During the last election cycle, Donald Trump had to deal with the Lincoln Project, which was working against him.
It now appears he will have a similar challenge during this cycle with another "never-Trump" conservative group that has only grown since 2020.
Talking Points…
- Republican Voters Against Trump launches
- Blocking Trump with massive ad buy
- Analysis
The Lincoln Project cost Trump in the 2020 election cycle, and now he has to fend off another group, Republican Voters Against Trump. The group is headed by Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist who has been critical of Trump since virtually the first day he took office. The group was active during the 2020 cycle but has grown considerably.
The group's website states:
"In 2024, Trump's former supporters know that a second Trump presidency would take America down one of the darkest paths in our history.
"It takes courage to speak out against your party. It takes courage to change your mind about Trump. It isn't easy, but these voters understand that our democracy is worth saving. Listen to them explain in their own words why they can never support Trump again."
The group is targeting "moderate Republican" and conservative-leaning voters in all of the swing states during this election. In 2020, the group shared more than 1,000 testimonials from former Trump voters who turned against the former president, and they plan on doing that on a much larger scale this time around.
Longwell stated:
"Former Republicans and Republican-leaning voters hold the key to 2024, and reaching them with credible, relatable messengers is essential to re-creating the anti-Trump coalition that made the difference in 2020.
"It establishes a permission structure that says that — whatever their complaints about Joe Biden — Donald Trump is too dangerous and too unhinged to ever be president again. Who better to make this case than the voters who used to support him?"
The group's ads will be similar to those in 2020, featuring former Trump supporters who are now vocally against Donald Trump's election bid in 2024. The $50 million ad buy will cover all the key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The ads will be streamed on regular TV, as well as billboards, radio, and digital media.
This is one of our biggest fears heading into this election season. All of Trump's enemies were lying low during the primary, putting up very little resistance to Trump getting the nomination. Now that he is the presumptive nominee, the gates of hell, so to speak, are opening up against his campaign.
Trump not only has to deal with attacks from groups such as this, but the Biden campaign is finally getting in the mix, dropping a $30 million ad buy to attack Trump. In that campaign, Biden is pulling comments taken out of context by Trump regarding Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
This becomes an even bigger problem for Trump during this election cycle because his campaign, PACs, and the RNC are all cash-strapped right now. Biden just spent more on one ad buy than the Trump campaign has cash on hand. Trump's legal bills are emptying campaign funds. And now that Trump has effectively folded the RNC into his campaign operations, donors who would have normally given to the RNC to back other Republican candidates will stop donating.
Trump has to figure out this money situation or come the stretch drive, he will have nothing to counter all the negative ads by these groups and the Biden campaign. More importantly, this will hurt down-ballot first-time Republican candidates who depend on the RNC for a boost in their campaign funds.
