Friend – if you’re like me, you’re – at best – deeply suspicious about anything the current wreck of the GOP is doing. At worst – you’re like us at The Lincoln Project, where we assume the worst and then imagine “how can it be ten times worse than this?”

Too many in America lacked the imagination to understand how far Trump would go. That’s part of why we’re in this mess. (A big part of this mess is also Trump, so fair’s fair. Blaming America for Trump when a majority didn’t vote for him twice is a bit like blaming Joe Biden for Putin invading Ukraine, but we’ll get there, too…)

(Before I get further, we are coming up on our end of quarter financial deadline for The Lincoln Project. If you haven’t given yet this year, please take a moment and make a contribution – it makes everything we do possible. Thank you. Back to where I see things…)

I’m writing you this in the middle of a – dare I say – fairly “calm” period of the last few weeks. Ignore the wingnuts. The Ukrainian people, in every respect, have shown pure heroism in the face of cruelty, brutality, and overwhelming odds...President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has mastered the art of wartime leadership. Ukraine is better for it, right now). His latest address to Congress had both the right and the left in… casual agreement? We have to do more! And soon!

But if you dig a little deeper, we know it’s about to get ugly. All you have to do is look at Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reactions. Why MTG? Yes, she’s a howling lunatic. But if you look at it, she’s really mastered the art of going exactly where the craziest part of her base wants her to go. She’s kind of like a sock puppet for Trump, which might just be… the worst thing I’ve ever imagined? Yeah, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever imagined.

Look at her votes against Ukraine aid. Look at her reactions to the Zelenskyy speech. Look at her reaction to the State of the Union. The crazy can only stay bottled up inside for so long. And the best Mentos to her LSD-laced Diet Coke? The conversations happening behind the scenes with her and her wingnut cadre. (I think we should call them a Squad. Wouldn’t that drive them absolutely nuts?)

This is not just her. This is the manifestation of the GOP trying very, very hard to find a weakness or a failure in Joe Biden’s exceptional handling of a crisis where they are actively rooting for the bad guys.

I’m sure that may sound deeply cynical for some of you, but have you met my former party?

They want to play the most beloved trope in the GOP foreign policy playbook; that the Democrats are weak on defense. In my decades as a GOP ad maker and strategist, I made some pretty notorious ads about it. And I can tell you it works. 

Democrats nearly always miss this. They are caught up in facts and explanations. And then it is too late. They’ve lost the optics war.

(Plug: The Lincoln Project has not missed these optics in a long time. We are running an ad cutting straight to the heart of what we believe Biden’s strength is and running it to the exact voters who need to see it. Can you help?) 

This is all about weaponizing outrage culture. It’s taking American successes worldwide and painting them as disasters. Google “Biolabs.” Actually, don’t. Just remember: The GOP base cares not for truth, friends, and their FOX-fueled outrage machine always, ALWAYS stays on message.

Remember: Trump blew the negotiations in Afghanistan – freed Taliban fighters, and set a withdrawal date. That sucked Biden in and Republicans pounced. Benghazi is another great example.

It should be noted that the “Democrats are putting your family at risk” attack is as old as time and has absolutely nothing to do with anything so… wild… as helping one’s country or an actual battle over ideological merits. No. It is about keeping white working class voters reliably Republican. It’s like a broken record at this point. And it’s so predictable. Just watch.

They are coming for Joe Biden. They are already closing in. That’s why everyone is suddenly an expert on no-fly-zones. That’s why they are all of a sudden crying at photographs and saying send them fighters and any other type of lethal aid the Ukrainians want…and they stood silent when Trump tried to blackmail Ukraine by withholding the Javelin missiles that are wrecking the Russians right now. 

As Trippi said: These are the lunatics who supported Putin’s invasion at first. Remember Tucker? “Why shouldn’t I be rooting for Russia, which I am!” Trump: “Genius! Savvy!”

Now they are oh-so-conveniently ignoring the fact that what they are trying to push President Biden into is World War Three. But if Biden doesn’t trigger a nuclear war? He’s too slow! Too weak! Mark my words, there will be ads. They will be lies. But they will work with a critical segment of the population.

Now you see why so many of them are rooting for the bad guys. I like to call the Trump base dictator-curious. They see the Orbans and the Putins of the world as saviors. Because they’re white and they make the right noises about protecting Christianity. See how it all ties together?

I’m old enough to remember when there was a bipartisan approach to defeat the Evil Empire. It happened to have worked. American Presidents had united resolve. Now Trump was a few months away from pulling us out of NATO, an organization he spent every minute of his first term trying to weaken.

And here we are.

The wolves are at the door. They are coming for Joe Biden. We are standing in their way. Are you with us?

Thanks for keeping us – and America – in this fight. We couldn’t do it without you.

-Rick

@TheRickWilson on Twitter