The most amazing take-away from this Variety article announcing Showtime’s new docuseries on The Lincoln Project (you read that right) is one that is almost certainly unintended: it comically proves exactly how disconnected Hollywood is from what’s really going on in politics.
Consider these paragraphs describing the organization now known mostly for nasty invective, sexual harassment, and one very strange Confederate cooler:
Directed by Fisher Stevens (“Dirty Money”) and Karim Amer (“The Vow”), the five-part docuseries explores how the Lincoln Project, the fastest-growing super PAC in America made up of a veteran group of former GOP operatives and strategists, accepted the duty of “saving democracy” in their plot to defeat their own party’s sitting president.
“Celebrated for their scathing ads and biting social media commentary, the series discovers that their operation is a lot more than what meets the eye, with sophisticated data analytics and voter targeting operations churning away behind the scenes,” reads the series’ logline. “While working to accomplish their stated goal of ‘defeating Trumpism,’ the group is shaken by internal upheaval, a sexual harassment scandal and a tidal wave of negative press. As one fight ends, another is afoot – and this time it’s personal.”
Said Stevens and Amer in a statement: “There has never been a super PAC that has captured the imagination of the general public like the Lincoln Project. They showed us that you could use storytelling and the power of the internet to punch back, and that you could fight a bully by bringing the fight right to their doorstep. Like the best verit? documentary journeys we had no idea where this story would take us, and we hope in presenting this all-American tale of redemption, power and betrayals, that viewers can be entertained and galvanized to be more active in protecting the foundations of American democracy at a time when it is more fragile than ever.”
Leaving aside the disgust left-progressives used to profess any time the words “super” and “PAC” were joined together, the fawning adoration that this failure of a group receives in Variety’s glorified press release would have any seasoned political observer with more than an ounce of good sense, on either side of the aisle — that includes almost everyone in Washington, DC and savvy pundits out in the states who pay attention — rolling their eyes.
Because you see dear reader, the Lincoln Project, far from being celebrated and capturing the imagination of the general public, is mostly just an example of how politics can sometimes be dominated by small, petty men and women who race headlong to the bottom, screaming obscenities at each other along the way.
I give you The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson:
Really rising above that nasty fray and conserving conservatism, no?
The point is, The Lincoln Project deserves no accolades. They admitted to fabricating a white supremacist rally (I mean really, who does that?). They’re more petty, mean-spirited, and involved in proven scandals than the Orange Man Bad they hate. They’re also liars about their “true conservatism.” Here’s Influence Watch:
Though the Lincoln Project has an unusually high rate of small donors, many of its large funders are wealthy donors to Democratic candidates and PACs, including billionaire hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel, Silicon Valley billionaire Ron Conway, and Walmart heir Christy Walton. In addition, the Lincoln Project has paid employees and consultants with ties to the Democratic Party. In November 2020, Federal Elections Commission filings showed that Majority Forward and Senate Majority PAC, Super PACs affiliated with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), had contributed to Lincoln Project.
It’s a mystery why Showtime — who has to compete with very successful original programming from the likes of Netflix and Hulu — would hang their hats on a loser like The Lincoln Project.