The Flip Side of the Coin
The media gets so caught up in the circus that is Trump/Desantis/ultra-MAGA that they ignore the other side of the coin – President Biden’s trending up just as fast as they’re spiraling down.
The Inflation Reduction Act – at this point, it has to be Biden’s signature piece of legislation – is working. Inflation is down. The economy is growing fast. Unemployment is at record lows. And manufacturing is booming in places like Ohio, Arizona, and Georgia. Those three states are no accidents.
So MTG’s reaction – and our lightning-quick rapid response – matters a lot. We’re leading the way, even when President Biden’s unlikeliest cheerleader somehow talks herself into talking up what he’s done. (Probably wish you had that one back, eh, Margie?)
-The Lincoln Project
Thought we’d catch you up on the latest in the ultra-MAGA GOP primary.
Ron DeSantis is hemorrhaging money – and is about to be outspent big time in Iowa by Tim Scott. His burn rate is historically bad. So of course, they are trying to right the ship by firing a bunch of staff. But there’s a deeper rot here that no amount of deck-chair-rearranging is going to fix.
This is where a point Stuart has been making couldn’t be more true: You can’t fire the candidate.
Ron DeSantis’ campaign is stuck with… Ron DeSantis. His stupid war on woke isn’t working. He’s terrible with people and just generally unlikeable. His campaign can only do so much to put lipstick on that pig. No CNN town halls are going to change anything. Last night certainly didn’t.
And it’s showing in the polls. He isn’t getting MAGA loyalists away from Trump. A new poll shows that 70%+ of Trump primary voters have made up their minds completely. That means this primary is over. The best all these also-rans can hope for is somehow Trump doesn’t or can’t run next year. You and I know how unlikely that is.
This brings me to my other point. The GOP is almost certainly stuck with Trump. In a lot of ways, they can’t fire him, either. No matter how many more indictments come. Not that they’d want to, of course. They’re too into humiliation for that. But with Trump and the GOP increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place – what we all need to take to heart is this: Do not be surprised when they do something completely unhinged or unexpected. It’s par for the course now.
The lack of imagination in 2016 is what led to Trump. They will do anything. So we have to be ready for anything.
That’s why we’re pushing so hard to build up for 2024 right now. We have to be ready to take on any curveballs they throw us whenever they come — and make the case that President Biden’s leadership is working.
Look at the other day. We saw MTG give the pro-democracy movement a huge gift and make the case for re-electing President Biden. Unironically telling her audience that President Biden was helping people by reducing inflation and creating jobs. One of the weirder unforced errors I’ve seen this year.
We were faster than anyone getting that message out – to the millions of you who support The Lincoln Project and follow us on social media. The next day, President Biden put out something similar. This is the kind of thing we do every day on this pirate ship. We jump on opportunities and we aren’t afraid to be the first ones out there with something. We have no candidate to wishfully fire or be fired by. And combined with the millions of you reading this, we’re a force to be reckoned with.
Thank you for all that you do.
-Reed
@ReedGalen on Twitter