Byron York’s Daily Memo: Desperate hit men?

DESPERATE HIT MEN? The Lincoln Project is a group of disaffected Republican political consultants who found a lucrative new business attacking President Trump. Their specialty was producing biting, often below-the-belt negative ads which they hoped would provoke a response from Trump. They were never happier than when Trump would strike back, as he occasionally did, thus giving them the feeling that they had gotten under the president’s skin and inside his head.

It turned out to be a fabulously successful business model. Mainstream Democrats saw the Lincoln Project as a valuable weapon — a group of hit men who would carry out attacks that Democrats hesitated to do themselves, for fear of appearing too ugly, angry, and partisan. The Resistance base loved the theater of it all and rewarded the Lincoln Project with millions in small contributions. Many millions — from July through September, the Lincoln Project raised $39 million. That was on top of millions raised in the months before that — a total of $67 million through October 14, the most recent reporting period. We have yet to see financial reports from the last days of the campaign, but it is safe to say there were millions more. To no one’s surprise, the Lincoln Projects operatives directed millions for the production of ads to firms that they own.

But here’s the thing: Trump lost the election. He will leave office on January 20. What will the Lincoln Project do then? About a month ago, Axios reported that the group was talking to big Hollywood agents, the United Talent Agency, looking into TV, podcast, and book deals to “spin [their political influence] into commercial media success.” As for politics, they have already jumped into the January 5 Georgia Senate runoff with attacks on Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. That’s a natural for them, since it is an extension of the 2020 election and gives them someone to attack through January 5. But what happens to their political influence after that?

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How to keep attracting attention, and thus keep the money rolling in? A post-Trump political world will have a different climate, and the Lincoln Project’s brand of bile might not capture Democrats’ passions and credit card numbers. That might explain a new ad from the group accusing virtually every Republican leader on Capitol Hill of treason. Yes, treason. The ad is so shrill it appears to betray a certain desperation among a group of hit men who worry that the target of a lifetime is leaving office.

The ad features images of Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, and Perdue and Loeffler. Here is a transcript:

The Republicans’ “true colors” are “treasonous.” And “unpatriotic.” “Despotic,” too. By the way, when the word “treasonous” appears in the ad, there is a photo of Ted Cruz, which gives him perhaps a special place of honor in the Lincoln Project world. But there is also Cotton, who won the Bronze Star serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, who is depicted, hand raised, taking an oath to the Constitution which the Lincoln Project claims he cares nothing about.

This is slanderous stuff. And it appears to betray a fear that the game is about to become more difficult for the Lincoln Project. If you have styled yourself as the shock jocks of politics, the need to shock forces you to do progressively more outrageous things to keep the shocks coming. So you ratchet up the shock level in order to get the same thrill — and the same flow of dollars. Until you can’t do it any more.

Maybe they’ll be able to avoid that end. Maybe they won’t. In any event, the Trump years have been the greatest moneymaking opportunity ever for some of the Lincoln Project’s operatives. When Donald Trump leaves the White House, their lives will change.