All language subtitles for Ep 4. Angels with Dirty Faces

I have discovered
a significant part

of Trump's appeal.

In particular, I think
I finally understand

how he is supported
because of his flaws,

rather than in spite of them.

How are all the things I find
despicable in him not merely

things that people are
willing to overlook,

but reasons
in and of themselves

why people support him?

One thing that Trump
never communicates,

and cannot possibly communicate,

is a sense
of his moral superiority.

And votes
still being tallied...

Because he is never
really judging you.

He can't possibly judge you.

He offers a truly safe space
for human frailty

and hypocrisy and self-doubt.

He offers what no priest
can credibly offer--

a total expiation of shame.

His personal shamelessness
is a kind of spiritual balm.

Trump is fat Jesus.

He's "grab them
by the pussy" Jesus.

He's "I'll eat nothing
but cheeseburgers

if I want to" Jesus.

He's "go back to your
shithole countries" Jesus.

He's "no apologies" Jesus.

And now consider, what are
we getting from the left?

We're getting exactly
the opposite message--

pure sanctimony,
pure judgment.

You are not good enough.

You're guilty not only
for your own sins,

but for the sins
of your fathers.

The crimes of slavery and
colonialism are on your head.

And if you're a cis,
white, heterosexual male,

you're a racist, homophobic,

transphobic, Islamophobic,

sexist barbarian.

I sincerely hope
we rid ourselves of him.

But I believe I now
understand the half

of the country that
disagrees with me

a little better
than I did yesterday.

And this makes me less
confused and judgmental,

less of an asshole, probably,

which is always progress.

How you feeling, boss?

Good. I'm one.

I was just talking
to his sister.

And I was like, "You got it."
She's like, "I'm Irish."

I'm like, "I get it.
You got it."

He should be at 270
by one o'clock, hmm?

Yeah, it'd be this evening
at the latest.

Yeah.

I think you should start
using the Twitter to say...

President-elect Biden?

...like, now, be patient.

Votes are being counted.

As those votes count,
Joe Biden will be

elected president
of the United States,

just over and over again.

He said
from day one that

this is going to take time.

We want to make sure that
every vote is counted.

And if I could
jump in one more time,

because in the words
of the president,

there's all this
talk about, you know,

nefarious things
are happening...

This is crazy.

The amount of missed
opportunities here, not great.

Didn't get Montana,
didn't get Alaska,

didn't get South Carolina.

All of them.

We got killed in Iowa.

That's uncomfortable
to sit with.

It's not what we
tell ourselves

about ourselves, right?

...all come down
to your 11 electoral votes

in the state of Arizona.

Kim Law says we'll get
votes later tonight.

Do you feel any pressure
on your...

I think we all expected
to be celebrating

and to be wildly hung over
today, and none of us were.

Right, we want to make sure

that every vote
is counted, and that...

I mean,
our country clearly has

an affinity towards racism,
misogyny, and sexism,

homophobia, fascism.

So now it's just coming
to grips with that.

You can no longer
use the phrase,

this is not who we are.

Yeah, it is.

Once the dust settles,
we have to have

a collective reckoning
with that.

Please.

Thank you very much, Eric.

It is very, very sad
that we're here

in the city that's really the
birthplace of our democracy.

And this is among one of the
most anti-democratic things

I've ever seen or encountered.

This whole new thing that
never happened before

in our country,
these mail-in ballots,

which has been a cause
of real concern

for everyone because they
can easily be fraudulent.

Oh, here come these ballots.

Well, we have no idea
if they really are ballots.

We have no idea
if they're signed,

if they're postmarked properly,

if it isn't just
the same person

who submitted 100,000 ballots.

Gee, just about
the 700,000 votes

that President Trump
was ahead by disappeared.

This is the way
they intend to win.

Donald Trump!

But we're not going to
let them get away with it.

Stop the count!

Stop the count!

We saw protests
across the country erupt.

Protesters took to the
streets of Philadelphia,

in Pittsburgh as well,
in Boston, Arizona,

hoping to stop the vote count.

Stop the count!

Stop the count!

If the essence
of conservatism

is protecting the Constitution,

this is the most unconservative,

radical act imaginable.

Stuart, like, I'm with you.

Like, I've--I was--

I think it's outrageous.

And it is dangerous.

But we have to project
a tone that's not angry.

Our tone needs
to be righteous--

not angry, though.

No one likes a scold.

I think we should try
to war game a little bit

about what their next step
is going to be.

I agree completely.

But we need to be
careful in assuming that

there's a mandate one way
or the other, because I

don't think that's where
the voters are at.

I think Mike does
make a good point,

which is, we should not
forget the guy got

70 million fucking votes,
right?

And so we should ask ourselves
a broader question--

does half the country care
that he's doing this?

No.

Do they really care?

Have they decided that they
just love him no matter what?

I don't know.
I don't know the answer.

We should just
assert that, right?

We should condemn them.

Kind of like it.

They want to
manipulate this election.

They don't care
if it's illegal.

And they believe there
will be no consequences.

It's over.

Elections have consequences.

Your decisions will too.

I mean, all this
stuff about Trump is knowing

that people just
don't seem to care that much.

I mean, everything that
we said the party was for,

the party now is against.

And you know, I helped elect
a lot of these people,

and I've never had
one conversation

with one Republican
elected official

who tries to pretend that
Donald Trump is qualified

to be president--not one.

There's always been
this element in America--

crazies, people who
believe in conspiracies.

And we needed them
to vote for Republicans.

I think it all goes back
to this post-war history.

So there was always,
like, an Eisenhower wing

and a Joe McCarthy wing.

Eisenhower was this
sort of governing,

boring, but sensible guy.

America knows that this world
of ours, ever growing smaller,

must avoid becoming a community
of dreadful fear and hate.

And then you had
a McCarthy wing.

And McCarthy was paranoid,
racist, angry.

Our nation may well die.

And I ask you, who caused it?

Was it loyal Americans,

or was it traitors
in our government?

Political parties
have to serve

a circuit breaker function.

And Republicans never
pulled the circuit breaker.

But I certainly
felt that, like,

the crazies were on the wrong
side of history, as it were.

We were the dominant gene,

and they were
the recessive gene.

But I don't know
any conclusion to come to

except we were wrong.

They're all
called this morning.

Hello?

- Is that Logan?
- Hello, Logan.

Hey, Logan.
Can you say hi?

Hi.

Look at you walk.
Oh, down--he's done.

He's like,
"That's enough for me."

Yeah, I just want
to talk to you

- for a couple of minutes.
- Oh, no. What is on your mind?

Talking about
last night, with those 23,000,

I wasn't saying it was
an entire district.

But they've been
doing vote dumps.

- Right, right.
- Right?

123,000 votes came in,
all for Biden.

Yeah, I haven't seen that.

I tried to--I tried
to find that online.

Other than that tweet that you
sent me, I haven't seen that.

You know, people saying
bullshit about how more people

voted in Wisconsin
than are registered

to vote in Wisconsin,
which is bullshit

because the 2018 number...

...and the numbers
of the administration--

James, your language
is lovely this morning.

Oh.

I mean, I know
where you learned it,

and he's making breakfast
for me right there.

But still, so.

I learned it from you.

He said
he learned it from me.

All of our sons are--

I wouldn't call them
conspiracy theorists,

but--and our daughter.

But they--they just
mistrust what's going on.

And a lot of it is
the misinformation

that gets posted.

You know, something
like 125,000 votes

came in,
100% of them for Biden.

That's not realistic.

Well, because it
never happened.

But that's the
kind of thing that,

you know, people are hearing.

There's obviously a lot of
questions around the election.

Miscalculations,
misrepresentation,

a lot of fraud.

Joe Biden has said that
he's going to lock

the United States down forever

under communist reprogramming.

He's voting to raise our taxes.

He wants to open
our borders, our borders,

and give free health care
to everyone.

I was always, myself,
knowledgeable about politics.

I don't think I realized
how malleable

other people were
in real life.

Yeah!

Politicians lie, okay?

They just do.

But you know,

in order to win in 2010, 2014,

Republican messengers
and political types

sold lies about the country,

spent millions
of dollars peddling shit

they knew wasn't true--

that we were on the
precipice of socialism,

that, you know,
Obama was a communist,

or a socialist,
or he was dangerous.

It wasn't a real argument
over health care.

It was, this is socialist,
and it's communist,

and it's coming for you.

You know, Barack Obama
wanted to hurt your family.

He's trying to harm you.

These were some
of my first jobs.

I'm not going to say I didn't
know what I was doing.

I just thought
that was how it worked.

Then they'd win, and they'd
kind of all

high five each other,

and I think the consultant
class, in particular,

would just forget that they
had actually convinced people

of something--that they
hadn't just won the election,

but that--that they had

altered a person's
state of mind

about the country
they've been living in.

He's not your friend.

USA! USA!

People who have
more resources

have convinced them
of something that isn't true.

USA!

Yeah, the recount stuff--

I mean, Pennsylvania
is probably

going to swing into view here
by the end of the week.

President Trump's
already calling

some legal case there too.

Yeah, well, he's going
to do it everywhere.

- Yeah. What?
- Can I have one?

Why don't you say please?

Can you give me a second?

One second, Reed.

One second, Reed.

Hey, buddy.

The reason I went home
was, I hit a breaking point.

Reed and I
had several discussions.

And he's like,
"You can never leave."

He'd said it in a nice way,
like, you know,

you can't leave me,
can't leave this project.

It pissed me off.

If Stu's allowed to fly back
to see his relatives,

I'm allowed to fly back
to see my kid.

We hit the president on COVID
all the time

and being irresponsible;
I'm going to be

a responsible parent.
I'm going home.

But I was never
leaving the project.

We should play
the balance of this week

sort of, like,
you know, as it comes.

And we have Georgia, right?

So we'll have to get
some ads running.

- Can I ask you one question?
- Yeah.

In the ranking of, like,

new entity media, democracy,

like, which one's
your priority?

Saving democracy.

Right, all right.

Saving and defending--
all that's--anything

that we can do within the PAC.

I believe in
The Lincoln Project.

In any organization,

there's going to be difficulties.

And I joined because

I thought the fight
was worth it.

I'm not going to
walk away from this.

The early results
bear out that Biden

got 10% of Republicans.

Mm-hmm.

That's 3% more
than Hillary got.

Mm-hmm.

So if that's the case,
then, like, we're--

we're in the Bannon zone,
right, which is that 1% to 4%

that he called out
of establishment Republicans.

So I think--yeah.

Can you ask him
to wipe himself?

You're five.

Isn't parenthood great?

Good job.

Yeah, he's got
72 million votes,

with a million left to count.

There wasn't a landslide.

What does that say about
the country right now?

I was really hoping that
by the time we did the roundup,

we'd have a decision, but...

- I know.
- Okay.

Cool.

Are they there yet?

No, just the cameras.

There's no closure yet.

Those guys have been
watching every single day.

So they're feeling the anxiety
about every single move.

That's not useful to me.

I would like
to give it a couple of hours

to have all of the results
come in, but...

fuck.

It's just, like, fuck.

I can't believe
the polling was off.

It gave us, like,
a false sense of hope.

I do think the
absentee ballot issue

for military is a major issue.

There are several thousand
votes that need to be counted.

And when we're talking just
a few thousand vote difference,

that does matter, so.

But I try not to be
checking The New York Times

every three minutes.

What's going to happen
is going to happen.

Trump can do whatever
he wants to do.

But he doesn't get to decide
that the votes

are going to stop counting.

Terrific. Thank you so much.

After four long, tense days...

...CNN projects
Joseph R Biden Jr. is elected

the 46th President
of the United States,

winning the White House,
and denying President Trump

a second term.

- Is that real?
- Yeah, look at that.

Can't believe it.
All the horns.

Oh, wow.

That's amazing.

"Dear Ron, on behalf
of all of the patients

I have tragically
lost to this virus,

and on behalf of every
patient I have helped guide

through to the other side
to breathe another day...

...thank you
for all you and your team did

to help bring us to this point,

and help ensure we had
a turnover of our presidency."

Have a pack.

He travels with it.

Thank you so much.

I'm afraid
this might happen again.

Congratulations, brother.

- You too, man.
- No kidding.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, the phone is blowing up.

I've started, like,
a pile-on of thank yous to all

of our Hollywood friends,

money people that
I dealt with,

and everything else.

But what a day.

- Hello?
- Hey, dude.

Good to win.

There's a certain part
of the coming down, you know,

where you don't realize
how tense you were

and how much stress there was.

I have a tough time
understanding and putting in

perspective things in my life
that were of consequence.

This one, I'm really clear on.

We fucking took out
the president

of the United States.

That changes history.

Okay, I just have to grab
my coffee upstairs,

and then I'm good to go.

Mm-mm.

We had set out
to defeat Donald Trump.

We came from the right,

and a lot of our people
came from the left.

We had a unique constellation
of political experience

and knowledge.

And we kicked their ass.

The creative content
was phenomenal.

Without Rick Wilson's
creative brilliance,

it never would have jumped

into the national consciousness.

The viral ads were
the top of the iceberg.

Below the surface were all
the ads people weren't seeing.

They were the digital ads
in the States.

They were the ads talking
to voters in the States.

And that's what
our job was to do.

I just--it's probably one
of the best political teams

I've worked with
in my entire career,

and I'm just really
proud of them.

Just amazing.

I'm so proud of you.

America has called upon us

to marshal the forces
of science

and the forces of hope in the
great battles of our time--

the battle to control
the virus,

the battle to achieve
racial justice

and root out systemic racism
in this country...

...and the battle to save
our planet by getting

climate under control.

The battle to restore decency,
defend democracy,

and give everybody in this
country a fair shot.

That's all they're
asking for--a fair shot.

And to my campaign team
and all the volunteers

and all who gave
so much of themselves--

I want him to sign
so many executive orders.

Like, so many.

Folks, I'm a proud Democrat.

Let's see how the--
the founders like it.

The end is coming--

the end of the noise and lies,

the end of the chaos
and division.

That day is coming
because of your vote.

Joe Biden, our president.

You have a very
hopeful and lovely ad

going out tonight
called Dawn,

about there being a new dawn
with the Biden administration.

So we'll put that out this
evening around eight o'clock.

All right, well, listen,

if you had to take, you know,
my temperature

after election day, obviously,
you know, beyond pleased

that we beat Trump, right,
or we helped beat Trump.

I think we played
a unique role,

a role that probably we only
could have played in this.

The organization
will be smaller moving forward

just because we won't need
as many people

as we have now.

I think that 2021, you know,

looks like we'll be
leaning into some

pro-democracy efforts--

voting rights,
election security, you know,

what it is we do to push back
on the sort of torrent of,

you know, fake and, you know,

misleading information, disinformation,

misinformation that floods
into the system.

President Trump,
again out of the public eye,

rejects the reality of the
election outcome online,

repeating baseless claims
about the vote count

despite no evidence
of widespread fraud.

Only four GOP senators
have acknowledged

President-elect Biden.

President Trump is
100% within his rights

to look into allegations
of irregularities.

President Trump
should not concede.

Keep fighting for every legal
and live vote.

It's just despicable, weak.

I--I mean, I really
don't know what to say.

I mean, it's incredible.

Do we, as an organization,
consider it a coup?

I think it is an
inept attempt at a coup.

But still, I think
you could call it a coup.

Maybe I'm just saying this
for my own benefit

as I kind of breathe in the
gravity of what's being said,

and I agree with it.

I believe this is seditious.

I believe that unity
is no longer a goal.

They're not going back.

More than 100
House Republicans are now

supporting overturning
the results

in four swing states
Joe Biden won.

Joining us now
is the co-founder

of The Lincoln Project,
Jennifer Horn.

We can also call her

a former Republican.

It's because
of what we've seen

in the weeks
since the election

from so many
elected Republicans

across this country who were
willing to enlist in a--

a coordinated,
intentional effort

to essentially
overthrow democracy

in the United States
of America.

It has become clear to me
that the party of Lincoln

is no more.

The thing about
this democracy thing

is, like, somebody's got
to be willing to lose.

Do you know what I mean?

If you had told me
on November 2nd,

that if Trump lost
by 8 million or more,

north of 300 votes,
electoral college,

would Republican senators
accept it,

I would have said, yeah.

I mean, like, yeah.
I mean, it's stupid.

Yeah, of course they're
going to accept it.

And I don't understand it,

except I'll never look
at 1930s Germany

and wonder how it
happened again.

Donald Trump!

Yeah!

What if it worked?

- What if the coup worked?
- Yes.

What are we then?

Can I just jump in
for a quick second?

We have to answer
the question,

what the hell are you
going to do about it?

Not just talk about it,
not just put a flag in the sand

and say, this was the
first American coup.

What are you going
to do about it?

And better fucking mean it.

But then what are
the assets we need

to make those things happen?

Yeah, so--

But we can
discuss that later.

I--

Ooh.

- What'd she say?
- She said goodbye to Brendan.

You know what the only rules
are of The Bachelorette--

no rules.

Trump is out there basically,
like, calling for civil war.

I mean, he's trying
to do a coup.

And for whatever
fucking reason,

The Lincoln Project
is not doing much, you know?

I'm completely
out of the loop.

Most of the staff is
completely out of the loop.

I could be out there as
soon as next week with--

Don't sign the fucking lease
until you sign a contract.

And I can't believe
I have to keep saying this.

We continue to have
our political team calls.

We continue to do
the work that we can.

But if it's supposed
to be a daily call,

and it gets canceled
for three weeks straight,

and then just gets canceled
through the end of the year...

What?

...it doesn't take
a rocket scientist to know

that, like, all is not well
in Denmark right now.

I don't know.

- Eddie.
- Mikey G!

- How's it going?
- Good.

How was your day, brother?

Do you know if we're
going to be able

to do anything in Georgia?

Or do you think that's
going to stay on hold

for the next little bit?

I mean, I don't know.

And, like, there's
that voice in the back

of your head that's like,
just ask him, ask him.

Like, what's going on?
What's going on?

What's going on, you know?
You want to know.

Okay.

And if that's the case...

But there's also
a competing voice that's,

like, I don't want to know.

I don't want to be
involved in this.

What I think should be
getting communicated is,

all is not well right now,
right?

But I think it seem--

I would assume, and I would
hope, that founders

are working amongst themselves
to resolve

whatever it is that's going on.

Yeah, there's
significant revenue

that's possibly involved
just already.

We have the 527.

We have--right--
the super PAC.

We have the
that's hanging out there,

we've got to figure out what
the hell we want to do with.

Then we have a 4 Guys Inc.

true, like, media entity.

Steve, if you're going
to talk to Mike today,

I need you to get him to sign

the board resolution
I had him send--

I had the lawyer
send over yesterday.

Is he objecting?

Neither he nor Ron
have signed it yet.

So I just need to get it done.

Ron and Mike
are on the board.

They're 2/3 of the board.

Reed is on the board too.

Steve and I were also supposed
to be named to the board.

Basically, a scrivener's
error did not get us

on the board at the same time.

Whatever happened, happened.

Steve and I, you know,
let's be honest,

we're not
detail management guys.

And we're not, like,
legal paperwork guys.

Long story short,
we get through the campaign.

We have some
unpleasantness with Mike

and Ron and Jennifer.

Between, like, what's
really happening and the plans

that they're making?

Yeah, like they're in denial,
just kind of moving forward.

But yeah, they're playing
a hand they don't have.

I believed all along,
up until the last few weeks

of the campaign,
that everybody was going

to have an equal say in what

The Lincoln Project
would become.

It only made sense.

All of us jumped off at the
same time as co-founders.

That's literally the name.

We all took risks

related to our livelihoods.

And then it became apparent
through some conversations

with the other co-founders
that the equity stakes

were going to be
extremely disproportionate

if we were going to get anything.

When I say "we,"
I mean, Jennifer Horn,

Ron Steslow, and Mike Madrid.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Lincoln Project.

Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson,
Jennifer Horn, Ron Steslow,

Mike Madrid, Reed Galen.

At the first major event

of The Lincoln Project
at Cooper Union,

everybody was introduced
as a co-founder.

Rick Wilson called me
up before, and he said,

you know, we have all of these
early employees--

vendors, contractors,
Horn, Steslow, Mike Madrid--

who have been hired, you know,
to work on this.

They'd like to be
called co-founders.

Those people
co-founded nothing.

And my exact quote
to him was, is,

"I don't give a fuck
what anyone calls

themselves about the titles."

And it created a crazy--

and I mean fucking crazy--

sense of entitlement,

the likes of which
I've never seen.

They basically try to
take over The Lincoln Project.

Because you know what
the board can do?

Remove anybody
from The Lincoln Project.

They can fire me,
fire Steve, fire anybody.

It's important to
recognize that no super PAC

had ever done anything
like this before--

not just the
unbelievable amount of money

that was coming in
as fast as it was,

but the notoriety,
the awareness.

I can't think of
another super PAC

that seeped into
the consciousness

of American pop culture.

The media, political
advertising, the Facebook ads,

all of my data
is what they need

to create a media company.

Week before Thanksgiving,

I receive a DocuSign

asking for my signature

to add Rick Wilson
and Steve Schmidt

to the board.

To which, you know,
I just said,

I'm happy to do that once
I meet my fiduciary obligation,

which is to understand where
the $90 million... [laughs]

...that we raised
and spent went.

You used to have 41, 40?

Let's do pickups of the USVI.

Oh, yeah, let's do the pickups.

And then Ron and Mike,
sometime tomorrow,

before we all get pulled
into our family--

you know, family time
and all next week,

I would love to be on a
phone call with three of us

all at one time.

Yes.

As co-founders,
we expected that

we were looped in
on what was going on.

And Mike and Ron wanted
an accounting of the finances,

and Reed and Steve were
unwilling to give it to them.

I started to get suspicious
about where did the money go.

Reed, I've said this
many times before.

I think that one of the reasons
that The Lincoln Project

was as successful as we
were in the past year

is because we were honest.

And sometimes,
the bare, naked truth

can be uncomfortable
to look at.

But I think that there
has been a yearning

amongst the American people

for a political organization

that just tells them the truth.

First time I looked
at our FEC reports

was the first time that
I saw in print how much money

went to Summit Strategies.

It was 27 million, you know,
something like that.

And I started recreating
in my head who did what.

All of the staffers
on The Lincoln Project

are accounted for
in the FEC report.

So they weren't getting
paid through Summit,

they were getting
paid directly.

You can see that.

All of our ad buys through
TUSK or through Ashton Media,

like, they're all
accounted for there.

And there's still $27 million

that went
to Summit Strategies.

Summit Strategies
did not serve a function

to the campaign.

They did not have a staff
of employees who were working

for The Lincoln Project.

They weren't producing the ads.

They weren't
developing the data.

They weren't doing
the digital.

Summit Strategies
was Reed Galen.

The question was,
was that just the four of them

splitting up the money?

Hey, gang.

Yo.

- Laura, this is very exciting.
- I know. It's cool.

We're going to have a home!

The rescue dogs of politics
will finally have a home.

Like, if we're going to have
the LPTV studio,

we should have
a podcast studio too.

And I realized
that the four guys

who we all trusted
to lead this effort

and to get us
where we needed to go,

that they were using the
efforts of The Lincoln Project

not just to advance our goals,
but to build a foundation

for their
personal media business.

That is an
extraordinary betrayal.

There's nothing wrong
with making money.

I mean, take a celebrity
athlete, right?

I think that if you look back
at the year 2020

and you asked the average
opponent of Donald Trump--

maybe someone who
gave 25 or 50 bucks,

if they'd be willing to pay
a professional athlete's salary

to some political consultants
who came in

and would do the best job
at taking out Donald Trump,

they'd say,
"Yeah, all day long.

My worry is that
a disproportionate amount

of resources went to people
who had a financial,

rather than altruistic,
stake in the organization.

If I had had more money,

could I have moved the needle
more in North Carolina?

Yes, I could have.

Could I have pushed the
boundaries in other states

and made them more competitive
and put them in play?

Yes, I could have.

All of my data was saying
that there were other places

that we could have made
a bigger impact on the race.

The fact that we didn't

may not be a legal complication,

but it's certainly
a moral issue.

Whatever perceptions
they might have

do not comport with reality.

At the time,
our media buyer said,

"I can't be
on a finance report."

And I said, okay,
we'll use my company.

Why?

Because the people that
made our ads, in that moment,

were still working
for Republicans, too, right?

So they did not want
to have their names

out there associated with us.

I didn't make $27 million.

Far, far, far,
far, far from it.

Here's what I can say.

I drive a five-year-old Volvo.

I could sure use a--

I could sure use to replace
my driveway, you know?

I'm not--my lifestyle is--

is basically this fight.

There is no giant
slush fund where people,

you know, went off and bought
a volcano island

to have a lair.

Nobody made that much money.

We made money,
but not that much.

They gave the enemies
of The Lincoln Project

a sword to attack us.

And right now,
all I'm trying to do

is--is patch the holes
in the ship

and see if we can
keep it afloat.

Let me tell you,
this election was rigged.

Your governor could stop it
very easily if he knew

what the hell he was doing.

On the same day the Georgia

Secretary of State's office
moves closer

to recertifying
the general election results,

President Donald Trump's
campaign

slaps the state
with a lawsuit.

Court documents lists numerous

county elections directors
as defendants,

as well as Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger.

The left lies.
They cheat, and they steal.

They are ruthless.

And they are hell bent
on getting power and control

by any means necessary.

You should want to have
an accurate election.

And you're a Republican.

Ossoff and Warnock
are the two most extreme,

far left,
liberal Senate candidates

in the history of our country.

They cheated, and they rigged
our presidential election.

And they're going to try
and rig this election too.

We love you!

Thank you.

What has happened
over the last three weeks

has had a very quieting effect.

The Lincoln Project has not
been able to be as active,

given that there are some
legal questions right now,

of which I'm, like,
privy to, like, 2%, I think,

of what is actually going on.

We're trying to determine
how much can be done.

A woman reached out to me

from the Secretary of State's
Office in Georgia.

And the president came out
and started harassing

that office for the recounts.

The recount--they recounted
the votes three times.

They went for Biden
all three times,

and just really laid in
to that office.

And the office refused
to say that the--

the vote was fraudulent.

Like, they would not say it,
and knew that

there was going to be hell
to pay from Trump.

So this woman called and said,
"Can you come and meet with me?

Will you back us?
Will you help us?

Like, I don't know
how to do this."

I was hearing
that the Trump campaign,

like, in February, wanted
to question election results,

throw it to the legislature.

And, like, there's no
function in the law

that would allow the Trump
campaign to even do that.

Mm-hmm.

He basically
demanded that, you know,

we help steal elections
on their behalf.

This was
an autocratic attempt.

I mean, we know this.
We know this.

I mean, you just change
one rung on this thing,

and now we're talking about
removing voters and purging.

And we might just be talking
about a different outcome

in this election.

And that's a frightful
notion, that one guy

- stands between those things.
- Yeah.

So I am going to give you
a heads up about

some of the things that
the office is dealing with.

We started getting attacked
by President Trump.

There were people,
within minutes,

putting hits on Brad online.

Brad's house has been
broken into twice.

God.

We are getting death threats

of people who are on staff,
and, like,

folks who are in the counties
running elections.

And Loeffler and Perdue
have said nothing about this?

I think we should
absolutely hammer that.

That would be a very nice
and cutting ad as well.

Just, like, these are
the Republicans--yes.

I think I cannot--

So there's two Senate races

on the ballot in Georgia.

A recount could be
incredibly significant.

On the line--
control of the U.S. Senate.

If Democrats win both seats,
the chamber is tied,

with Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris

casting the deciding vote.

He's right down there.

In the green, right?

Oh, in the green, yeah.

Right there with the jacket.

Okay, okay, okay.

I got a phone call from Nate.

He was like,
"Hey, I need your help

on this stuff in Georgia,"
and I was like,

"I can't spend money.

They're not giving me
any money."

Hey.
Making sure that they vote.

Did you have
any idea this shit

was going down between Ron
and Mike and the board?

I'm happy that I was kept out
of that, whatever it was.

I don't feel deceived.

That doesn't sound
like anything

I want to be involved in.

When Georgia is going on,

this is happening concurrently
with the internal tumult

that was making it difficult
to move money.

And the idea that we were
on the precipice of Democrats

have 50 seats in the
U.S. Senate and, instead,

we're fighting with each other
is very disappointing.

It came to a point
where it was sort of like,

do your job, or I'll find
somebody who will.

Rick, since you're on,

can you tell us
what's happening

in these last couple days?

We've got to go
fight this thing in Georgia

next week, guys.

So take a deep breath.

We're going to have
a day or two off.

But we're going to be
back in the fight in--

in Georgia to go
after QAnon Kelly.

All right, I think we have

tons to do today, right?

Off we go.

We've got NAACP,
BlackPAC working

with Ossoff and Warnock.

We should
create a video about it.

And if it takes
two or three minutes,

I think that's fine.

Is that, like,
a little, short ad

that we could
cut?

Like, Kelly's the
only thing standing

between you and freedom?

We haven't given her the true
Lincoln Project treatment yet.

Well, like, what if it's,
like, an ad, and it shows her

on the plane, right?
It's like...

I'm so rich, I'm so rich

I'm so rich

I can do whatever I want

That entitlement.

We're running
against entitlement.

And then you have the insider
trading thing, and the...

And the airplane.

That's a good--yes.

Right?

The right-wing
media wars are heating up.

Like, now is the time
to be getting into that space

with our various channels,
because they're

going to get crazier too.

We have always said,
as a group,

that this would get crazier.

Like, it wouldn't
snap back to normal,

that there's no normal, right?

That is, like,
an article of faith.

I think January 6th
could be crazy too.

Yeah.

You have to frame--

you want someone to take
an action, Nate, right?

You want someone
to do something

that they haven't done yet,
right?

And what you're trying
to say is there's two sides.

You can't be on this side.

This is the bad side.

Thanks, Nate,
for everything down there.

- Be safe.
- It's no problem.

Thank you all.
Talk to you in a bit.

Proud Boy, Proud boy!

Today, the dividing line

in American politics
is not between

conservative and liberal.

It's between those
who believe in democracy

and those who are killing it.

Join us.

Yeah, that's--my lawyer
is reaching out to him

to try to have the meeting
tomorrow morning.

There's going to have to be
something more than just,

here's a check, pat us on the
ass, and you're out the door.

For me, for me--
I'm speaking for me.

It's not for Ron.

This is not what I want.

This is absolutely
not what I hoped for.

The last 72 hours felt like
the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Now it's like,
you want to blow up

The Lincoln Project and show
everybody what happened here?

That's probably not--
probably not the best idea,

but go ahead.

I'm going to go to Mexico.

Ron and Mike are officially
no longer with us

on January 31st.

And everything's being
transitioned to a new firm,

new digital firm.

And there is no communication
with Mike.

And I don't know
what's next for them,

but they will not be a part
of The Lincoln Project.

And Ron will not be hosting

The Lincoln Project podcast.

So that--those
relationships are done.

They didn't have
an entitlement to anything.

And I didn't have an obligation
to be in business with them.

In fact, by the time
we got to the end,

I did not want to be
in business with Mike Madrid,

Ron Steslow, and Jennifer Horn.

Whatever the next incarnation
of this was,

they weren't along
for the ride.

And that's too fucking bad.

That's life.

All Ron wanted
in the negotiations

was control of the podcast.

We had, like,
40 emails back and forth

with his attorney about various
details of the settlement.

The podcast is mentioned,
like, 40 times.

Ron wants the podcast--
podcast, podcast, podcast.

The white whale of a podcast

is all Ron wants out
of this fucking deal.

In particular,
with those kind of

turnout numbers...

And Mike could have
sustained a role

in something
that grew enormously.

But it turned out
that he really

wasn't built for the big game.

Mike foolishly sent us
a letter offering

to sell us his board seat
for money,

which I was disappointed.

You know, if you want to--

if you want to play
hardball like that,

if you want to play
the big game,

play all the way through.

Don't jack yourself off
for less than $1 million

for the board seat.

Could have been worth much more
to him if he'd held the line,

but anyway.

He would've had
control of the greatest

super PAC in American history.

There are people
that are actively working

to promulgate the myth
that Ron and I were just

trying to get money out of it.

If I wanted money, I would
have kept the damn thing

and beat the damn email list
like they're going to

like a rented fucking mule,
and made millions of dollars

just by grifting
in the way that they did,

and I would have made
50 times more money.

There's some people that
are fucking skating away

with this fucking story
that deserve to have

what actually happened be told.

And it's fucking
pissing me off.

There was some bad
fucking shit happening

on this fucking campaign.

I need a break.

We love Trump!

We love Trump!

Businesses are boarded up.

Streets are blocked off.

We want Trump!

But pro-Trump
demonstrators are undeterred,

descending on the nation's
capitol with defiance.

Fight for Trump!

Tensions are rising in Washington,

where Congress
is preparing to certify

President-elect
Joe Biden's win.

It is not Joe Biden
that rules this country.

George Soros does not
rule this country.

It's not over
because we, the people,

demand that the Supreme Court
do their jobs.

We will take it back
one way or another.

At least 13 GOP senators
plan to challenge

the electoral college count,

which Biden won with 306 votes

to President Trump's 232.

America first!

America first!

All of us here today
do not want to see

our election victory stolen.

We will never give up.

We will never concede.
It doesn't happen.

You don't concede
when there's theft involved.

And after this, we're going
to walk down to the Capitol.

And I'll be there with you.

And we fight.

We fight like hell.

And if you don't
fight like hell,

you're not going to
have a country anymore.

Fight for Trump!

Fight for Trump!

Donald Trump woke us up.

A highly mobilized army.

You think you can laugh at us?

We'll see who laughs last.

Why isn't the
National Guard just coming in?

I mean, everyone has
the right to protest, right?

And right now, it's peaceful.

- Is it peaceful?
- Well, they're not--

If I'm not mistaken,
they're throwing objects

- and trash at the cops and...
- Are they?

...attempting
to break into the Capitol.

You just talked
about crossroads.

And it's--to me,
it's shocking.

It's pathetic.
It's disgusting.

It's unbelievable,
but this was planned.

No go! Whose house?

Americans never thought

that this would happen,
because we assume

that things just get better.

1776!

Is this the last gasp, Reed?

Or is this...?

I don't think so.

Why would it be?

He's not going to go away.

If anything, this--
this reinforces

these people's belief in him.

I'm convinced it's
exactly what the president

wanted to have happen.

He's been laying the groundwork
for exactly this

from the beginning
of his campaign.

So the Defense Department
has just denied

a request by the D.C. officials

to deploy more National Guards.

Oh, now they're--
you see the gun?

Look at this shit.
Look at this.

Look at this shit.

Guns, yeah.

This is just
the end result of four years

of them deciding that they just
thought that the vampire

was going to be nice to 'em

once we invited him
into the house.

They played around
with a fucking black mamba,

and you know what?
The fucker bit 'em.

Like, what the fuck did they
think was going to happen?

One of our staffers
is texting me and Rick.

"I'm really worried
about you guys.

I hope you guys
are someplace safe."

And Rick just texts
a picture of a 9 millimeter

with a silencer and an AR-15.

And he said, "I'm fine."

If they had found
U.S. senators

who were not pure MAGA,

they would have killed them.

This was the plan.

This wasn't a coincidence.

I believe that we're
in a civil war now.

USA!

This is the most
despicable act that's ever

been incited by any president.

But Donald Trump
didn't do this alone.

Always look for the coalition
between the elites--

Josh Hawley
of Stanford University

and Yale Law School,

the Harvard Law School
graduate Ted Cruz,

the propagandists, the liars.

And then, of course,
the financiers.

How many corporations
in this country

signed statements in support
of Black Lives Matter,

and then also funded
Mitch McConnell's super PAC

and Kevin McCarthy's
super PAC?

All of these efforts
that were supported

by these House Republicans
were aimed

at disenfranchising millions
of Black votes.

A lot of companies
in this country

are going to have some
decisions to make about

whether they want to support
an autocratic movement

that does violence
to our institutions,

that's led to the deaths of
people on the basis of a lie.

It is a lie.

These are domestic enemies.

This is what the word
"domestic enemy"

means in the Constitution.

This has been an amoral

and an immoral regime.

What a tragic day.

There will be no letup
on our pressure

until Kevin McCarthy
is removed from leadership.

There will be no letup
on our public pressure

until Rick Scott
is removed as the chairman

of the Senatorial Committee,
the chief finance arm.

There will be no letup
on this campaign

until Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley
and Ron Johnson

are either expelled
or resign or censured

by the United States Senate.

The goal of the organization
was to defeat Donald Trump.

That wasn't enough.

In the end,

politics is
a heartbreaking business.

I had death threats.

I had to move.

I had 20 boxes
of human excrement

sent to my house.

But would I do it again?

And the answer is, I would.

And the reason I would
is because I think

if this organization
did not begin,

Donald Trump would have been
narrowly re-elected.

Because this organization took
the fight to Donald Trump,

then knocked Donald Trump
on his ass.

And this country needs
an organization...

...that can fight.

We've all known people
who are just kind of angry

all the time.

Even in a
beautiful country with,

you know,
limitless opportunities,

there are still people who
are just raging, pissed off.

I believe America is
at an inflection point.

The American identity
that we have known

is beginning to turn
on our own institutions.

That is what Trumpism is.

It is about blame.

It is about grievance.

It is about anger.

There's something addicting
about outrage, right?

That's part of what
defines this era.

If you watch FOX News,

there's always something
to be pissed off about--

like, blow-your-stack,

veins-in-your-neck angry about.

And then they're going
to sell it to you

because there's a lot of money
in anger.

There's a lot of money
in outrage.

We've monetized it.

A lot of campaigns require it.

And at a certain point,
I think we all have

an obligation to say,

"Is making money
out of an outrage machine

helping democracy,
or is it hurting it?"

And after 30 years,
does that wear on your soul?

Fuck yeah,
it wears on your soul.

Anybody who says it doesn't
is full of crap.

But make no mistake,

the idea that
The Lincoln Project story

is a story of the good people
against the bad people

is a very naive take on this.

Cover your eyes!