump. The main four founders are George Conway, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson, who are all seen as very outspoken critics of Trump despite all being Republicans. Due to their strong opposition against Trump and their aim to preserve democracy, for both the 2020 and 2024 elections, they have endorsed the Democratic candidate instead, being Biden and Harris respectively.
The Project’s main strategies include ads and viral criticisms about Trump to receive more supporters. They use videos and tweets prolifically, which occasionally feature humour and comedy, but usually evoke emotional responses from the actions by Trump, which are portrayed as outrageous. The project particularly targets swing states such as Minnesota and Wisconsin to sway uncertain voters and further convince them about Trump’s actions from a less left-leaning and more moderate view, which could be more persuasive compared to campaigns from the Democrats. Their most high profile protest was in 2021, in protest to the governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin’s failure to criticise Trump’s ambivalence towards the white supremacists’ march in 2017, dressing up like the white supremacists themselves and carrying torches. However, the Project has some controversies. One of the founders, John Weaver, has been accused of sexual misconduct with young men, which caused his subsequent departure from the project. This incident also caused other founders to leave, due to either association with Weaver, or because of disputes over funding and money handling.
Although the project has its own controversies, its potential impacts on the upcoming election could be profound. Trump’s increasingly right-wing, nationalist and populist rhetoric is starting to distance the moderate politicians within the party away, with some moderate Republicans even supporting Harris in the Democratic National Convention in 2024. Project Lincoln’s success could even encourage more moderate Republicans to leave the party and support Harris, further affecting Trump’s chances of winning. Overall, this organisation shows the fractures and factions within the Republicans in the US, and the potential effects that a Trump presidency could have.
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