Lincoln Group co-founder Rick Wilson retweeted a Daily Beast story about as-yet-undeclared GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis being punk and aloof on the campaign trail. “Blood in the water,” Wilson comments, asserting that DeSantis’s reputation — the article says the Florida Governor is a “nightmare” — will be hard to reverse.
Wilson, whose Lincoln Group PAC raised millions to help defeat Donald Trump‘s re-election bid from the Republican side, sees a mini-Trump in DeSantis.
Like Trump, DeSantis is Ivy League-educated but plays a culture war populist on TV. DeSantis espouses Putin-friendly American isolationism as opposed to support for Ukraine, he doesn’t like when people say gay, and he thinks ESG and DEI policies are “woke” plots against his donors — and Florida residents.
Whether it comes from Trump, DeSantis, or the rest of the MAGA base, right-wing extremism is a rot on American discourse and democracy.
Join us in our fight to beat them back: https://t.co/eSIhnbDRWY
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 17, 2023
Naturally, such a Trump manqué would draw the ire of the Lincoln Project, and Wilson delivers.
Once you get a reputation for being…difficult…on the campaign trail, the cycle only plays out one way.
Blood in the water.https://t.co/2phFMxRWZv
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 16, 2023
So does Lincoln Project co-founder Stuart Stevens below, excoriating DeSantis for his pro-Russian stance on Ukraine, believing it constitutes — if not dereliction of duty — then malice aforethought concerning America’s national security.
The Russians supported Trump, and now the conservative wing of the GOP is pro-Putin. The likes of MTG and DeSantis, who represent Trumpism, have copied his foreign policy. @stuartpstevens on @msnbc speaks on the extent to which conservative foreign policy has changed under Trump. pic.twitter.com/KZVBb2thtg
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 17, 2023
Fellow Lincoln Group founder Steve Schmidt, who worked for OG Republican John McCain, recently published a short manifesto describing the resistance to the “insanity” represented by the MAGA-base-sycophancy represented by the likes of DeSantis, Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert.
HELL YEAH!!! pic.twitter.com/rK7JkmZcA2
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) March 16, 2023
The founders of The Lincoln Project include several prominent Republican strategists and political consultants, including Stevens (longtime Republican strategist and media consultant), George Conway (husband of former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway), Schmidt (former strategist for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign), John Weaver (former advisor to John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign), and Wilson (Republican media consultant).