Despite a resounding Electoral College and popular vote victory for President-elect Donald Trump, the grift continues for former GOP operatives turned anti-Trump fanatics. If high-net worth Democrat donors can only shell out a few more million dollars, they insist, the “never-Trump Republicans” can take down Trump for good.
The latest such development in this saga was an announcement from former Republican consultant Rick Wilson that he was helping launch a new organization called the “Two Plus Two Coalition.”
According to The New York Times, that group “began prospecting for donors with a pitch that it would unearth unflattering revelations about the Murdoch family and Elon Musk.” They are asking donors “for a minimum investment of $1 million” with a goal of raising “$10 million to $15 million” per year. Wilson further said that his new organization would “operate as an opposition research firm but with a military-grade intelligence-gathering operation that went far beyond the document vetting typical of a political campaign.”
What exactly that means remains unclear. But if this newest endeavor is anything like Wilson’s previous projects, it likely won’t amount to much other than liberals lining the pockets of Wilson and his compatriots.
Political observers may remember Wilson from his involvement as co-founder for another infamous anti-Trump organization – the disgraced “Lincoln Project.” That group, which was founded in 2019 by establishment Republican operatives, was sold to liberal donors as a rallying point for a mythical bloc of “never-Trump Republican” voters.
Despite The Lincoln Project raising more than $90 million, only a small fraction of those funds were spent on actual anti-Trump advertisements and voter outreach. Reports revealed that approximately $50 million in donations went to firms controlled by the organization’s leaders, including Wilson. Moreover, Trump managed to grow his GOP voter support in 2020, undermining the group’s stated mission of swaying Republican voters against him.
The Lincoln Project’s downfall was further hastened by scandals involving its leadership. Co-founder John Weaver was accused of sexually harassing young men, with allegations spanning years. In October 2021, The Lincoln Project was also behind a disgraceful stunt in Virginia, organizing five individuals to dress as tiki-torch-wielding white nationalists and appear outside GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus.
The Two Plus Two Coalition looks to be little more than a rebrand effort from Wilson and his allies. Following November 5, however, it remains unclear how many liberal donors are still willing to buy the charade. Across the political spectrum, Wilson’s announcement was met with a mix of ambivalence and criticism.
“This is the same Wilson who assured his social media followers on Election Day, ‘Trump’s going to lose. He’s gonna lose badly,’” Washington Post correspondent Jim Geraghty posted on X. “As you may have heard, things turned out a little differently.”
The New York Times, meanwhile, acknowledged that, despite promises from individuals like Wilson that the never-Trump Republicans will surely “get” Trump and his allies this time, “exhausted liberals seem more inclined to tune out Mr. Trump than fight.”
It’s easy to see why the left is now skeptical of the never-Trump crowd. In both 2020 and 2024, Trump only increased his vote share among self-identified Republicans. Not only that, he increased his overall vote total, and this year became the first Republican nominee to win the popular vote since 2004. The efforts of individuals like Wilson and groups like The Lincoln Project have had precisely the opposite effect as what was promised to liberal donors.
The myth of a wave of Republicans who would vote against their values to spite Trump began in 2016. Establishment GOP operatives like Bill Kristol, Stuart Stevens, and Sarah Longwell believed that Trump’s 2016 campaign was likely to end in failure and, therefore, declined to endorse him. They saw his loss as an opportunity to retake control of the party and steer it back toward candidates that they could control.
Unfortunately for them, Trump prevailed. Almost immediately, they and other never-Trumpers formed a cabal known as the “Meetings of the Concerned.” In 2017, the group went public, releasing an open letter endorsing the Russiagate hoax and encouraging Mitch McConnell to do everything in his power to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Over the subsequent eight years, these never-Trumpers have formed a cottage industry of publications like the Bulwark, NGOs like Third Way, and Political PACs like The Lincoln Project.
These groups purport to speak to and for disaffected anti-Trump Republican voters, despite being mainly funded and backed by wealthy liberals. The same handful of former Republican operatives who have all disavowed the Republican Party are nonetheless cited, quoted, and interviewed as authorities on the Trump movement by corporate media.
In the closing weeks of Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, the vice president leaned heavily into the myth created by never-Trump operatives – that a vast swath of GOP voters were ready to cast their ballots for Democrats. To that end, Harris spent weeks campaigning alongside never-Trump leader Liz Cheney. Harris seemingly believed the former congresswoman was key to unlocking these GOP votes. Never-Trump Republicans like Tim Miller, Longwell, and Wilson gleefully endorsed this strategy.
The strategy backfired spectacularly. Not only did Republican voters not turn out for Harris, but, according to Rolling Stone magazine, cozying up with neocons instead of mobilizing her base likely did Harris more harm than good. By spending so much time trying to peel off Republican votes, Harris alienated the passionate base that propelled Biden to victory in 2020.
Ultimately, what 2024 showed is that vanishingly few “never-Trump” Republicans exist outside of Washington, D.C. As one swing state political operative told NBC News shortly after the election, “The never-Trump Republicans are gone: they are all now Democrats.”
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
The author took a long and winding road to come to the accurate conclusion spelled out in the last paragraph of the article. The bottom line is most of the Never Trumpers, those purporting to represent “real Republicans” (at least what they wanted Republicans to actually be…which were simply Democrats with an (R) after their name) were never actually Republicans to begin with. Many were simply RINOs who were happy to campaign or claim to support constitutionally conservative values as Republicans, but then frequently would support Democrat policies at the drop of a hat.
The author has gotten one thing wrong with his concluding remarks however. Not all Never Trumpers are gone, as evidenced by the likes of Mitch McConnell and some of his merry band of supporters still holding seats in the United States Senate. While fewer in number, they still present a potential risk going into the new Trump administration from a Senate voting perspective on any legislation.
There is also the constant anti-Trump drumbeat coming from the WSJ and to a more veiled approach via FOX News that continues on under the younger Murdock, who now runs things. Also, the Bush family and many of those that served under both Bush regimes still have an axe to grind with Trump for displacing Jeb Bush in 2016. So, there are still pockets of Never Trumpers that are still left out there, that are still masquerading as something other than what they actually are.
Lincoln Project. Log Cabin Republicans. John Bolton. Liz Cheney. It’s Over. You Lost. Get over it. DEI is dead and so is all this Woke nonsense. Get out of the way. Get a life. A real one.
Miller, Longwell and Wilson are bitter, gutless, ignorantly arrogant and humiliatingly defeated scam artists, trying to CON DONORS ON ANOTHER RIDICULOUS LOST CAUSE. They are RINO LOSERS, who are clones to the Left-wing radicals, and are nothing more than members of America’s ENEMIES WITHIN.
Any so called republican who stood with Kamala Harris during her campaign or opposes Trump outright isn’t a republican. They are a Rino all the way through.
Perhaps all the never Trump believers should explain what it is that scares them so much ,we might understand the reason for the hate. Specific reasons not vague accusations and mindless statements without any base.Concrete evidence would do, show me how wrong I am for voting for him, for believing his only sin being rocking the boat.
Organizations like this need to have NO tax-free status, and no security clearances for members. The Deep State federal employees very likely belong to organizations like this and are committing treason by sharing information gleaned at their paid employment! This is exactly what an “Insurrection” looks like and it should be illegal and therefore people involved could be prosecuted! When you compare efforts like this to calm people strolling about in the Capitol building, owned by we the people, yet getting charged with insurrection? Absolutely ridiculous!! I am PERFECTLY OKAY with Trump’s team going after these people, not as political retribution but as an example of breaking the laws. Maybe we can get a few extra deportations out of it. And some “dignitaries” sent HOME!
I’m glad for the lowdown on these groups, I don’t pay much attention to them. I seldom donate to candidates, and never to parties or other groups. I did donate small amounts to Trump, so I guess I’m good at picking winners, lol. What a bunch of grifters these Never Trumpers are.
I have been a never Trumper since being called “A Deplorable”! By Hillary back in 2016.
The USA was Vibrant during Trumps 1st term.
All I can say is MAGA2.0!
One thing there, ‘…many never-Trumpers have become Democrats…’. No. They were ALWAYS Dems. Never STOPPED BEING Dems! They never really ‘swung over’ to being Republicans, but were intrusively only ‘pretending’ to do that! The Dems apparently TOLD THEM to ‘infiltrate’ the Repub. Party – just to make chaos, and to steal our Votes! which would go toward Dem issues and agendas!!! This is WHY the GOP has not been able to get any Repub things DONE for SO LONG!!! It’s been a Dem Plan to INFILTRATE our Party with Spies and fraudulant Votes that went to Dem Agendas, instead of GOP agendas – just like they were able to ‘infiltrate’ Trump’s last Admin – but NEVER AGAIN! I’m glad they’re GONE – gone with the wind of their unpopular voices and stinky breath.
Joining with Liz Cheney who lost her attempt at reelection so spectacularly seems such an obvious bad idea. And Kamala thought it would help propel her to victory. Ha!
I just received a solicitation from a new group, THE REAGAN CAUCUS PAC, for the “Revitalization and restoration of the Republican Party”. They have not given up.
It may have been local but one of my favorite political ads before the election was a borderline morbidly obese “good ol’ boy” sitting on the tailgate of his pickup truck who allowed as how he’d always voted ‘Publican but not now no more. He were gonna vote fer that Kamala. He was almost a poor clone of VP Harris, male and white but appearing as if he’d been hitting the ” ‘shine” and the dumber things that he said, the louder he’d laugh at himself, By the end of the ad he’d either slid or fell off the tailgate and the truck went up about 6″.
The Never Trump Republicans need to rebrand themselves to the Never Win Republicans.
Who can be a Republican, and not support Trump? They aren’t Republicans, they are Democrats, who are pretending to be more than they are, which makes them good for nothings.
They never existed. Self serving unpatriotic individuals with no political ties to any one group.
They can go to Hell and I will back Trump!
This Wilson must be descended from that turkey Woodrow!
Been Never Trumpers since first election