Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends. If you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.
Donald Trump has turned out to be much worse than most of us feared. It seems like ages ago, but some opined that once he was elected President, he would honor the norms of the office. That line of “reasoning” is that he was modifying his persona from businessman to con man to get elected, and was fully capable of behaving between the lines when the situation required. It turned out that he does not have any such ability to control himself. There have been scores of instances where he has acted “presidential” for much of the day. Then the dark hours of the night arrive, and he again pours out what he really thinks. Donald Trump tweets at midnight. He insists that he didn’t say what he said, figures out someone to disparage, makes up some new stories, and shoves America toward the abyss. It isn’t hard to determine that this man is not well.
In 2016, others believed that the enormous responsibilities of the office would make him better. By all accounts, Trump was touched by his meeting with Barack Obama on the day of his inauguration. Not so much since! Meetings with groups of global leaders have not lifted him. The other leaders know he is unprepared, and they are unwilling to demonstrate the level of obsequiousness that he requires. The leadership role afforded to American presidents has not and will not be offered to him.
It was also argued that after “winning” such a narrow “victory” he would tack toward the center, as a means of being competitive in his attempt at re-election. That didn’t happen because he craves adoration of his declining but loyal base. It has trapped him, because the misogynistic, jingoistic, self -adoring person that he serves up to his base is the same person that is driving independent voters away from him.
The favorite argument of all that hoped for a far better Trump than the one we got was that the appointment of White House staff and cabinet secretaries would itself improve Trump. Wily veterans would caution him against awful policies and make certain that he would stay within the Constitution. James Mattis, John Kelly, Dan Coats and Rex Tillerson say that’s what they did. If so, the evidence is submerged, and in any event, they are long gone. What’s left in the White House is the sycophantic Stephen Miller, who wouldn’t object if Trump were to decide to strafe the House of Representatives tomorrow.
If we ever harbored such a notion, the idea of an improved Trump left us long ago. Ironically, years after we recognized every sorry dimension of Donald Trump, the virus delivered him the ultimate opportunity to step up like a leader does. Instead it revealed all the dysfunctions that make up the man. He’s left without his usual tools, because you can’t con a country about 80,000 body bags.
There are hundreds of Republican elected officials in the House and Senate and in state capitals that know that he is not fit to be president. Imagine the deal you have to make with yourself as you head to work if you are Senators Susan Collins or Lamar Alexander or Charles Grassley. You have been around for a long time, you have seen presidents come and go, and you have treasured the notion that you have served the people in your own careers. Now, during the end of your career (involuntary, for Susan Collins), you lose a little bit more of your soul every day you pretend that Trump is a functioning president.
You tell yourself it has been essential for you to go from independence to servility. You say to your loved ones that your continued presence in the political system has mitigated Trump’s worst actions as in Susan’s Collins real but uneven defense of the Affordable Care Act. You conveniently forget the hundreds of times when you needed to stand up and you sat down. You relish the episodes where Mitch McConnell lets you object on principle, even though you know that only happens when your objection has no impact on the final result. You have rationalized it all you can, but the truth is that when the need for you to act was greatest, you chose your career self-preservation over the needs of your own country.
Trump’s power within the Republican Party is not an illusion. Republican members of Congress rightly perceive they can be defeated in the primary by Trump’s tweets, even when pushing back against him is favored by the broader electorate. Thus, the Obamacare votes of John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney’s stand on impeachment are the only profiles in courage among Republican elected officials in the past four years.
After all of this time, there is a new opportunity. Biden forces are very serious about their organization of Republicans for Biden. This will have much greater scale than similarly focused efforts in past years, because Biden and his campaign aides will find plenty of Republican-leaning supporters outside of the ranks of elected officials.
Biden has already secured endorsements from former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and former Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. This is just the beginning, not least because the news cycle on Republican rebels is being driven by presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway’s husband George. This story will be a gift that keeps on giving. George Conway and former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt and a host of other former Republican aides have formed the Lincoln Project. They have already attracted rage tweets from Trump after their political ad accusing Trump of pandemic mismanagement. They raised $1 million in donations the next day.
The juicy detail that George Conway is married to Trump’s trusted advisor will spark the Republican opposition effort all the way until November. Donald Trump will not be able to contain himself from elevating Conway’s group through his counterattacks, which will increase their donations and make them even more able to field political ads.
The activities of the Lincoln Project will be a strong complement to whatever the Biden campaign can accomplish in obtaining endorsements from former and present Republican elected officials. Here are three things we can do to support all of these productive adventures.
| 1) Ask John Kasich to Do the Right Thing | |
 | Former Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich supported impeaching Trump, and he has severely criticized the President over his mismanagement of the virus response. Now that he has done those two things, he and Trump will not be hanging out together. He is not going to be elected president, so he is destined for the not terrible life of a commentator and influencer. So why not influence what is the most important election in his lifetime? Now is the time for a former Republican Governor of the stature of Kasich to tell the truth about Trump. Happily, John Kasich says he likes to hear from people expressing their dreams about America. You can tell him that this is his own defining moment by writing him at info@johnkasich.com. Even more compelling is that on his website he is offering us all a chance to text or send a short video of our own uplifting story! What could be more uplifting than him deciding to tell voters the complete truth about Donald Trump? |
2) Make the Lincoln Project a Fixture from Now Until November | |
 | This group of former Republican aides has already made the decision that calling out Trump for what he is will be more important than the arc of their individual careers. They are unflinching. It is up to all of us to provide them the resources to underscore Trump’s malfeasance on a regular basis. Give them your email and your dollars and let them continue to drive Trump tweets. |
3) Provide Your Personal Testimony | |
 | Any number of the recipients of this missive have once seen themselves as Republicans or have assiduously voted for the candidate, not the party. For those for whom this is the case, the Republican Party in which they once harbored interest has vanished without a trace. Amazingly, there are Republicans and independents who still think they are seeing some remnants of a party of strong global alliances, fiscal moderation, and adherence to the rule of law. It is time to make a list of your friends who cling in any way to those lost dreams and get personal with them on these matters. For some, Trump’s continued mismanagement of the pandemic response will provide a new opportunity for a heartfelt exchange. |
The new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that we are in excellent position for the last six months of the campaign. It is ours to win. There is no doubt at all that we have the energy and the motivation to get this job done.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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