Talk:The Lincoln Project

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 22:40, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

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• Article history

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• ... that The Lincoln Project was formed by four RINOs? Source: "castigated the authors as "nominal Republicans" and RINOs." https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/dec/26/editorial-the-never-trumpers-dangerous-lincoln-pro/
• ALT1: ... that four prominent Republicans have endorsed a Democrat for president? Source: "the committee announced their endorsement of Joe Biden" https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/08/us/politics/ap-us-election-2020.html/ https://apnews.com/ff4d5bcb568f02e76af1a8945167c8b5

• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/1876 Prohibition National Convention

Created by RoySmith (talk). Self-nominated at 06:08, 16 April 2020 (UTC).

• Comment RINO is a derogatory term. Unless the committee describes itself as such, it would be best to use a more neutral descriptor such as "NeverTrump Republicans". Also, you hook is not interesting, it is not surprising that people from a political faction would get together. buidhe 21:58, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Added ALT1. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:44, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Article was brand new when nominated and has enough readable prose size. Article is neutral and has inline citations. Source for the hook is now a broken link, but the text is available directly from Associated Press so I've put that citation in the article. Article is surprisingly stable given the subject matter! QPQ done. Only issue is copyright: copyvio tool flagged up the "On May 4, 2020, the group released an ad..." paragraph as from a Dailyhawker.com article, but that article is dated 6 May 2020; the date the paragraph was added to the WP article. ALT1 hook is a great improvement. I think we need a rephrasing of that one paragraph before this can pass. MartinPoulter (talk) 15:25, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

I've updated the hook reference to point to the archive AP copy of the article; thanks for finding this. I'll look at the other stuff in a moment. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:31, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

I've reworded the offending paragraph, and provided two citations for the direct quote. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:54, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for making these improvements so quickly. All criteria met, I think ALT1 is good to go. MartinPoulter (talk) 19:03, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

• Hi, I came by to promote this, but am unable to verify the hook fact as written. Footnote 5, which supports the sentence All four, although conservative Republicans, are outspoken critics of Trump., says that they are no longer members of the Republican Party. Yoninah (talk) 21:51, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

• Yoninah, The NY Times op-ed by the four founders is titled, "We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated", so clearly they consider themselves Republicans. And, the NBC news piece (reference 5) doesn't actually say they're no longer members of the party. It says, "seven-person advisory council ... Most, but not all, have already left the Republican Party". So, we don't even know from that which of them have left the party, or exactly how many. I'm not even sure what it means to "have left the party". Did they officially cancel their subscription to the magazine? Did they file a notice with their local election board that they're changing their party affiliation? I appreciate the need to be accurate, but I think this is a little excessive -- RoySmith (talk) 22:26, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

• OK, so we'll go with footnotes 1 and 2 in the lead to support the ALT1 hook fact. Restoring tick per MartinPoulter's review. Yoninah (talk) 22:38, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

Conservatism topic

I am not convinced this article should belong to the conservatism topic, especially in its modern form. In 2024, its funds were spent either 1) in favor of Democrats or 2) against Republicans. It does not support anti-Trump Republican candidates, moderate Republicans, or advance any sense of conservatism. In 2022, its co-founder said the Project's purpose is to "defeat the Republican Party and its candidates . . ." The group has been called out for its lack of any semblance of coherent conservatism by other never-Trump Republicans.

The only thing supporting the idea the Project is conservative is the Project's own claims. Looking at their results and outside facts, that narrative crumbles. Bravelake (talk) 23:31, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

Lincoln Project is conservative. You can tell a moderate conservative these days by the [D] after their name.

The Overton window has moved so far to the right that it's no longer on the Overton House, or even the Overton Ranch, but on the Overton beer hall next door. Guy (help! - typo?) 13:56, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

This is just nonsense.

There is nothing conservative about the Lincoln project, as demonstrated by the factual considerations and commentary I supplied.

What makes the Lincoln project conservative, in your eyes? Bravelake (talk) 22:22, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

We need sources, not opinions of editors. Doug Weller talk 09:57, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

The burden should be on those in favor of continuing to describe this group as “conservative”. What merits the inclusion? What efforts, reported in reliable sources, establish them as conservatives? Which conservative policies are they supporting? Which conservative candidates do they support? What philosophy of conservatism do they promote? Is being a group of "former Republican operatives" sufficient evidence of the group's modern alleged conservatism?

Beyond the ones I've provided, here's some reading for you.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/04/20/tell_the_truth_the_lincoln_project_is_a_problem_894977.html

This piece discusses the many co-founders and leaders of the group that are either registered democrats or independents. One co-founder said, "[the Lincoln Project is] as much as never-Republican as we are anything else." Notably, the most vocal leader of the group in 2020, Steve Schmidt, announced he left the Republican Party in 2018, as reported in the Washington Post. Another founder, John Weaver, has been working with Democrats since the mid 2000s, as reported by the National Review in 2015. This piece from the American Spector documents this and the Project's lack of conservatism in more detail. Bravelake (talk) 12:25, 28 February 2026 (UTC)