An edited transcript of a Slack conversation between me and my editor about the Lincoln Project, the Never Trump–led organization that has managed to emerge as Resistance icons—despite the fact that the tireless work of all their now proud, ever-so-concerned-never-Trumpers led to the mess we are in.
Me: I can’t tell you how many times in the last few months I’ve yelled, “Oh, now I’M the asshole.”
My editor: LOL, that would be a great Lincoln Project ad
Me: Except, I hate them.
My editor: Fair, but why do you hate them? Because they made such a fucking mess of the world and are now backing off?
Me: Yes. They’re essentially Victor Frankenstein in the crowd with a pitchfork. Every thing they did to the Republican Party led to this moment.
My editor: Yeah…totally right.
Me: And now they get to be all, “Oooh, my precious country!” Like, fuck off, you built it this way!
My editor: This could be a great post. NOT that I will ever force you to do one.
Me: I feel like [redacted] likes them.
My editor: That’s probably true, but you do have some strong facts on your side.
Me: Republicans really need to leave Abraham Lincoln alone. He’s dead, let that man rest.
My editor: When I looked at Steve Schmidt on 60 Minutes, Schmidt who was responsible for pushing Sarah Palin onto the Republican ticket in 2008, thereby legitimizing the crazies in the party, I wanted to say, “You are to blame!”
Me: Watching MSNBC with him and Nicole Wallace being all “Oooh, those Republicans are so pesky!” Gee, whose fault is that?
My editor: LOL, love “pesky.” Yes, we do know know whose fault it is. But to really find out we can look forward to the Lincoln Project’s collective mea culpa book tour.
Me: “Here’s my book on how I was cancelled, I am also a contributing talking head on CNN!” Like damn, CANCEL ME INSTEAD. 😩
My editor: Yeah, 100 percent. Everyone loves the reformed sinner, I suppose. But they seem to have amnesia.
Me: They’re not so much reformed as just pretending it never happened. I mean Rick Wilson was tweeting racist things in 2015. Now he’s a resistance hero? Forgiveness works in mysterious ways.
My editor: Well, so does repentance.
Me: Makes me wish cancel culture was real. —Nathalie Baptiste
