Who knew there was so much money in performative acts of protest?
The Lincoln Project, an activist group founded by political mercenaries who have moved on from losing elections for the Republican Party, is doing an amazing job of vacuuming up millions of dollars from the anti-President Trump “resistance.”
It raised an astounding $39.4 million from July through September, according to new data published by the Federal Election Commission.
“The group run by Republicans and ex-Republicans has been growing its fundraising exponentially, shattering the $16.8 million record it set in the second quarter of 2020. It has since won over many more Democratic donors with deep pockets, while still receiving a large percentage of its total fundraising from donations under $200,” Axios reports.
It adds, “The Lincoln Project’s Q3 haul is more than double the $19 million that the group raised in the previous six months. The group finished its first quarter with $1.9 million with early support from Walmart heir Christy Walton and Silicon Valley executive Ron Conway.”
The group’s biggest Democratic donor in its second quarter was a hedge fund manager named Stephen Mandel, according to CNN. Mandel alone gave the Lincoln Project an impressive $1 million.
But that is not even the most interesting part. The most interesting part is what the Lincoln Project is doing with its millions.
“It burned a staggering $13 million on operating expenditures, made $23.9M of [independent expenditures] (mostly routed into its founders firms),” notes California Target Book research director Rob Pyers, “and ended with $13.2M on hand.”
He adds, “Catering to #Resist donors has been a lucrative reversal of fortune for the Lincoln Project’s founders. Reed Galen’s Summit Strategic was paid $18.8M in Q3, Ron Steslow’s TUSK Digital got $8.7M, Kurt Bardella’s Endeavor Strategy got $153K. … Lincoln Project founder Reed Galen’s Summit Strategic logged $129,668 in expenditures for lodging reimbursement in August.”
“Looking through the top transactions,” Pyers notes, “the amount spent on ‘Research Services’ suggests they’re overpaying for someone to trawl through twitter to snatch up other people’s content.”
Man, what a racket.
Honestly, in a way, this is the greatest victory that many of these former GOP “strategists” and “insiders” have had against Democrats in a very long time. Think of all those millions of dollars that could have gone toward competitive Senate races in places such as Arizona, North Carolina, and Colorado. Think of how much $39.4 million could have done to tilt the Senate in the Democratic Party’s favor. Think of all the grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts for Democratic nominee Joe Biden that could have been funded with even half of what the Lincoln Project raised from July through September.
Instead, millions of “resistance” dollars went to a group that specializes in “repurposing” other people’s viral social media content and producing boilerplate television ads watched and shared primarily by people who already agree with the anti-Trump message. The Lincoln Project’s multimillion-dollar haul is great news for the Lincoln Project. It is also great news for Republicans, whom the anti-Trump Lincoln Project is supposedly trying to teach a lesson.
But it is bad news for Democrats. Ironically enough, the people who are hurt the most by the Lincoln Project are the same people who are throwing money at it hand over fist.
