In a new TV and digital ad launching soon, the Lincoln Project hits Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) for stock trading after attending a private Senate briefing about the spreading coronavirus. The ad, first shared with POLITICO, strikes a populist tone that contrasts Loeffler’s wealth — her mansion in Georgia and villa in Sea Island — with Americans struggling during the pandemic.
In the longer term, the 18 Republican attorneys general and majority of House Republicans who backed the failed Texas lawsuit are “not going to get a free pass,” Galen said. “They don’t get to run themselves through the car wash on Jan. 21 and say, ‘Just kidding, we didn’t mean it.’”
Raising money without Trump in the White House to motivate donors is bound to be another challenge for the movement. Lincoln Project leaders said they expect fundraising to dip after the Georgia runoffs, but they’re confident their creativity in ads and messaging will draw attention that helps bring in money. Kristol said “our donors think we made a difference in 2020” and want the group to keep it up.
A secretive anti-Trump group plots what’s next
But the path forward for the never-Trump movement writ large is far from clear. A recent email to attendees of the secretive anti-Trump gathering known as the Meeting of the Concerned, which was obtained by POLITICO, illustrates the crossroads that some never-Trumpers face.
With Trump soon leaving office, “it’s worth thinking through what new functions the meetings can or should serve,” Geoff Kabaservice, an organizer of the meeting, wrote to his allies.
He then requested that they fill out a questionnaire, which asked everything from, “Do you believe that, after Trump leaves office, the Republican Party can become a positive force in American political life?” to “Would you prefer to direct your political efforts over the next two years to reforming the GOP, or to supporting the Democrats or a third party?”
Kabaservice said because the meetings are confidential, he could not discuss the specific findings of the poll. But he said those in the movement “worry a little about what’s going to keep us together” after Trump leaves office.
Some believe in “renovating and restoring the Republican Party.” Others say, “Good riddance, and it all needs to be burned down.” As for forming a third party, Kaberservice said, there’s a “huge difference of opinion.”
Sarah Longwell, co-founder of the anti-Trump Republicans for the Rule of Law, said her mission is twofold: Keep fighting attacks by Trump on the election system and protect Republicans who break with Trump or who work with Democrats.
Her group dropped nearly $1 million in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan defending GOP officials who certified election results in recent weeks. Longwell’s group recently tried to launch its first-ever ad buy on Newsmax — a far-right outlet that’s become a favorite of Trump’s — to challenge the misinformation served up to Trump voters at the source. (Newsmax spiked the ad.) And if Trump runs again, she’ll keep her other organization, Republican Voters Against Trump, going.
Longwell also said, “We want to be there to help provide air support for Republicans who are trying to find a way to work together on sensible things” with Biden, such as infrastructure legislation or reforms that rein in executive power.
A new party?
The Republican Party’s attempts to overturn the election results, including a coming last-ditch effort on the House floor and threats of violence by GOP officials, stunned never-Trumpers. It spurred McMullin to ask in a New York Times op-ed this week whether it was time to form a new conservative party.
That may “include running our own candidates in Republican primaries,” he said in an interview with POLITICO.
“I wouldn’t advocate for starting a new party without the support of some sitting officials in Congress or elsewhere,” said McMullin, executive director of the voter mobilization group Stand Up Republic. “We’re inching closer to a point in which that might be possible.”
Some leading never-Trump groups have started discussing which Trump loyalists to target in primaries. Among the possibilities: Republican Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Chris Stewart of Utah, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Paul Gosar of Arizona. They may also challenge Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) by lending support to a Democrat. Conversations are in early stages, however, and targets could change depending on which party wins the Senate.
The amorphous nature of the never-Trump movement is plain in the individuals who compose it. Some have done what they once considered unthinkable and become Democrats. Others said they’re not Democrats, but they aren’t Republicans either, making it harder to plot their next moves.
“I don’t see a place for me to get elected to anything in the next four years because Trump and Trumpism is going to dominate,” said former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.). “I’m going to probably be in the political wilderness for the rest of my life.”
Stevens, of the Lincoln Project, is willing to work for Republicans but is more focused on helping Democrats be a “governing” party.
“Basically, the choice now dividing the parties is not so much ideological as pro-democracy or pro-authoritarian,” Stevens said. “It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We’ve had authoritarian movements in America before, but we’ve never had one so embraced by a majority of a party to throw out election results.”
