The Lincoln Project

[Vrede too]

Their work is not done.

Tuck Frump

Here's the ad about VP Q-tip. The link in the tweet does not lead to it for me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxBPqCHFCcc

The Lincoln Project owns 45SHOLE, again.

[billy.pilgrim]

Not Lincoln Project but I couldn't find a better thread. Well worth the 10 minute watch

"Matthew Cooke is most known for his ongoing political talks (over 110 million views). He was the producer and editor of the Oscar-nominated, critically acclaimed documentary “Deliver Us From Evil,” the writer-director, DP, editor and narrator of “How to Make Money Selling Drugs” co-starring Eminem and 50 Cent (winner of the International Documentary Association writing award) and “Survivors Guide to Prison” (100% on Rotten Tomatoes) narrated and executive produced by Susan Sarandon, co-starring Busta Rhymes, featuring the stories of Bruce Lisker and Reggie Cole, produced by his dear friend Steve DeVore, David & Christina Arquette, Adrian Grenier, Danny Trejo, Jesse Williams, and the amazing Gina Belafonte. As a Bernie Sanders’ surrogate, Cooke wrote and directed Bernie's short bio-pic featuring brother-from-another-mother Mark Ruffalo, as well as many of Bernie’s 2016 campaign videos. Cooke regularly speaks at colleges and universities on criminal justice reform, a topic of many of his talks, videos and films and has served as longtime guest host for Larry King’s show, PoliticKing."

[Vrede too]

Not Lincoln Project but I couldn't find a better thread. Well worth the 10 minute watch....

Wow, thanks!

MichaelrHarris
@MichaelrHarris_
Replying to @Lesdoggg

Of course I had to review the My Pillow. In a nutshell I found it hard to sleep on a pillow so full of insurrection. The sedition kept shifting around and making strange claims. I think this pillow might be full of fraud. One star.

[GoCubsGo]

[Vrede too]

Co-founder of anti-Trump Republican group accused of sexual harassment by 21 men

An anti-Trump Republican group branded one of its co-founders "a predator, a liar, and an abuser" after he was accused of sexually harassing young men who aspired to a career in politics.

The Lincoln Project, a high-profile group which formed during the election campaign to prevent Donald Trump's re-election, said it was "disgusted and outraged" by the alleged actions of co-founder John Weaver.

Mr Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist who helped run the presidential campaigns of the late senator John McCain and the former Ohio governor John Kasich, has been accused of sending unsolicited and sexually charged messages to 21 young men online.

In some instances, the men claimed Mr Weaver, 61, suggested that he could help them get work in politics while asking them to send lewd pictures. None of the men accused Mr Weaver of unlawful behaviour.

One of the alleged victims, Cole Trickle Miele, said the Republican strategist began contacting him in 2015 - when he was just 14 years old....

The Lincoln Project, named after the Republican Party’s most famous president, formed ahead of the 2020 election campaign with the intention of convincing voters to abandon Mr Trump....

Mission accomplished. I'm not sure that recovery is possible. It might be best to close up shop and for the other founders, employees and leftover money to shift to different allied groups. Would is be worth the hassle of continually explaining that Weaver is not the entire org or its aims?

[GoCubsGo]

Co-founder of anti-Trump Republican group accused of sexual harassment by 21 men

An anti-Trump Republican group branded one of its co-founders "a predator, a liar, and an abuser" after he was accused of sexually harassing young men who aspired to a career in politics.

The Lincoln Project, a high-profile group which formed during the election campaign to prevent Donald Trump's re-election, said it was "disgusted and outraged" by the alleged actions of co-founder John Weaver.

Mr Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist who helped run the presidential campaigns of the late senator John McCain and the former Ohio governor John Kasich, has been accused of sending unsolicited and sexually charged messages to 21 young men online.

In some instances, the men claimed Mr Weaver, 61, suggested that he could help them get work in politics while asking them to send lewd pictures. None of the men accused Mr Weaver of unlawful behaviour.

One of the alleged victims, Cole Trickle Miele, said the Republican strategist began contacting him in 2015 - when he was just 14 years old....

The Lincoln Project, named after the Republican Party’s most famous president, formed ahead of the 2020 election campaign with the intention of convincing voters to abandon Mr Trump....

Mission accomplished. I'm not sure that recovery is possible. It might be best to close up shop and for the other founders, employees and leftover money to shift to different allied groups. Would is be worth the hassle of continually explaining that Weaver is not the entire org or its aims?

Nah, they're still going strong.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ProjectLincoln



Weaver isn't a notable Republican name much less a notable Lincoln Project name. They condemned and distanced.

Carry forward.

[Vrede too]

Nah, they're still going strong.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ProjectLincoln

Weaver isn't a notable Republican name much less a notable Lincoln Project name. They condemned and distanced.

Carry forward.

Just yesterday:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r2xzzHfw94

[billy.pilgrim]

Josh - the little bitch

[GoCubsGo]

Nah, they're still going strong.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ProjectLincoln

Weaver isn't a notable Republican name much less a notable Lincoln Project name. They condemned and distanced.

Carry forward.

Just yesterday:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r2xzzHfw94

Nice. Their new slogan should be:
Gaslighting America, the Republican Way!

[Vrede too]

Nice. Their new slogan should be:
Gaslighting America, the Republican Way!

Especially this week. New TLP vids:

The Case Against Donald J. Trump

Convict

Branded

[Vrede too]

Co-founder of anti-Trump Republican group accused of sexual harassment by 21 men

... I'm not sure that recovery is possible. It might be best to close up shop and for the other founders, employees and leftover money to shift to different allied groups. Would is be worth the hassle of continually explaining that Weaver is not the entire org or its aims?

Nah, they're still going strong.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ProjectLincoln

Weaver isn't a notable Republican name much less a notable Lincoln Project name. They condemned and distanced.

Carry forward.

It ain't over.

Inside the Lincoln Project’s ‘toxic’ workplace: Accusations of sexual harassment and a culture of infighting

... as of last week, just three of the Lincoln Project’s eight co-founders remained – Rick Wilson, Reed Galen and Steve Schmidt. Schmidt resigned from the organization’s board late Friday, though he remains affiliated with the organization.

The organization faces a rapidly escalating controversy over allegations that another of its co-founders, John Weaver, sexually harassed more than a dozen young men, including some working for the project, and over what other members of senior management knew about the claims and when they knew it.

The accusations have roiled the organization, and as its current and former employees and contractors began coming forward to discuss them, they described a workplace where women in key positions were sidelined and where sexist and homophobic language was used by those in leadership posts.

In reporting a story over the past several weeks about the Lincoln Project’s management, culture, finances and handling of the Weaver allegations, The 19th interviewed nearly two dozen people currently or formerly associated with the group or familiar with its operations.

Nearly all of them said they feared speaking publicly about their experiences with the Lincoln Project and its remaining co-founders. Many cited leaders' tendency to “go nuclear,” as several put it, when faced with internal dynamics that could undermine the public image they cultivated with their liberal fans.

The interviews depict an organization that grew quickly, with little planning at its inception, then began to spiral out of control as its founders quarreled over the organization’s direction, finances, tactics and even who would own the donor data that the project eventually would amass. Some of the co-founders had an informal management agreement that excluded the others, without their knowledge. Several had private firms to which the Lincoln Project channeled tens of millions of dollars that were then not subject to disclosure, while others were paid relatively modest amounts directly or nothing at all. There were clashes over ego and resentments over podcasts and television contracts....

In late 2020, Conway stepped in to help mediate what was quickly becoming a civil war within the organization. Madrid and Steslow departed in December after signing nondisclosure agreements and receiving separation packages that those familiar with the negotiations describe as lucrative.

Group's super PAC status makes tracking spending difficult

... more than half of the nearly $90 million raised by the project flowed to firms controlled by its various founders. Once it was there, there was usually no way to track how they spent or kept it....

A frequent quip from Schmidt overheard by multiple people was that the Lincoln Project was his vehicle to achieve “generational wealth.”

Sexist, homophobic language cited in a toxic workplace

As senior management squabbled over how to divide the pieces of the project’s financial pie, dissatisfaction was growing within the organization’s more junior ranks, which were made up of largely young and liberal staffers who said they had different standards from some of the group’s leaders, citing Schmidt and Wilson specifically. There was language used in both the Lincoln Project’s ads and within its workplace about gender and sexuality that made many of them uncomfortable, the dozens of interviews revealed....

Staff had also complained that some of the project’s ads, specifically some related to Ivanka Trump, were sexist....

Lincoln Project women were treated differently from men ...

Spotlight shines on allegations of Weaver harassing young men

... Sources familiar with internal communications said that in June, multiple members of the Lincoln Project’s senior leadership team were told in conversations and in writing about allegations that Weaver had sexually harassed young men, including some who were working for the organization....

The first allegations were published in January, first in the American Conservative and later in other publications, including The New York Times. Schmidt told The Times that senior management was not aware until that month. Schmidt’s timeline conflicts with that offered by more than a dozen sources who worked within and as contractors for the group at various times.

In the past few days, multiple news outlets have published articles laying out more extensive accusations against Weaver, as well as allegations that they were known earlier than previously reported. Schmidt has run point on responding to the reporting.

He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that no Lincoln Project employee, intern or contractor ever made an allegation so serious it would have triggered an investigation by an independent investigator....

Calls to release staffers from nondisclosure agreements

... “Any time there is an imbalance of power in a relationship, the weaker person becomes vulnerable to abuse. The stronger, more influential person has an obligation to conduct themselves with honor and integrity in order to preserve the dignity and autonomy of all involved,” Horn said in the statement Thursday night.

“Victims deserve to be – and must be – heard,” she added.

George Conway: Lincoln Project must give 'full explanation of what happened'

One of the founding members of the Lincoln Project said in a new interview that the anti-Trump political group needs to provide a full public accounting of what its leaders knew about the sexual misconduct of one of its top officials as well as questions about the organization’s finances.

So far, Lincoln Project officials’ responses about what and when they knew about the allegations of sexual harassment by consultant and founding member John Weaver have “been a little bit squishy,” veteran lawyer George Conway said in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery.” ...

Oh well, they were and mostly remained Republicans. We should have known.

[billy.pilgrim]

Yep, republicans one and all. Scary that rump made them look reasonable as they moved dems further to the right.

[GoCubsGo]

Wow.
"Fun while it lasted?!"

They had actually restored my faith that principled Republicans were possible.

Guess I'm naive.

At least they served a purpose for a while.

Time for them to crawl back into their holes.

[neoplacebo]

Ulterior motives are notoriously hard to discern.

[Vrede too]

Ulterior motives are notoriously hard to discern.

Maybe that there are some for supposedly "good Repubs" should be inferred.

Inside the Lincoln Project's Secrets, Side Deals and Scandals

... None of the dissident Republican consultants who created the Lincoln Project a year earlier had imagined how wildly successful it would be, pulling in more than $87 million in donations and producing scores of viral videos that doubled as a psy-ops campaign intended to drive President Donald Trump to distraction.

... In fact, Schmidt and the three other men who started the Lincoln Project — John Weaver, Reed Galen and Rick Wilson — had already quietly moved to set themselves up in the new enterprise, drafting and filing papers to create TLP Media in September and October, records show. Its aim was to transform the original project, a super PAC, into a far more lucrative venture under their control.

This was not the only private financial arrangement among the four men. Shortly after they created the group in late 2019, they had agreed to pay themselves millions of dollars in management fees, three people with knowledge of the deal said....

The behind-the-scenes moves by the four original founders showed that whatever their political goals, they were also privately taking steps to make money from the earliest stages, and wanted to limit the number of people who would share in the spoils. Over time, the Lincoln Project directed about $27 million — nearly one-third of its total fundraising — to Galen’s consulting firm, from which the four men were paid, according to people familiar with the arrangement.

... other leaders had learned of the financial arrangement among the original founders, and they were privately fuming.

Another major problem was festering: the behavior of Weaver, who for years had been harassing young men with sexually provocative messages.

Allegations about Weaver’s conduct began appearing in published reports in The American Conservative and Forensic News this winter. In late January, The New York Times reported on allegations going back several years. The Times has spoken to more than 25 people who received harassing messages, including one person who was 14 when Weaver first contacted him.

Fresh reporting by The Times found that Weaver’s inappropriate behavior was brought to the organization’s attention multiple times last year, beginning in January 2020, according to four people with direct knowledge of the complaints, though none of the warnings involved a minor....

Last June, an employee for a company hired by the Lincoln Project warned in an email that Weaver’s conduct was “potentially fatal” to the organization’s image. The email, sent to a board member and circulated to other leaders, described multiple instances of harassment. It said Weaver’s behavior was already damaging relationships with vendors and offered to put leaders in contact with some of the men involved.

... The Lincoln Project raised more than $30 million from people who gave less than $200....

If liberals viewed the Lincoln Project’s mission as noble, the four Republicans who started it had long been practitioners of bare-knuckled political brawling.

Wilson was a longtime GOP strategist known for producing jagged attack ads, like one in 2002 that claimed former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who had lost both legs and his right hand in Vietnam, lacked the courage to defend America against terrorists.

The other three were alumni of McCain’s presidential campaigns. Weaver is a brooding and mercurial Texan whom McCain nicknamed Sunny. Schmidt, played by Woody Harrelson in the movie “Game Change,” championed Sarah Palin as McCain’s vice-presidential nominee in 2008, a decision he later called a mistake. He and Weaver are not remembered fondly by the McCain family, judging by a recent tweet from Meghan McCain, the former senator’s daughter, who said that in recent years, “no McCain would have spit on them if they were on fire.”

... Jan Baran, a longtime Republican campaign finance lawyer, said that it was “customary and customarily controversial” for campaign consultants to steer business to their own firms, but that, typically, candidates and PACs negotiate those fees down. What makes the Lincoln Project different, he said, is that “the consultants are their own client, so I’m guessing the negotiations wouldn’t have been as rigorous.”

Brilliant understatement.

... The Lincoln Project did not begin an internal review into Weaver’s conduct until after the email from the Tusk employee arrived in June. It was led by the group’s general counsel, Matt Sanderson, but was limited in scope, according to Lenti and others. Lenti said that to her knowledge, only two people who had complained about Weaver’s messages were contacted. The June email contained many more allegations that were never followed up on.

“I was not made privy to any written report, if there was ever one, and to my knowledge only the two gentlemen were interviewed,” Lenti said, adding that Weaver himself had not been interviewed.

... By the time the Lincoln Project was founded, Weaver had been harassing young men online for years. In the most aggressive messages reviewed by The Times, he explicitly offered professional help or mentorship in exchange for sex. Other times, he asked young men about their height, weight and other measurements, and suggested they get drinks or travel together.

Weaver took a medical leave in August, quieting internal dissent. But soon afterward, he was included as an equal partner in Schmidt’s proposed private media venture....

Sigh. Lots more details that I didn't quote in the article.

... I'm not sure that recovery is possible. It might be best to close up shop and for the other founders, employees and leftover money to shift to different allied groups. Would is be worth the hassle of continually explaining that Weaver is not the entire org or its aims?

Plus now so very much more to explain.

Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway says group should shutter after expose

... Mr Conway, who is the husband for former Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, posted a link to the story on Twitter and wrote that the project should be shuttered because “there’s simply too much money that hasn’t been accounted for, and, I fear, never will be.”

“I know LP’s supporters want to continue the fight against Trumpism, and I urge them to do so in some other way,” he wrote, linking readers to The Republican Accountability Project, Protect Democracy and The Bulwark.

The group faced frequent criticism from progressive Democrats, who feared it was a ploy for anti-Trump Republicans to launder their ideas into the liberal politics, and by Trump-supporting Republicans who claimed the group was a traitorous grift....

Greed and hubris, as usual.

[GoCubsGo]

Damn.

[O Really]

Greed and hubris, as usual.

Well, they are repugs after all. Why would we expect better? But I don't care. Their work did some major damage to Trump and helped make him lose. That was their intent and their work product. I don't care about the purity of their hearts or their moral standards.

[Vrede too]

Well, they are repugs after all. Why would we expect better? But I don't care. Their work did some major damage to Trump and helped make him lose. That was their intent and their work product. I don't care about the purity of their hearts or their moral standards.

Agreed, in 2020, other than any torts or crimes. However, I'm with George Conway that it's time for TLP to shut down. Any surviving altruists and patriots can find other ways to contribute.

[O Really]

Agreed, in 2020, other than any torts or crimes.

We ask too much of people sometimes. We put up with elected officials slimery, corporate skullduggery, and the clay feet of our families and friends, but expect our heros to be beyond reproach. Nobody's perfect.

[Ulysses]

Well, I didn't know of anyone in the Lincoln Project other than George Conway. They did some good work, and helped get rid of Trump.

As far as Weaver is concerned, he took a "leave of absence" from the LP last summer and never returned. Apparently that was after the more serious allegations surfaced early last summer.

Of course I wouldn't put it past Trump to have paid attractive young men to bat their eyelashes at Weaver.