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Our Strategy is Simple: Never Let Up

The Lincoln Project is coming up on the four-year anniversary of our… “relationship” with Donald Trump. We’ve seen a lot in that time, and everything Trump has done has reaffirmed our belief that the most important duty in American politics is to deny him the White House. 

A near coup, 91 indictments, and most recently, the willingness to admit he’d be a dictator on “day one.” The man is an existential threat to our democracy. Full stop. 

Despite all the words, deeds, disasters, and death, the GOP can’t quit him, and he will be the presidential nominee. His opponents, both in the Democratic Party and the anti-Trump GOP, have struggled for years to understand how to beat him.

But we figured it out back in 2020. You attack him every day. All day, every day. You never give him the chance to have the upper hand. That’s the work we do here at The Lincoln Project. That’s why you’re on our team >>

For too many in the anti-Trump universe, taking him on directly must feel like climbing down in the mud with a monster. It often is, but the fight is there.

In 2020, we aired our first major ad against Trump, “Mourning in America.”  We ran it on Fox News in the DC media market because we knew he’d see it. Of course Trump saw it and went crazy, attacking us as an organization and individually on Twitter. The next day, on the tarmac in front of Air Force One, he complained about us on national television. That day, we moved into Trump’s cranium and have resided there rent-free since.

What followed was years of hitting Trump repeatedly, influencing his actions, and throwing him off his game. This led to the firing of his campaign manager, confused moments at rallies, and quite a few tantrums.

One of the biggest questions we get at The Lincoln Project is from people who agree with our mission and love to see Trump tantrums, but still wonder: does it really make a difference at the ballot box?

The answer is simple and it’s something we’ve tested over four years. It does. 

1. It pushes all the suspicious buttons in his brain – there are many, typically about the people closest to him. He hates everyone. He trusts no one. The closer you are to him, the more he distrusts you.
2. The attack pierces the carefully constructed, but incredibly delicate reality distortion bubble Trump has created for himself. When he saw the images of dead Americans and a cratering economy in 2020, he knew he wasn’t up to the task. When he sees images of himself decompensating in public, it sparks his innate knowledge that A) he really is losing it, and B) he’s mortal, just like everyone else.
3. All of this creates a tremendous strain on the campaign. When he’s distracted, when he’s paranoid, he makes bad campaign decisions.

So think of us as your line directly into Trump’s brain. We’re the only ones who have access to it, and if you believe 2024 is a fight for our democracy, then you need to know that our work is important to winning the fight.

If you can, we’d appreciate it if you would pitch in to support our next ad campaign against Trump. It’s going to throw him off his game, and it’ll be just in time for primary season. 

-Reed