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Longwell, Sarah poll focus gp

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jumps ship from koch to berman!

off bio has no hist before never trump

gay?

no merri

msnbc

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5 24 POD SAVE WILDERNESS JON FAVREAU TIM AND SARAH LONGWELL SHE SEES BELEIF IN NORMS AS MARKER FOR THOSE THAT CAN BE SAVED FROM WACKOS TRUMPISTA EARTH2

5 22 chris hayes msnbc pundit 

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president and Chief Executive Officer, Longwell Partners, Inc @ Longwell Partners

 - @longwellpartners.com

 - @bermanco.com

 - @gmail.com

 - @unionfacts.com

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an ah 10 22

Although Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska isn’t a full-fledged Never Trumper like the Washington Post’s Max Boot, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, attorney George Conway or former GOP strategist Rick Wilson, the conservative senator has been highly critical of former President Donald Trump at times and voted “guilty” during Trump’s second impeachment trial — a move that has resulted in Sasse being labeled a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by Trump and other far-right MAGA Republicans. Sasse has decided he would rather be in academia than politics, applying for a position as president of the University of Florida.

Sasse is the sole finalist for the position, and his departure from the U.S. Senate is almost certain. GOP strategist and Never Trump conservative Sarah Longwell is sorry to see Sasse leaving politics, although not surprised. In an article published by The Bulwark on October 17, the founder of the Republican Accountability Project (formerly Republican Voters Against Trump) laments that in the GOP of 2022, there is little or no room for those who are not far-right MAGA extremists and total devotees of Trumpism.

“Ben Sasse is retiring from the Senate at the youthful age of 50,” Longwell writes. “We know why. Politicians who thought they could wait out Trump now see the writing on the wall. The party’s over. For years, we watched the GOP defenestrations: Will Hurd, Jeff Flake, George W. Bush, the memory of John McCain, Paul Ryan, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and any other Republican who stood up to Donald Trump — or even just opposed Trump’s attempted coup. Some fell on their swords. Some were tossed aside involuntarily. The result was the same.”

READ MORE: Why Ben Sasse garners hostility from both Trump loyalists and liberals in academia

Trump continues, “Simultaneously, we watched the progress on the other side of the spectrum as normie Republican moderates such as Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, Ronna Romney McDaniel, and J.D. Vance became unquestioning Trump maximalists. What these two dynamics proved was a simple fact: In the Republican Party as it is currently constituted, political power emanates completely and totally from Donald Trump…. The end result of this truth is that it has driven the Good Republican — that rare animal who was supposed to be the post-Trump future of the GOP — to near extinction.”

Longwell adds that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “not a Good Republican,” but rather, a “despicable human being” and “a performative culture warrior who uses the levers of government against companies who engage in speech he doesn’t like.”

The Never Trumper cites Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey as examples of Republicans who weren’t Big Lie promoters after the 2020 election but are now “stumping” for Kari Lake — an “election-denying lunatic” and far-right Big Lie promoter — in Arizona’s gubernatorial race because they want to remain “in good standing” with their party.

“To be a Republican in good standing today,” Longwell laments, “you have to make a devil’s bargain…. Did Glenn Youngkin move Republican voters? Or did Republican voters move Glenn Youngkin? Ask Kari Lake. She knows. And that’s the choice for the remaining Good Republicans. You can play ball with the base, with Trump, with (Steve) Bannon, with Lake, with your new lunatic colleagues. Or, like Ben Sasse, you can tap out. Either way, you can’t ignore the truth: The Good Republicans are gone. Probably for good.”

READ MORE:'Are they out of their minds?’: Former Reagan staffer slams WSJ for overlooking Kari Lake’s 'extremism'

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2019

aPOSTATE REPUBLICAN’ STARTS A NEW COMMUNICATIONS SHOP: Sarah Longwell, a prominent Republican critic of President Donald Trump and longtime Washington operative, has started a new communications firm, Longwell Partners. The firm “will lead campaigns and projects that require engaging stakeholders and building coalitions that transcend party or tribal lines,” she said in a statement. The firm will also handle video, advertising and strategic communications work. Carson Putnam, Barry Rubin, Chris Herbert and Ben Parker round out the staff.

— Longwell is far from the only Republican in town who’s publicly criticized Trump, but she’s been more open about it than most. She described herself as an “apostate Republican” in a piece in The Atlantic in October in which she urged Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to rally other Republican senators to remove Trump from office if the House votes to impeach him. And she serves as executive director of Defending Democracy Together, a nonprofit she started with Bill Kristol to resist Trumpism within the Republican Party.

— In an interview, Longwell said two of her firm’s first clients will be Defending Democracy Together and Republic Affairs, a nonprofit that publishes The Bulwark, a conservative publication that’s critical of Trump, and for which Longwell is the chief strategist. She expects her firm to work on immigration and civic education issues as well. “I’m going to work with clients, and I believe there are a lot of them, that believe in the same values I believe in,” she said.

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https://www.longwellpartners.com/

sarah Longwell is the President and CEO of Longwell Partners, a full-service communications firm in Washington, D.C. Sarah is a Co-Founder of the organization Defending Democracy Together and executive director of the Republican Accountability Project. Notable past projects of DDT are Republican Voters Against Trump and Republicans for the Rule of Law. She is also the Publisher of The Bulwark. A long-time Republican strategist and former national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans, Sarah launched Longwell Partners to engage in issues beyond partisan politics and focus on solving some of the country’s most intractable problems through cross-partisan coalitions. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her family and is a graduate of Kenyon College.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/author/sarah-longwell/

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Longwell is the executive director of Republicans for the Rule of Law, publisher of The Bulwark, and host of the Focus Group podcast.

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no lnx twt

Conservative maps out the psychology of how Trump’s voter fraud claims became integral to his supporters’ 'tribal' identity

Alex Henderson April 19, 2022

Countless liberals, progressives, centrists, independents and Democrats — as well as some right-wing libertarians and Never Trump conservatives — have wondered why so many Donald Trump supporters are gullible enough to buy into the Big Lie when, in fact, there is zero evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. In an article published by The Atlantic on April 18, Never Trumper and conservative strategist Sarah Longwell analyzes the psychology of MAGA voters who still buy into the Big Lie — and according to Longwell, identity politics are a big part of it.

“Some 35% of Americans — including 68% of Republicans — believe the Big Lie, pushed relentlessly by former President Donald Trump and amplified by conservative media, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen,” Longwell explains. “They think that Trump was the true victor and that he should still be in the White House today…. For many of Trump’s voters, the belief that the election was stolen is not a fully formed thought. It’s more of an attitude, or a tribal pose. They know something nefarious occurred but can’t easily explain how or why. What’s more, they’re mystified and sometimes angry that other people don’t feel the same.”

Longwell adds that she has been holding focus groups in order to “find out why Trump 2020 voters hold so strongly to the Big Lie.” And the types of comments she has heard include “I can’t really put my finger on it, but something just doesn’t feel right” and “something about it just didn’t seem right.”

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“The exact details of the story vary,” Longwell observes. “Was it Hugo Chávez who stole the election? Or the CIA? Or Italian defense contractors? Outlandish claims like these seem to have made this conspiracy theory more durable, not less. Regardless of plausibility, the more questions that are raised, the more mistrustful Trump voters are of the official results. Perhaps that’s because the Big Lie has been part of their background noise for years.”

Longwell continues, “Remember that Trump began spreading the notion that America’s elections were ‘rigged’ in 2016 — when he thought he would lose. Many Republicans firmly believed that the Democrats would steal an election if given the chance. When the 2020 election came and Trump did lose, his voters were ready to doubt the outcome.”

Longwell laments that there is no shortage of MAGA politicians and right-wing media figures who are more than happy to keep promoting the Big Lie to Trump voters.

“The problem is that the Big Lie is embedded in their daily life,” Longwell writes. “They hear from Trump-aligned politicians, their like-minded peers, and MAGA-friendly media outlets — and from these sources they hear the same false claims repeated ad infinitum.”

Longwell adds, “Now, we are at the point where to be a Republican means to believe the Big Lie.And as long as Republicans leading the party keep promoting and indulging the Big Lie, that will continue to be the case. If I’ve learned anything from my focus groups, it’s that something doesn’t have to make sense for voters to believe it’s true.”

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wiki no talk:

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This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

Sarah Longwell is a Republican political strategist and publisher of the conservative news and opinion website The Bulwark. She is the founder of Republican Voters Against Trump (now the Republican Accountability Project), which spent millions of dollars to defeat President Trump in 2020.[1][2][3] According to The New Yorker, Longwell has “dedicated her career to fighting Trump’s takeover of her party.”[4]

Early life and education

Longwell grew up in a Republican town in central Pennsylvania.[5] She is a 2002 graduate of Kenyon College, where she studied political science.[6][7]

Career

After graduation from Kenyon College in 2002, Longwell worked for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative group in Delaware.

In 2005, Longwell moved to Washington, D.C., where she found a job with Richard Berman, a Republican lobbyist and later PR expert. Over the 15 years worked at Berman and Company, she became senior vice president and communications director, leading media campaigns on a wide range of public-policy issues.[8][9] Longwell also served as managing director of the American Beverage Institute, [NOTE NOT ASSOC, THIS IS BERMAN, ~ SODA TAX] a trade association committed to the responsible serving of adult beverages.[10][11] According to Berman, “Sarah always had a knife in her teeth.”[12]

Longwell also became the first female national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans.[13][14][15][16] Longwell was instrumental in persuading the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.[5] In 2019, the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed President Trump for re-election and Longwell resigned as board chair.[5]

That same year, Longwell left Berman and Company to start her own communications firm, Longwell Partners, headquartered in Washington, D.C.[17] She also became publisher of **The Bulwark**, a conservative website that opposes President Trump’s agenda, bringing together a moderate coalition of traditional conservatives and libertarians.[18]

Longwell is a prominent voice in the Never Trump movement.[19] She was instrumental in founding Defending Democracy Together, an umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, Republicans for the Rule of Law, and other anti-Trump projects.[20][21] Longwell advocated for the impeachment and removal of President Trump in 2019, and for his impeachment and conviction in 2021.[22]

Defending Democracy Together 

In 2017, Longwell was invited to participate in a session of the "Meeting of the Concerned," a quasi-secret group of Republicans who were unhappy with the direction their party had taken, where she met Bill Kristol. After the firing of FBI Director James Comey, which triggered the Mueller investigation, Kristol and Longwell formed Republicans for the Rule of Law. In 2018, she launched a nonprofit organization in response to President Donald Trump's attacks on Robert Mueller. The group, Defending Democracy Together, was the umbrella organization for Rule of Law.[5]

During the 2020 election, Defending Democracy Together also served as the umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, which collected testimonials from former Trump supporters and other Republicans who opposed the Trump presidency.[23] The group spent more than $35 million to oppose President Trump, promoting those testimonials via social media advertising, billboard campaigns, and other tactics in key battleground states.[24][25][26] In Longwell’s words: “People want to be counted, people want to be on the record saying they, in this moment, stood up against Trump.”[27]

After Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, Republican Voters Against Trump rebranded itself as the Republican Accountability Project, targeting Republicans who spread falsehoods about the integrity of the election.[28] In January 2021, the group launched a $1 million billboard campaign, calling on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and others to resign for continuing to support Trump in the lead-up to the January 6th Capitol riots.[29] As Longwell put it, “The goal is to not allow these officials to memory-hole the fact that they pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol.”[30]

The Bulwark

In 2018, Longwell launched The Bulwark, a right-leaning news and opinion website, with the help of Kristol and conservative radio host Charlie Sykes. Initially launching as a news aggregator with anti-Trump content, the website revamped into a news and opinion destination, using digital staffers from the now-defunct The Weekly Standard.[31][32] By 2019, The Bulwark had raised about $1 million to establish a “rational, non-Trumpist forum.”[33]

As publisher of The Bulwark, Longwell often guest-writes columns for the website, analyzing political news of the day and pushing back against the pro-Trump movement. In February 2021, she lamented the role of certain Republicans in the Capitol riots, urging Americans to “never forget who the enemies of democracy were.”[34] Longwell supports “principled conservatism," claiming “hope is not lost, people are mostly good (regardless of who they vote for), and that America is going to be okay.”[35][36]

Longwell also co-hosts The Secret Podcast with Jonathan V. Last and The Next Level Podcast with Last and Tim Miller.[37][38][39]

Personal life

Longwell is lesbian; she married in 2013.[40][41][5] In 2016, Longwell and her wife had their first child.[5]

References

  1. ^ Brownstein, Ronald. "Trump and the GOP's Dark ...." The Atlantic. 27 August 2020. 27 August 2020.
  2. ^ Greenwood, Max (2021-01-12). "Former officials, anti-Trump activists pledge $50M for Republicans who support impeachment". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  3. ^ Michael Warren. "New GOP group launches $10 million campaign to get Republicans to vote for Biden over Trump". CNN. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  4. ^ Glasser, Susan B. "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  5. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell#cite_ref-:0_5-1) c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell#cite_ref-:0_5-2) d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell#cite_ref-:0_5-3) e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell#cite_ref-:0_5-4) f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell#cite_ref-:0_5-5) Glasser, Susan B. "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. ^ "Republican Values".
  7. ^ "Republican Values - Kenyon Alumni Magazine". bulletin.kenyon.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  8. ^ "Sarah Longwell". theaapc.org. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  9. ^ "Republican Values - Kenyon Alumni Magazine". bulletin.kenyon.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  10. ^ Longwell, Sarah. "Sarah Longwell: One drink and you're drunk in Utah ... and maybe in a state near you soon". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  11. ^ Romboy, Dennis (2017-07-12). "National beverage group likens Utah's .05 DUI law to 'driving while old:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Deseret News. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  12. ^ Glasser, Susan B. "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  13. ^ "For Gay Conservatives, the Trump Era is the Best and Worst of Times". New York Times. 11 January 2019.
  14. ^ Rubin, Jennifer (22 August 2019). "Not all Republicans have lost their souls". Washington Post.
  15. ^ Rubin, Jennifer (11 April 2018). "Just in time: A new Republican group seeks to protect Mueller". Washington Post.
  16. ^ "Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities". New York Times. 25 November 2012.
  17. ^ Meyer, Theodoric. ":{':(style="padding-left:0.2em"):}:Apostate Republican' starts a communications shop". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  18. ^ "The Bulwark Was Founded to Oppose Trump. Now What? | Washingtonian (DC)". Washingtonian. 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  19. ^ Rubin, Jennifer. "Opinion | Not all Republicans have lost their souls". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  20. ^ Nakamura, David. "Anti-Trump conservatives rally to back Vanita Gupta, Biden's pick for key Justice Dept. post". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  21. ^ Michael Warren. "New GOP group launches $10 million campaign to get Republicans to vote for Biden over Trump". CNN. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  22. ^ A 501tax-exempt, The Center for Responsive Politics; NW, charitable organization 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044 (2021-01-15). "Never-Trump 'dark money' group to spend millions backing Republicans who impeached Trump". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  23. ^ "Never-Trump group is 2020's top 'dark money' spender so far". OpenSecrets News. Center for Responsive Politics. 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  24. ^ "Defending Democracy Together Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  25. ^ "Republican Voters Against Trump Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  26. ^ Niedzwiadek, Nick. "Anti-Trump group pledges $50 million effort to defend Republican impeachment supporters". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  27. ^ Karni, Annie (2020-10-12). "The Crowded, Competitive World of Anti-Trump G.O.P. Groups". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  28. ^ Papenfuss, Mary (2021-02-20). "Anti-Trump Group Launches $1 Million In Ads Hailing Republicans Who Voted To Impeach". HuffPost. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  29. ^ Greenwood, Max (2021-01-29). "GOP group launches billboard campaign urging Cruz, Hawley to resign". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  30. ^ Barrón-López, Laura. "Anti-Trump group launches $1M billboard campaign calling on Cruz, Hawley, McCarthy to resign". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  31. ^ Business, By Oliver Darcy, CNN (2019-01-04). "Former Weekly Standard staffers find new home at The Bulwark, a conservative site unafraid to take on Trump". CNN. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  32. ^ Taibbi, Matt (2019-01-14). "Return of the Neocons!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  33. ^ WRAL (2019-01-04). "Former Weekly Standard staffers find new home at The Bulwark, a conservative site unafraid to take on Trump". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  34. ^ "Hold Them All Accountable". The Bulwark. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  35. ^ "Hope Dies Last". The Bulwark. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  36. ^ Coppins, McKay (2019-02-22). "Naming and Shaming the Pro-Trump Elite". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  37. ^ Bulwark, The. "Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller on if Principled Conservatism Has a Future". The Bulwark Podcast. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  38. ^ Last, Jonathan V. "There Is No Going Back". thesecretpodcast.thebulwark.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  39. ^ Last, Jonathan V. "About Gun Violence". thenextlevel.thebulwark.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  40. ^ Williams, Tucky (May 9, 2016). "An interview with lesbian feminist Republican Sarah Longwell - AfterEllen". AfterEllen. Lesbian Nation. Retrieved December 23,2019.
  41. ^ Wheaton, Sarah (November 25, 2012). "Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities". The New York Times. Retrieved December 23,2019.

External links

Categories: 

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just on pbs msnbc?! 521  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjq6qKCtB48 velshi

cspan

Longwell is a Founder for the Republican Accountability Project with six videos in the C-SPAN Video Library; the first appearance was a 2005 Vignette as a Director for Public Relations in the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.The year with the most videos was 2020 with two videos as a Founder for the Republican Voters Against Trump. The year with the highest average number of views per program was 2019 with an average of 1,919 views per program as an Executive Director for the Republicans for the Rule of Law. Most common tags: Republican Party, Election 2020.Appearances by Title:c. January 1, 2021 - Present Founder, Republican Accountability ProjectVideos: 1c. January 1, 2020 - PresentFounder, Republican Voters Against TrumpVideos: 3c. January 1, 2019 - PresentExecutive Director, Republicans for the Rule of LawVideos: 1c. January 1, 2005 - PresentDirector, Public Relations, Intercollegiate Studies InstituteVideos: 1

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https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/vendor?cycle=2020&vendor=Longwell+Partners

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2020

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Total reported payments, 2020 cycle: $1,951,198

RankCustomer/PayorTotalNumber of PaymentsFirst PaymentLast Payment
1Defending Democracy Together$1,730,7685112020-04-302020-11-01
2Reclaim Our Party$132,48522020-09-142020-09-29
3Republican Voters Against Trump$87,94562020-09-082020-12-28

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DDT

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https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs//C90019316/expenditures/2020#topvendors

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2019-20

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:{

SectorDescriptionTotal Expenditures
Campaign ExpensesCampaign mailings & materials$249,020
Campaign ExpensesCampaign events & activities$20,117
MediaWeb ads$9,502,725
MediaBroadcast ads$2,470,898
MediaMiscellaneous media$1,644,900
MediaMedia production$454,265
MediaUnspecified media buys$8,236
UnclassifiableUnclassifiable$1,118,036

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https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/never-trump-dark-money-group-to-spend-millions-backing-pro-impeachment-republicans/

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A new anti-Trump group helmed by Republicans announced Tuesday that it would raise $50 million to encourage lawmakers to break with President Donald Trump. Behind the project is Defending Democracy Together, one of the top-spending “dark money” groups in the 2020 election cycle. 

The new effort — the Republican Accountability Project — promises to use its cash to “ensure that ample resources are available for those principled Republicans who do the right thing and hold Trump accountable for inciting an attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

The campaign joins another never-Trump Republican group, super PAC The Lincoln Project, in its efforts to sway Republican who might otherwise hesitate to break from the president in order to avoid alienating Trump voters in their home states and districts. The Republican Accountability Project’s website offers scant detail about how lawmakers will be selected to benefit from the campaign, but promises to back “credible primary challengers” against “Republican members of Congress who have enabled or capitulated to Trump and Trumpism.”

The group promises Republicans who vote to impeach that it will provide them with political protection against primary challenges from Trump loyalists. The president’s campaign has raised $200 million since the election, which he could use against incumbent members of Congress who speak out against him.

Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump Wednesday, making the vote the most bipartisan impeachment in U.S. history. The resolution will now move to the Senate, where Democrats need to win over at least 17 Republicans in order to convict Trump. The impeachment trial is expected to begin next week following the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

The Lincoln Project released an ad Wednesday urging members of Congress to vote to both impeach and convict Trump of inciting insurrection. The organization also aired anad in California urging staff employed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to “quit en masse” following Trump supporters’ Jan 6. attack on the Capitol.   

The Lincoln Project receives millions of dollars from so-called dark money groups, 501(c)(4) nonprofits that are not required to disclose their funders. Defending Democracy Together is itself a 501(c)(4) organization that props up its affiliated super PACs with millions of dollars from undisclosed sources.

Both organizations are helmed by Republicans who broke from Trump at some point during his four-year term. Bill Kristol is the director of Defending Democracy Together and chairman of the board for the Republican Accountability Project. Kristol worked as an executive branch staffer during the administrations of both former Republican Presidents George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. 

Olivia Troye and Elizabeth Neumann, who both briefly worked in the Trump White House before breaking with the president in 2020, are co-directors of the project. Sarah Longwell, a Republican consultant and long-time Trump critic, is executive director of Defending Democracy Together and its newly-announced project. 

Troye was a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence and advised the administration on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic before leaving in July, accusing Trump of grievously mishandling the federal government’s response to the crisis. She appeared in several TV ads produced by Defending Democracy Together that aired before the election.

Despite the partisan affiliation of their leaders, the Lincoln Project and Defending Democracy Together are both funded largely by Democratic donors with deep pockets. In the run up to the 2020 election, The Lincoln Project took $1 million from Gordon Getty and hundreds of thousands of dollars from other billionaire Democrats including John Pritzker of Geolo Capital, Jonathan Lavine of Bain Capital and Dreamworks Founder David Geffen.  

In 2020, Republican Voters Against Trump, a super PAC organized and funded by Defending Democracy Together, received $500,000 each from Pritzker and Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City who spent $152 million supporting Democratic candidates in the 2020 election cycle.

Polls show that voters blame Trump for the Jan. 6 violence that left five dead. Some Republicans in Congress are taking the hint and denouncing Trump for his role in inciting the mob, but others have resisted linking the president to the violence.

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// date hippie chick?

https://bulletin.kenyon.edu/article/republican-values/

LinkedIn HAS NO WORK HIST (WHEN NOT SIGNED IN)

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Atlanta, GA

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President & CEO at Alia Strategic Group, LLC

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Mark Meckler

President / CEO at Convention of States

Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area

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Sarah Longwell is President and CEO of Longwell Partners, a full-service communications firm in Washington, D.C. She is the former national chairman of Log Cabin Republicans and founding director of Defending Democracy Together and the Defending Democracy Together Institute.

Revenge of the Never Trumpers (TIME, July 2020)

The once-mocked ‘Never Trump’ movement becomes a sudden campaign force (Washington Post, July 2020)

The Trials of a Never Trump Republican (New Yorker, March 2020)

‘Never Trump’ Republicans Will Support Biden, Not Sanders (New York Times, March 2020)

Meet the Other Resistance (New York Times, April 2019)

This American Life: The Wannabes (This American Life, July 2019)

Newsmakers with Sarah Longwell (C-SPAN, October 2019)

Mitt Romney, It’s Time (The Atlantic, October 2019)

She is a graduate of Kenyon College https://bulletin.kenyon.edu/article/republican-values/ and lives in Washington, D.C., with her family.

curbeo, altmire panera guy

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/conservative-journalist-warns-trump-supporters-desire-for-actual-bloodshed-may-be-spreading

no twt lnx pix

Alex Henderson August 31, 2020

Conservative journalist Charlie Sykes, one of President Donald Trump’s persistent critics on the right, has been expressing fears that violence and civil unrest will escalate during this year’s presidential election — and recent violence at demonstrations in Portland, Oregon and Kenosha, Wisconsin have not calmed those fears. Sykes, in an article published on the conservative website The Bulwark on Monday, writes that he hasn’t grown any less apprehensive and argues that Trump is only adding fuel to the flames.

“It’s 2020, and nothing seems likely to get mellow anytime soon,” Sykes warns. “Welcome to the Daily Countdown. We have 63 days to go until the election — and then, 78 days after that until Inauguration Day.”

Sykes notes that some of Biden’s conservative supporters, including Washington Post columnist George Will and CNN pundit/Bulwark contributor Amanda Carpenter, have urged him to condemn violence at protests as forcefully as possible — and Sykes doesn’t disagree with them. But Sykes also writes that another journalist, Matthew Dowd, had a valid point when, last week, he tweeted, “Why does the media pressure Biden to speak out against violent protests but doesn’t pressure Trump to speak out against police misconduct?”

Dowd, Sykes writes, “could have gone further. Why is there no pressure on Trump to condemn vigilantism? As he cheers on the caravans that descended on Portland over the weekend and his supporters rally behind the 17-year-old boy who killed two people in Kenosha, where is the concern on the right that ‘this is how Trump loses?’”

Sykes adds that another Biden-supporting conservative, Sarah Longwell, recently wrote, “People still expect Biden to do the right thing, which he has. No one expects that of Trump, but we should.”

Agreeing with Longwell, Sykes writes, “Where are the Republican voices urging Trump to categorically and unambiguously denounce all of the violence? Where is the media speculation that Trump’s visit to Kenosha could be his Nixon Goes to China Moment, where he condemns all the violence, declares that Black Lives Matter, then calls on the caravans, militias, and gun-toting vigilantes to stand down?”

Trump, according to Sykes, “continues to play the arsonist” during a period of tension and unrest and does so with the help of other Republicans — for example, Rep. Ken Buck, who chairs the Colorado Republican Party and was recently seen at a fundraiser wearing a t-shirt that said, “Kill ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out.”

“The right increasingly seems to relish the prospect of violence,” Sykes laments. “Hugh Hewitt’s colleague Kurt Schlichter has long trafficked in violent fantasies of a racial civil war, but the ardor for actual bloodshed seems to be spreading.”

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an 220

no lnx

‘Never Trump’ Republican known for anti-semitic attacks on George Soros now working to defeat Bernie Sanders

Written by Eoin Higgins / Common Dreams February 13, 2020

A longtime Republican operative known for spreading anti-Semitic tropes about billionaire George Soros in 2018 is behind a dark money effort in Nevada to get right-wing voters to mobilize against Sen. Bernie Sanders in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary caucuses on February 22.

Tim Miller, also known for his work on the failed Jeb Bush presidential campaign in 2016, is one of the directors of the new company Center Action Now, which is targeting Sanders in Nevada.

40 years of dancing with the devil and all of a sudden centrist GOP voters want to switch sides so they can poison the Democratic Party too?

Thanks, no thanks.https://t.co/owBQExcGcw

— Nimrod Workman (@OctaveFilms) February 13, 2020

As the Nevada Independent‘s Megan Messerly reported Wednesday, a Center Action Now memo details plans to mobilize right-wing voters in the state dissatisfied with President Donald Trump to weigh in on the primary to ensure the Democratic Party doesn’t stray from the center-right lane.

“The voters we’re talking to, they’re not happy with the state of the Republican Party,” said Miller. “They’re not happy with the president. So we’re educating them to get involved in the Democratic process so they can back a candidate they can be happy about and that they can support.”

Thus far, Center Action Now has only run ads against Sanders and Trump and it’s unclear whether the Nevada voter mobilization effort as laid out in the memo will come to fruition. But the group has plans to mobilize against Democratic presidential primary candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders in the state’s 2020 caucuses, Miller said.

According to the Nevada Independent:

In addition to Miller, Sarah Longwell, a political strategist and another Never Trump Republican, and John Stubbs, a former official in the George W. Bush administration who founded a Republicans for Hillary Clinton group in 2016, serve on the nonprofit-s board of directors.

Miller declined to provide any details about who is funding the group, its budget, or the size of its staff. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, the organization is not required to disclose its donors. According to Facebook, the group spent $13,280 on ads the day before and the day of the New Hampshire primary. The Nevada campaign, Miller said, will begin “imminently.”

The group’s attack ads against Sanders in New Hampshire used Soviet imagery and scare tactics around socialism to discourage voters from voting for the Vermont senator.

A brand-new #DarkMoney group founded by anti-Trump Republicans called “Center Action Now” is targeting New Hampshire residents with anti- Bernie Sanders messaging. https://t.co/HtrXDsPAHG #NHprimary2020

— OpenSecrets.org (@OpenSecretsDC) February 11, 2020

In comment to Quartz, Miller said that Center Action Now’s efforts to get out the right-wing vote were aimed at providing voters with choice, not to game the system.

“This is not akin to [conservative talk show host] Hugh Hewitt going on TV saying Trump supporters should vote for the weakest Democrats to help him—that’s meddling,” said Miller. “The people who we are trying to talk to are voters who don’t like the president, who want him to be defeated, people who are concerned that both parties have succumbed to the extremes.”

Miller’s work for Definers Public Affairs came under fire in November 2018 after the New York Times revealed it was using anti-Semitic tropes about Soros to discredit left-wing activists on Facebook. The fallout from that scandal resulted in Miller being fired from his job as guest Republican on the Pod Save America podcast and Definers losing its contract with Facebook.

In an example of the revolving door in the political consulting world, Definers former chief executive Matt Rhoades, who also worked on Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign, has since founded with former Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook the nonprofit Defending Digital Democracy Project at Harvard University.

Both Rhoades and Mook worked with the Iowa Democratic Party on election security in the fall of 2019, months before a malfunctioning phone app threw the Hawkeye State’s caucuses into chaos.

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not sure now on leadership inst (vs leadership comm on some org eg log cabin?

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http://bermanexposed.org/associate/sarah-longwell/

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Short Bio: Sarah Longwell is a vice president of Berman and Company and formerly worked in communications for the firm. In the past, she has been listed as the principal media contact for the Center for Consumer Freedom, the Center for Union Facts, and the Indoor Tanning Association.

Her primary public role for Berman and Co. is as the managing director of the American Beverage Institute. Longwell has written many editorial pieces on behalf of these industry-funded front groups. When she was named one of Campaigns & Elections magazine’s 2010 International and Nonpartisan Rising Stars, Longwell proudly described how the company is known to “always have a knife in our teeth.” Longwell considers Rick Berman to be both her “boss and mentor.” She previously served as the director of public affairs at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a non-profit organization that works to spread the conservative message on college campuses.

Longwell is currently on the board of the Log Cabin Republicans and the leadership committee for Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry. Longwell graduated from Kenyon College, where she studied political science and worked on a conservative newspaper supported by the Collegiate Network.

Berman and CompanyVice President
Employment Policies InstituteSpokeswoman
American Beverage InstituteManaging Director
Center for Union FactsDirector of Communications
Center for Consumer FreedomCommunications Director
Enterprise Freedom Action CommitteeMedia Contact
Indoor Tanning AssociationMedia Contact
First Jobs InstituteMedia Director and Communications Director
Rethink ReformSpokeswoman
Committee to Rethink ReformSpokeswoman
Defeat the DebtMedia Contact

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LI scrape

James Bowers

SVP | Creative Director

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Lee Schalk

Berman and Company

Michael Saltsman

Veronica Brown

Development and Public Affairs Associate at Berman and Company

Jeanine Staab

Senior Graphic Designer

Jack Hubbard

Chief Marketing Officer at American Humane and Co-Founder of the HomeMade Gin Kit

Jordan Bruneau

Berman and Company

Rick Berman

Owner, Berman and Company and Government Relations Consultant

Nicole Carelli

Vice President and Public Policy Advisor at The Daschle Group; Of Counsel at Baker Donelson

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Creation of "Rethink Reform"

In 2009, EPI created a group called Committee to Rethink Reform and started running television, print, and radio advertisements to mobilize opposition to the Democrats' health care reform legislation. The group is a 501 (c)4 organization and subsequently not required to disclose its donors--one of the hallmarks of a Rick Berman-operated group. The group has its own Web site and Facebook page. Here, among other things, are some of their claims, which have been repeated in anti-reform politicians' talking points:

"When it comes to reforming the health care system, Congress is trying to do too much, too fast. Not everyone agrees that we need reform of America’s health care system. Unfortunately, Congressional leaders are cutting backroom deals with special interest groups and writing bills that will lead to higher taxes, higher insurance premiums and fewer health care choices. The solution is not more government intrusion into the health care system, but less. It’s time for Congress to rethink health care reform, focusing on: Increasing health care choices;Reining in health care costs; and Controlling the growth of government to avoid escalating the national debt."

Committee to Rethink Reform ad

In 2010, they launched another print and TV advertising campaign against health care reform. The group faced controversy in March 2010 when it ran an advertisement in The Cincinnati Enquirer featuring a large picture of Representative Steven Driehaus (D-OH) and his two daughters. According to his spokesman, Driehaus was upset by the ad: "Rep. Driehaus thought the ad was outrageous, said the spokesman, Tim Mulvey. "He can take more than his fair share of political attacks, but this one crossed the line" [1]. Committee spokeswomanSarah Longwellsaid showing the children was a mistake and that the group was taking out another ad to apologize: "...Politicians' children should bot be involved in public political debates and we deeply regret this mistake." Longwell said the committee already apologized directly to Driehaus. The Committee to Rethink Reform reported its apology on its Web site, while stating it would continue to urge Driehaus to oppose the bill [2].

The Center for Media and Democracy, which publishes SourceWatch.org, is looking into the nature of the claims they are making and their funding.

They have also spent substantial funds on ads in other right-wing campaigns, as described below.

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Sarah Longwell works in public relations for lobbyist Rick Berman, his Employment Policies Institute and the Center for Union Facts, both front groups for individuals and industries opposed to union activities. With Berman's company she has also worked as a spokesperson for the American Beverage Institute announcing the launch of its NegligentDriving.com website. [1]

She has previously worked in public relations with the**Intercollegiate Studies Institute**and its**Collegiate Network**.

An article in the Washington Times in 2004 quotes Sarah Longwell speaking on behalf of the Collegiate Network: "The rise of a conservative media counterestablishment and today's dominance of conservatism in the broader American society is no accident. It came about because of the vision and dedication of those who labored over the past quarter century to win the hearts and minds of an entire generation." [2]

Contact

Center for Union Facts

PO Box 27455

Washington, DC 20038

phone: 202-463-7106

Sarah Longwell

Website: http://www.unionfacts.com/

References

  1. ↑ American Beverage Institute, "The New Killer on the Road: Distracted Drivers", PR Newswire, March 6, 2007.
  2. ↑ Jennifer Harper, "Conservative network celebrates 25 years", Washington Times, November 28, 2004.

External links

Category: Public relations professionals