US President Trump on Tuesday (May 5) slammed the Lincoln Project after the anti-Trump group of Republican operatives released an ad, titled "Mourning in America," mounting a scathing attack on Trump's response to coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lincoln Project, which includes Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's husband, George Conway, has been trying to get a response from President Trump with its provocative ad strategies and the latest attack by the president shows that it finally succeeded.
The Lincoln Project members also include John Weaver, a strategist for John Kasich's 2016 run, and Rick Wilson, a Republican political strategist who a leading figure in the "Never Trump" movement during the 2016 election. The Lincoln Project's latest ad also refer to a famous 1984 re-election spot from President Ronald Reagan.
Each of the Lincoln Project members came together with the "NeverTrump" movement in the 2016 election and have been openly criticising Trump and the Republican Party ever since.
The Lincoln Project was created in 2019 and has managed to raise as much as $2.5 million through the end of March, spending about $1.2 million of that through the same period. According to FEC filings, majority of the fund has gone to a media-consulting company owned by Galen called Summit Strategic Communications, which is tasked with producing the ads of Lincoln Project. Trump also tweeted accusing the group of "pocketing" the money they've raised from donors.
CNN reported quoting data from Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group that the Lincoln Project has purchased a total of $115,000 in TV ad time. The report added that most of the TV ad time has been in the Washington, DC, market, including $46,000 for the current ad.
