林肯项目的主要成员之一，政治行动委员会包括反特朗普的前共和党政治战略家，周三在国会山针对总统的支持，称一些参议员对唐纳德·特朗普的支持是“一种深深的疾病”，同时为他的组织在初选中击败他们的工作辩护。
“你怎么不试图清洗一个什么都不说的人当美国总统说他没有强奸记者因为她不是我喜欢的类型?当美国总统拒绝——副总统也拒绝——的时候，你会怎么对待那些真正安静的人接受…的结果选举?斯图尔特·史蒂文斯说，他是米特·罗姆尼2012年总统竞选的高级战略家，也是共和党无数竞选活动的老手美国广播公司新闻“发电站政治”播客。
“这是一种严重的疾病，”他继续说道。
林肯项目的顾问史蒂文斯(Stevens)回击了美国广播公司(ABC News)首席白宫记者乔纳森·卡尔(Jonathan Karl)和政治总监里克·克莱因(Rick Klein)的批评，称该组织针对缅因州苏珊·科林斯、爱荷华州琼尼·恩斯特(Joni Ernst)和科罗拉多州科里·加德纳(Cory Gardner)等弱势参议员的行为，已使该组织超越了其“永不特朗普”的根基，危及其长期意识形态目标。林肯项目的病毒式广告吸引了特朗普的愤怒和数千万美元的支持。
“对我来说，这只是非常明确的。史蒂文斯说:“特朗普就像种族隔离。”他指出，他在民权时代的密西西比州长大。“我认识很多人，非常好的人，他们不会用一个无用的词来形容一百万年后的非洲裔美国人。他们是善良的人，但他们是种族隔离主义者。”
“我也这么看特朗普。特朗普是一个道德考验，你不能与邪恶谈判，”他补充道。“我们有一个人，出于各种原因，各种功能性目的，正试图摧毁美国民主的支柱。共和党正在与他谈判，试图从中获得什么，我认为这是可耻的。”
富田大介/美联社，档案
2018年10月22日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在得克萨斯州休斯顿为曾是猫和狗的候选人特德·克鲁兹发表竞选演讲。
史蒂文斯与前共和党特工史蒂夫·施密特(Steve Schmidt)、约翰·韦弗(John Weaver)和里克·威尔逊(Rick Wilson)等过去30年来共和党一些高层竞选活动的助手一起工作，他将林肯项目的工作描述为竞选干预行为。
“任何活动的中断都会增加功能障碍，”他说。“[特朗普竞选]从一开始就不是一场特别高效的竞选。因此，我认为我们在某种程度上扰乱指挥和控制的努力是重要的，也是成功的。”
这些努力包括谴责特朗普的流行病应对措施和分裂言论的广告，这些广告经常出现在福克斯新闻上，试图直接触及总统。一点模仿罗纳德·里根的“美国早晨”广告，仅在YouTube上就被观看了350多万次。又是上周，拙劣的模仿在艾薇塔的《不要为我哭泣，阿根廷》中，总统从沃尔特·里德国家军事医疗中心获释后，无面具出现在白宫阳台上，这一数字在短短八天内几乎达到了这个数字。
史蒂文斯说:“每次竞选都有同样多的时间。”。“当美国总统花任何时间攻击林肯计划时，这都是拜登竞选的好日子。”
史蒂文斯接着概述了该组织制作的四种不同的“类别”广告:“那些旨在进入总统脑海的广告”、“针对参议院竞选的广告”、“是一种针对竞选中更大问题的大型广告的国歌广告”以及“我们只是为了传播而做的广告，希望它们能传播开来。”
今年5月，林肯项目在第一条战线上取得了成功，特朗普注意到了里根的模仿，并在推特上发布消息，抨击该组织的几名领导人是“失败者”。
特朗普在推特上写道:“一群(名存实亡的共和党人)12年前严重失败，8年前再次失败，然后在4年前被我这个政治新手严重击败，他们复制了罗纳德·里根(Ronald Reagan)的一则广告的概念(没有想象力)，‘早安美国’，”特朗普补充道，“他们所谓的林肯项目是诚实的安倍的耻辱。”
特朗普的放大效应对林肯项目(Lincoln Project)起到了筹款的作用——该项目最近在今年第三季度获得了近4000万美元的捐款——但也使其成员受到了广泛的批评，包括来自民主党人和乔·拜登(Joe Biden)支持者的批评，他们认为该组织的领导人正在通过他们以前的竞争对手致富，这些钱应该直接流向民主党候选人。
除了总统竞选之外，史蒂文斯对整个共和党的方向持悲观态度，他对艾米·科尼·巴雷特法官周二在确认听证会上不愿意权衡顾虑如果特朗普在今年秋天落败，“和平移交权力”。他还对德克萨斯州参议员特德·克鲁兹和佛罗里达州参议员马尔科·卢比奥表示失望，因为他们没有做更多的事情来保持与特朗普的关系。
埃文·武奇/美联社，档案
2012年9月28日，费城，共和党总统候选人、前马萨诸塞州州长米特·罗姆尼的高级顾问斯图尔特·史蒂文斯(Stuart Stevens)在罗姆尼竞选飞机上与媒体交谈。
“这两个人有着美好的未来，”他说。“他们完全妥协了。他们不是认真的人。它们已经被证明比现在还小。他们只是有大工作却失败的小人物。他们面临着一个重要时刻，但他们失败了。”
至于他对特朗普连任机会的展望，史蒂文斯认为，尽管他认为该国及其经济在大流行期间表现糟糕，但使如此多共和党人远离总统的同样特征是那些使他受到其他人喜爱并使他的竞选得以进行的特征。
他说:“很多时候，我们都在关注唐纳德·特朗普的疯狂，但如果唐纳德·特朗普只是一个无聊的共和党人，他就会有大麻烦了。”
'A deep sickness': Former Republican strategist sounds off on 'Trumpism,' compares it to segregation
One of the leading members of The Lincoln Project,a political action committeecomprised of anti-Trump former Republican political strategists, took aim Wednesday at the president's support on Capitol Hill, describing some senators' enablement of Donald Trump as "a deep sickness," while defending his organization's work to defeat them in down-ballot races.
"How do you not try to purge a party of people who say nothing when the president of the United Statessays he didn't rape a journalistbecause she wasn't 'my type'? What do you do about people that really are quiet when the president of the United States is refusing -- and the vice president -- refusing toaccept the results of anelection?" said Stuart Stevens, a senior strategist for Sen. Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run and a veteran of countless GOP campaigns, onABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast.
"That's a deep sickness," he continued.
An adviser to The Lincoln Project, whose viral ads have attracted Trump's ire, as well as tens of millions of dollars in support, Stevens pushed back when ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein noted criticism in Republican circles that the group's targeting of vulnerable senators -- like Maine's Susan Collins, Iowa's Joni Ernst and Colorado's Cory Gardner -- has pushed the group beyond its "Never Trump" roots and endangered long-term ideological goals.
"To me, this is just very clear-cut. Trump is like segregation," said Stevens, noting he grew up in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era. "I knew a lot of people, very nice people, they wouldn't have said a useless word to describe an African American in a million years. They were kind people, but they were segregationists."
"I see Trump that same way. Trump is a moral test, and you can't negotiate with evil," he added. "We have a man who is, for all reasons, all functional purposes, is attempting destroy the pillars of American democracy. And the Republican Party's negotiating with him trying to see what they can get out of it, and I think that's shameful."
President Donald Trump delivers a campaign speech for candidate Ted Cruz who was cat-and-dog in Texas, Houston, Oct. 22, 2018.
Working alongside fellow former Republican operatives Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson, among others, aides for some of the top GOP campaigns of the past three decades, Stevens described The Lincoln Project's work as acts of campaign interference.
"Disruption in any campaign increases dysfunction," he said. "And [the Trump campaign] has never been a particularly highly functioning campaign to begin with. So I think our efforts to disrupt, kind of, command and control, were important and successful."
Among those efforts are advertisements condemning Trump's pandemic response and divisive rhetoric that are frequently placed on Fox News in an attempt to reach the president directly.One spot, mimicking Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" ad, has been viewed over 3.5 million times on YouTube alone. Another last week,a parodyof "Evita's" "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," featuring the president's maskless appearance on the White House balcony after his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, has nearly reached that total in just eight days.
"The one thing every campaign has the exact same amount of is time," Stevens said. "And when the president of the United States takes any time to attack The Lincoln Project, it's a good day for the Biden campaign."
Stevens went on to outline four different "categories" of advertisements the group produces: "those that are intended to get inside the president's head," "ads that are targeted at the Senate races," "anthem ads that are sort of big ads that speak to the larger issues in the campaign" and "ads that we do just to go viral, with the hope they'll go viral."
The Lincoln Project was successful on the first front in May, when Trump took notice of the Reagan imitation and let loose on Twitter, blasting several of the organization's leaders as "losers."
"A group of [Republicans in name only] who failed badly 12 years ago, then again 8 years ago, and then got BADLY beaten by me, a political first timer, 4 years ago, have copied (no imagination) the concept of an ad from Ronald Reagan, 'Morning in America,'" Trump tweeted, adding, "Their so-called Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe."
The amplification from Trump served as a fundraising boon for The Lincoln Project -- which recently brought in nearly $40 million in donations in the year's third quarter -- but also exposed its members to widespread criticism, including from Democrats and Joe Biden supporters who argue the group's leaders are enriching themselves through their former rivals and that the money should be funneled directly to Democratic candidates.
Looking beyond the presidential race, Stevens was pessimistic about the direction of the Republican Party as a whole, noting his dismay at Judge Amy Coney Barrett's unwillingness Tuesday during her confirmation hearing toweigh in on concernsabout a "peaceful transfer of power" should Trump lose this fall. He also registered his disappointment in Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., once viewed as up-and-coming party leaders, for not doing more to remain unentangled with Trump.
Stuart Stevens, senior adviser to Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, talks with press aboard the Romney campaign plane, Sept. 28, 2012, in Philadelphia.
"These are two guys that have great futures behind them," he said. "They're completely compromised. They're not serious people. They've proven to be, you know, smaller than the moment. They're just little men who have big jobs and failed. They were confronted with a big moment and they failed."
As for his outlook on Trump's reelection chances, Stevens argued that as bad as he believed the country and its economy has fared during the pandemic, the same characteristics that have turned so many Republicans away from the president are those that have endeared him to others and kept his campaign afloat.
"A lot of times we get sort of focused on the lunacy of Donald Trump, but if Donald Trump was just some boring Republican, he'd be in terrible trouble," he said.
