Will ask as many questions as time permits. To submit a question, please ha email headliners press. Org. The two candidates, incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President joe biden are spending millions on advertising to spread their message and turn the tide in battleground states. But this election is unusual. The covid19 pandemic is squelching the usual meet and greets and rallies and then theres the Lincoln Project, a Political Action committee founded by several current and former influential republicans including george conway, jennifer horn, mike madrid, and john weaver and our guests here today, rick wilson and steve schmitt. A republican pac doesnt sound that unusual, but unlike traditional republican pacs, theyre spending millions to defeat the republican president ial candidate. Today, the two Lincoln Project founders, rick wilson and steve schmitt, will give us an update on the state of the 2020 race and the Lincoln Projects home stretch strategy. Rick got his start as a political strategist in the 1988 president ial campaign of george h. W. Bush and has since provided counsel to National Campaign committees and Corporate Association and government clients. He is also the editor at large for the daily beast and a frequent analysis on cnn and msnbc and is the author of the 2018 number one New York Times bestselling book everything trump touches dies. Steve is a Communications Strategist and political analyst for msnbc and nbc news. He served as a political strategist for governor george w. Bush and senator john mccain. He called himself a republican until june 2018 when he renounced the Republican Party as fully the party of trump. Welcome to the National Press club, gentlemen. Its good to be with you. Im so glad, so glad to have you. And since we were talking a little earlier before we started and steve was talking about intuitio intuition, i want to know, when did you have the intuition or when did you realize that you needed to create the Lincoln Project . We want to know who called who, you know, who sent the first email, who sent the first meme . Whats the background . Well, we were all talking to each other going back to 2018 and we almost kicked off an effort late in the 2018 cycle but just didnt think we had the time to do it competently. And so we kept talking and we decided to launch it in december of 19 and we were really alarmed watching the democratic debates because there was a name that was very infrequently heard and that name was trump. And trumps no valdmort. Hes the first issue in the race, the second issue in the race and the next 155 after that. We have a point of view that what this race is about is the worst president in the history of the country. Now, that was before covid. And so now what we know is that Donald Trumps lie to the country which hes told on at least 120 different occasions which is that the virus was a hoax, it was created by the democrats, it would just go away, it is without question the most lethal lie in American History. If we have the same mortality rates in the United States that germany did, there would be 150,000 more americans alive today. The consequence of that lie has devastated the economy. Its broken a million dreams. Shattered the American Dream for millions of Small Businesses. Its disrupted the education for every kid in this country and it has wrecked the american way of life. Grandparen grandparents cant see their grandkids being born, christens and btailgates, promise, its al gone and its because of donald trump. On top of it, by the time we get to the end of covid, it maybe that it kills one out of every 1,500 black people in this country. Its a Staggering Number that speaks to the profound inequities that exist in our society from access to medical care to economic inequality and trump is the biggest problem that the country faces and the most easy one to fix. What was true about the 2016 election was this, was that whomever that election was about was the person who was losing the election. For 99 of the election it was about trump until james comey made it about Hillary Clinton in the last week and by 78,000 votes across three states, trump one. Our point of view has always been its about trump. Let me ask you, steve and rick, why didnt you guys do Something Back in 2016 . Im just curious about that. Because if hes a problem we all did. We all tried different approaches in 2016 and unfortunately there were two big problems. First off, trump had a divided field of 15 republican candidates, all of whom he devoured and the second part of 2016 was, this was running against Hillary Clinton who has this almost demonic role in the Republican Party psyche. There were a lot of republicans who we tried to reach who said things like, well, i vote with you guys or vote against trump, but its hilary. I cant not vote against hilary. This level of all of these Republican Voters became very marked and increasingly problematic in 16, all of us tried different approaches with either candidates or superpacs in 2016 and it was just a moment where the parties moral collapse was happening and it took us, you know, even all of us who are pretty experienced, weve been around the block a few times to recognize the degree to which the moral and political collapse of the party was occurring right before our eyes. And these were people who had once said that they believed in the constitution and the rule of law, that they believed in individual liberty and all of the predicates of america and what happened was that turned to be a complete illusion and they eagerly jumped into this personality cult of donald trump. I would just add two things to that that i said over the 16 election. I was annu analyst on msnbc on network, but i said two things in 16. First thing i said was that was the observation that in the 1930s, fascism didnt rise because it was strong, but rather because democracy was weak and the second thing i said is that i thought that there was a real lack of imagination within the American Mind about the capacity for someone like donald trump sitting behind the resolute desk in the oval office to cause a profound tragedy. And i think both of those things hold true. Now, both rick and i were tough on trump for the duration of the 16 race. And whats different between today and then is you would have a lot of republican senators and governors who werent saying it themselves but were calling and saying keep it up, that a boy, good job, right, thats important, couldnt agree more, and one by one by one what we watched for two years is the total capitulation to trump. On a fouryear basis, i think its important to understand what occurred. And you can understand that through the Republican Convention. What you saw at the Republican Convention was the third Oldest Political Party in the world, the democrats are the first and the British Labor party the second the British Tory Party the second. What you saw there was the Party Platform become a statement of obedience and loyalty to trump. To be a republican in Good Standing requires faithfulness to a cultive personality. What did you see at that convention . You saw at that convention breathtaking lying that youve never seen at any convention. You saw utter lawlessness, the use of taxpayer dollars and public property for his political purposes, you saw the seizure of important symbols of the republic by trump who turned them into partisan totems and expressions of his authority in essence declaring i am the truth, i am the law, i am the state. Okay, steve let me and that now we see with trump saying, hey, maybe well have a peaceful transition of power, maybe we wont. Without much pushback from formerly people who called themselves mostly conservatives. Lets talk about that. Because obviously theres something going on in the senate right now and what is it that you guys think is happening with some of the traditional republicans who have not spoken up, who have not spoken out against President Trump . I can summarize it in one word, cowardace. Theyre afraid of trumps base and fox news and it defines their whole character now. Whether its marco rubio or ted redu cruz or mike lee, these days the one thing they care about is avoiding Donald Trumps ire. They sold themselves cheaply to him. They cannot be trusted or believed ever again. The response to a president saying, im agnostic about whether im going to have a peaceful transition of power and the response to the president who turns unanimous federal forces on peaceful protestors is not a bible verse being tweeted out or a statement or saying, i havent seen his tweet. The response if they were men and women of integrity and honor, they would be furious. They would be defending our country, our freedoms, they would be standing up against abuse of executive power and theyre not. Theyre too afraid, theyre too sold out to do that. Are we going to see a new justice put in place . Is that going to happen . Do you guys think thats going to happen . We may well. Probably. You know, but look, its i ran two Supreme Court confirmations when i was in the Bush Administration for roberts and alito and i was asked to be supportive in the Obama Administration of soothers. The defeat or the refusal to give a dually appointed a hearing, garland, renders this appointment illegitimate. We look at this moment right now, this is the precisely what James Madison who about in federalist 10 when he talks about the danger of parties and factions, right, and majorititarianism. The question is, republicans can say, we lied, were in charge now, you can say that, you can say, listen, we made a mistake. We now realize, like, how important these nominees are so we got to put the conservative on. I guess you could say that. What you cant say, right, is that its in the public good. And thats what federalist 10 is about, the public good. The public good is endangered by faction, right, that assails and assaults minority rights. Right . And the democrats represent, right, a majority of the country by popular vote in a president ial election and a majority of the country by popular vote reputatiresentatio the senate. This is a moment when you look at the divisions in the country where if we had moral political leadership, there would be an understanding that this is a moment for restraint. Thats what wisdom would dictate. Were not going to see that. Now, as a tactical matter, right, derailing a Supreme Court nomination, stopping it is not unlike robbing a train. If you want to go into the train robbery business, right, the first thing you got to figure out before you can get to the safe on the train is how to stop the train, how to slow it down, how do get on the train. And thats what democrats have to be thinking about right now. How should slow it down by an hour, slow it down. Okay. Choochoo. How should the democrats be perceiving the Lincoln Project . Is the Lincoln Project allies are you guys allies of convenes right now or are there tips that you have for the Democratic Party that they should be taking from you . Were part of a Broad Coalition that is views donald trump as a threat to this country. And we do not have to agree on every single political prior. We dont have to agree on every policy question. We would love to be back fighting again if the marginal tax rate is going to be. Were here because we have a collective set of skill that is have made us effective in moving voters in this country and i wrote a book about it, the democrats fall into simple traps and they often fall into simple mistakes in campaigns and, you know, weve kept this race as a referendum on donald trump. Its a yes no choice. Its not an argument about climate change, guns or abortion, its an argument about donald trump. Hes the worst president in American History. Its a choice, do you want four more years of that or do you want to make a change and do Something Else . Were happy to work with and alongside people. When we started this process, there were people that were behind us, to the side of us, ahead of us, we were ahead for a long time. But now were working and the most interesting thing isnt just the democratic groups that are tuning up and getting tighter in their messaging and more sharp in their advertising. Its the emergence of a number of republican centrist groups that are coming into this race and pushing the same sort of objections to trump from the right and the center that we feel like weve played. I just want to add i just want to add a couple points to that. Is that we view ourselves as a prodemocracy organization. Historically, my view has been that the republican and democratic parties are two of the most institutions in World History for the advancement of Human Dignity and freedom which is why i have always hated when republicans call the Democratic Party the Democrat Party because it implies a level of disrespect for one of our greatest american institutions and the party should be called by its name. And the Democratic Party is the only Political Party that is for the ideals and american democracy. Trumpism is an authoritarianish ideology. Its hostility to the first amendment, the elections process and all of it and we are an organization now that has several million followers, that has close to half a million donors, that has raised substantial resources to fight back against trumpism. And so when i say trumpism, we mean that as a rooted ideology, something that wasnt four years ago but has become so. And when republicans lose and i think that biden will win. And i think that the democrats will take the senate majority, today, at least, but if republicans do lose, what will happen to the party can be understood by what happened to the california party. As Political Parties shrink, theyre like white stars collapsing astronomically. They become smaller, they become denser, and they become hotter. And so the Republican Party as it shrinks is becoming more extreme. So one of the things that is always misanalyzed, if thats a word, in the press is trump as 96 support in the Republican Party. True. However, that party is substantially smaller than it was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. What will happen if trump loses, hes not going away, trumpism isnt going away, youll see a more extreme ideology, youll see more qanon candidates. In that space for a long time, were on the side of the Liberty Party in the country. And second to that, and 30 more seconds, it seems to us as a matter of principle that we need to have a new Voting Rights act in this country, a new Civil Rights Act in this country, we need to have an Election Security in foreign interference act, we need fundamental ethics reform, we need fundamental Civil Service reform, we need to see Immigration Reform finally passed. We will be an organization that supports Vice President biden in all in any of these things. As an American Organization who understands that we are in an hour of crisis and decline and danger in this country because of trump and the cowardice of the Republican Party. Is it time for a third party in the United States . You know, we say this a lot, were not in the Party Building business right now, were in the democracy business. We think largely that this country needs viable Political Parties. And if you have the broad argument that the democrats are a progressive Political Party or liberal Political Party, the idea of having a center right party that believes in the things that the Republican Party claims it represented is very appealing. We dont know what the end of this election cycle looks like. But we know, were going to be stuck with trumpism for a white. There will be a battle between racially charged politics and a party about economic liberty and indi