Politics
‘RINO’ Lincoln Project Eats Crow After Failed Attack On Trump
In theory, running an organization named in honor of a former president makes the job description easy: Just advocate for everything that president would have done.
In practice, however, it’s proving harder than expected for the embattled Lincoln Project, which slammed President Donald Trump over the suggestion that he was moving to expedite the deportation of illegal immigrants — only to find out that Abraham Lincoln took the same action while in office.
White House immigration advisor Stephen Miller indicated on Friday that the administration is exploring the possibility of habeas corpus for illegal immigrants, a constitutional right allowing anyone arrested on American soil to challenge the legality of their detention.
“That’s an option we’re actively looking at,” Miller said while explaining how the Constitution gives the commander-in-chief latitude to suspend the right during an invasion.
“A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” he added.
Within hours, the Lincoln Project — an organization comprised of legacy anti-Trump Republicans — framed Miller’s statement in oligarchic terms.
“Suspending habeas corpus. Let that sink in,” they wrote on social media.
It didn’t take long before X users reminded the Lincoln Project’s social media team that President Lincoln himself suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Specifically, Lincoln took the action between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, when the capital was a virtual no-man’s-land surrounded by Confederate forces.
The executive order permitted Union soldiers to arrest anyone on suspicion that they were fomenting unrest against the military without arraignment or indictment.
“What do you mean we can legally do this via a law passed in congress and signed by… Abraham Lincoln?!” social media user Aristophanes wrote, including snippets of Lincoln’s order.
“This may be the greatest self own in history,” reacted Auron MacIntyre, a contributor for The Blaze.
“Next up arresting judges and congressmen, shutting down state legislatures, shutting down newspapers, and sending the military against Americans!” podcast host Andrew Isker added. “Where does it end!?”
The Lincoln Project was founded in 2019 ahead of President Trump’s reelection by Rick Wilson, a moderate GOP consultant who broke with his party over its support for Trump. His vitriol for Trump has veered into the violent at times.
“The donor class can’t just sit back on the sidelines and say, ‘Oh, well, don’t worry, this will work itself out.’ They’re still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump,” he said on MSNBC before the election.
Shortly after the 2020 election, Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver acknowledged that he had sent inappropriate solicitations to young men who accused him of sexual harassment. He resigned, and the organization did little to condemn his behavior apart from saying that Weaver’s statement at the time “speaks for itself.”
Following an outcry accusing the Lincoln Project of belittling the accusations against Weaver, organizers released a statement describing its co-founder as “a predator, a liar, and an abuser” and denouncing his “deplorable and predatory behavior,” according to media reports at the time
