The Lincoln Project: Where to Now?

It's become kind of a wild card in our political landscape: an interesting, functional wild card.

The Lincoln Project is what has become something of an ethical watchword. Though their bar is low, they have made a stand for ethics and democracy. They have staked their claim upon the tenets of legitimacy.

They might have made the difference between victory and defeat for Joe Biden in places like Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and possibly Nevada, where the edges were thin: 43 electoral votes, a decisive amount.

The Lincoln Project basically asked the question: Are you a Republican? Or are you with Rhymes With Chump? 

Because you can't be both, really. Republicans, real Republicans, don't undermine democracy. They differ, but they don't obfuscate. They don't throw lies at the public a mile a minute. They don't destroy the credibility of a party that used to lead with that quality: at least you can count on us to tell you the truth.

Their stance gave Republicans who had a conscience a place to go. They didn't pose candidates of their own; they gently but definitively ushered folks toward Biden. At least he was someone you could rely on. With the Congress split nearly right down the middle, the country needed someone who could try, at least try, to get people together, though the chasm of policy alternatives is immense.

They succeeded. But where to now? They won't be allowed to return to the group that calls itself Republicans. But the Republicans have been weakened; these are some of their best spokespeople. One has actually crossed over to the Democrats with a single issue: ethics in government. He can't go back now.

If they are condemned to be independents, can they, will they, built their own coalition and run their own candidates? They are some of the most experienced, the most savvy, political operatives around. Their television messaging savaged RWC and exposed him as the charlatan he is.

When they did so, they were also beckoning to Republicans: Is this what you want? This is disaster. This is destruction. You can change this awful path if you want.

But Kevin McCarthy doesn't want to. He, the Minority Leader of the House, has just taken a personal pilgrimage, on hands and knees, to Mar-A-Largo to visit His Awfulness. Instead of moving on from the vacuum of governing, McCarthy has embraced it. He must see something that, in the end, is virtuous, or at least advantageous. Wherever he has been, he has missed the obvious.

Is a third political party possible? Or will they be subsumed by Democrats, who once again will disappoint the more progressive wing and accept The Lincoln Project in a tent that can, and must, find room?

We do know that they're still raising money. They're still making political ads. They're still harassing RWC and his enablers. And people like me are still cheering them on. It's a big country. They've carved out a place for themselves, if they want it.

They're worth watching and following. If there's a place for reasonable debate left, it would be there. They're strong and decisive and quick on their feet; what good politicians usually are. Unquestionably, we won't agree on everything, maybe not on much. But the quality of the disagreement is often the point.

I doubt that they'll actually become Democrats. They don't have to, but they do have to go somewhere and will; they're much too deeply invested. Consensus can grow, partly because both of us are interested in it and see its necessity. It had better. Without it, out will come the guns.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. One day closer to a vaccine. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark