The Lincoln Project kicks off the RNC by taking aim at 'evil' Jared Kushner
"Evil is real," the disaffected Republicans behind the Lincoln Project said in a new ad Monday morning, right as President Trump and the GOP prepare to kick off their Republican National Convention. "We ignore it when it seems educated, polite, superficially charming, even sophisticated. We trivialize it, ignore it, and when we do, it grows." That isn't a description of Trump. In this ad, the Lincoln Project is taking aim at Jared Kushner, the president's son in law, senior adviser, and de facto campaign chairman.
Specifically, the ad is about the national COVID-19 plan that Kushner helped come up with then, reportedly, scrapped when it appeared the virus would only affect states run by Democratic governors. "It was deliberate, cold, political, premeditated," the narrator said. "Some people say Trump and Kushner were incompetent when it came to COVID. But let's call it what it is: evil."
There is usually a method to the Lincoln Project's machinations. In June, for example, the group "bought up airtime in Washington, D.C., with the goal of forcing the president to view a 48-second attack ad about the personal wealth [recently ousted campaign manager Brad] Parscale had accumulated in the four years since he started working for him during the last election," Olivia Nuzzi reported in New York. "Trump did see the ad, and, later, he asked Parscale why it contained footage of 'ass slapping,'" a brief detail the group apparently just threw in.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The president wonders who's truly loyal to him and who's not and who's making a buck on him," George Conway, one of the group's founders, told New York, and from his perspective, "triggering Trump's paranoia" is one way to defeat him. "It doesn't matter who is the captain of the SS Trump, because Trump is the one who is going to run it into the iceberg in the end," he added. "If there's more chaos, all the better. We try to trigger the chaos in Trump's DNA." It isn't clear if there is a specific goal in targeting Kushner.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
GOP's Mace seeks federal anti-trans bathroom ban
Speed Read Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced legislation to ban transgender people from using federal facilities
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine fires ATACMS, Russia ups hybrid war
Speed Read Ukraine shot U.S.-provided long-range missiles and Russia threatened retaliation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze
Speed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Wyoming judge strikes down abortion, pill bans
Speed Read The judge said the laws — one of which was a first-in-the-nation prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy — violated the state's constitution
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sanctions Israeli West Bank settler group
Speed Read The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel's largest settlement development organization
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge
Speed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden allows Ukraine to hit deep in Russia
Speed Read The U.S. gave Ukraine the green light to use ATACMS missiles supplied by Washington, a decision influenced by Russia's escalation of the war with North Korean troops
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sri Lanka's new Marxist leader wins huge majority
Speed Read The left-leaning coalition of newly elected Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won 159 of the legislature's 225 seats
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published