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Hey everyone, it's Reed. Before we get started, you know, I get the chance to interview some incredible people.
And now I have an opportunity to expand on some of those ideas and some of those conversations on my Substack. It's called The Homefront. I hope you'll check it out. I write two, three times a week. I offer other insights, philosophical, political, tactical, what's going on. Again, that's The Homefront over at Substack. I hope you'll check it out and I hope you'll sign up. And now, on with the show.
Welcome back to The Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Reed Galen. Today, I'm coming to you all solo. And guys, I just want to level set for a few minutes. And so I have a few thoughts on a different couple of topics that I want to share with you. First, you know, I have been loathe to talk about Trump and his trial.
Not because I don't think he's a scumbag. I think he is. The facts of the case really aren't in dispute. He did these things. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, who's been on the show before I've been on his show, went to prison for these things.
You know, he's stuck in a courtroom. He's unhappy about it. He doesn't look good. You know, he's not on the trail. He's not raising money. You know, you could make an argument one way or the other that some of these things matter as far as his campaigners concerned and what his campaign does. But the truth is, guys, is I do something I like to call the Kansas City star test.
I go, you know, maybe once a week, twice a week to the Kansas City Star, the Arizona Republic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Detroit Free Press. You know what, guys? In a lot of places where actual voters live, Donald Trump's trial in lower Manhattan isn't even on the front page. I mean, if it's not on the front page of the newspaper, it's probably not making the local news either.
And, OK, yes, so Fox News has three million viewers a night. That's a lot. But compare it to like a rerun of NCIS on CBS broadcast. Right. It's minuscule. And so I think it's important to remind ourselves where voters are, where most Americans are. And it's not glued to CNN or MSNBC or even Fox News.
Maybe they get their news from social media, but the social media is probably not Twitter. It's probably not something like threads. It's probably Facebook or, you know, whatever other website they use. Every American nowadays probably has their own collated, condensed news feed that they have individually curated. So it's important to understand where most people are. It's springtime. It's April, right?
Spring breaks over. Most of us with kids in school are on the sprint to the end of the year. You know, Memorial Day is a month away. It'll kick off the summer. Right. So most Americans are doing what Americans do right now, which is living their lives, going to work, getting their kids to school, trying to make sure that they can, you know, pay the rent or put some money away or deal with a medical bill, whatever, whatever all of us have to do on a daily basis. That's what the vast majority of people who are going to vote this fall are taking into account.
And so the reason why I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the Trump trial is because I don't think most voters who haven't already developed an opinion on it one way or the other. And it's either that they love Trump or they hate Trump or paying attention to it at all. And so, you know, I don't want to spend time on something that's not going to have a material effect. Theoretically, anyway, I could be wrong on what's going to happen in November.
you know, similar vein, but slightly different for the Supreme Court hearing that happened last week on whether or not Trump has immunity. Now, I don't know
I think for me, it's important to understand that here we are with nine Supreme Court justices unelected and serving for life having a discussion. And you can take from their questions and their comments about how they feel about things, about whether or not a president of the United States has immunity for anything and everything he does or she would do in office because Donald Trump
tried to overthrow the government of the United States so that he did not have to leave office in early 2021, right? That's, to me, an incredibly...
sad thing on some level, an angering thing, a frustrating thing. And the idea that the justices, especially the conservative justices, don't even appear to want to discuss why they're having to make this decision, right? Or the context of which they're going to make this decision, the context in which they're going to make this decision is frustrating. But again, guys, none of this should be a surprise to us.
Donald Trump is who he is. He has been this person his entire life. He's been a public asshole for 50 years. Now, with all of that being said, why do I say all that? Because, guys, none of it changes the fact that we're going to have to beat him in November. None of it changes the fact that all day, every day, every voter that we believe we can do one of two things.
to keep them from voting for Trump if they're a soft Republican voter or conservative-leaning independent, or get a voter to vote for Joe Biden, whether or not that's the same soft Republican or conservative-leaning independent, or nominal Democrat, normal Democrat, disaffected Democrat. That's what matters here, gang. This is going to come down again to tens of thousands of votes across four to six states. That's all that matters electorally.
And the reason I say that is because I think it's important for us to understand that by getting sucked into things that have a potentially marginal effect on November, but not a direct effect on anyone's life living in Grand Rapids, Michigan at this moment is asking to be exhausted or exhausting your mental energy in the wrong places. I get it. It frustrates me. It angers me.
I find myself, you know, even after all these years, still sort of flabbergasted by the idea that we could still be in the place we're in with the person we're in it with. And his name is Donald Trump and all of the things that flow downstream from him. But here's where we are. So I think it's important not to take.
Are I off the ball? But I think there's another part too, which was I was on the road this week meeting with some folks and, you know, it's very easy to get discouraged. It's very easy to say, oh, you know, I see what's going on in college campuses. I see what's going on in Gaza. You know, I don't understand any of it. I don't know where I'm supposed to be. That like, it's a confusing situation, right? It's okay to be confused.
It's also okay to say, I wish this were different. I wish the circumstances were different. What am I going to do about it now? Well, I'll tell you this. Donald Trump gets back in office, nothing good happens. Everything you care about, everything you care about goes away. All the issues you care about. I've said this before, but it bears repeating because I think people forget we take our eye off the ball. And that's frankly, guys, what they want. They want us exhausted.
And this is an organized effort, guys. Trump and MAGA, they throw so much stuff at the wall. They don't need all of it to stick. They just need to exhaust, confuse, disrupt, distract. This is the authoritarian playbook, guys. And the best way to not get caught up in it is to say, what are the things I'm going to focus on in this fight that I can do in this fight and do those things? We all only have so much time in the day.
We all only have so much mental energy. And so you have to ask yourself, like, is this what I'm going to spend my mental energy on? Look, I'm guilty of it too, guys. I'm not just saying, wagging my finger in your face and saying, why are you guys doing this, right? Social media is addictive. Whether, you know, one of the four freaking apps I have on my phone, right? I have to put my phone down. I have to turn it off and say, that's not what I need to be doing right now. You know, commenting on everything on Twitter is...
Brain candy. But it's unnecessary, right? Do I have pithy sayings? Do I like to see all the little hearts pop up? Sure. But at the end of the day, that's not my highest and best use. And my guess is it's not your highest and best use either. So let's figure out the things we got to do in the places we are and how we can make those things happen.
Support for the Lincoln Project podcast comes from Odoo. If you feel like you're wasting time and money with your current business software, or just want to know what you could be missing, then you need to join the millions of other users who've switched to Odoo.
Odoo is the affordable, all-in-one management software with a library of fully integrated business applications that help you get more done in less time for a fraction of the price. To learn more, visit odoo.com slash Lincoln. That's O-D-O-O dot com slash Lincoln. Odoo. Modern management made simple. The last piece is, and this is really for my Democratic friends.
As I have said before, and I have written before over at the home front, elections are binary choices. They are binary choices. They are black and white. You win or you lose. As Mitch McConnell famously said, winners make policy and losers go home. This November, winners save democracy and losers figure out where they're going to live, what they're going to do, how the world's going to look. Is that where you want to be?
So we need to get over the idea that you're uncertain about things. Maybe you're not the happiest about the idea that Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee. Get over it. This is the way the world will be for the next six months. And so now you have to decide.
Are you going to devote mental energy to being upset about the fact that you don't have the perfect candidate or the perfect environment in which to run, which, by the way, as someone who's been doing this all their lives, does not exist? Or are you going to say, we got to win? We got to win.
And yeah, we could be upset about A, B, C, D, E, F, G, because I love you, my friends, my democratic friends, but you worry about everything. All right? Get over the worry and bear down. Figure it out. What are the things we got to do to win? What do you care about? Personalize it, right? This is all going to come down to where I'm going to meet you where you are. Personalize it. What are the things you're worried about for yourself, for your family, for your business? What are the values that you hold true?
right, that disappear with Donald Trump's resurgence and return? What are the things that are possible?
You know, I've had some great conversations. And one thing I keep hearing from non-establishment big D Democrats is like, I need to know where Joe Biden wants to go. Where does he want to take us? And so, yes, I think it's important for the president and the administration and his campaign to highlight all of the things that he has done. And he has done some incredible work legislatively. He has been decent and normal. And we shouldn't overlook that.
But some voters are going to say, what is it that's going to happen in the next four years? Right. Show me the path. Lead me someplace. Right. If it's just a referendum on Donald Trump, maybe we win. I even say we probably win. But if we can highlight through groups like ours.
The shortcomings of Donald Trump, where people just don't want to be part of him, while the Democrats do a good job of highlighting who and what Joe Biden is and the values he represents. My guess is, is that we have a real chance to make this a blowout. Donald Trump's coalition is small and shrinking. He's caught between a rock and a hard place on core issues.
His party, his allies, his donors, his supporters, like the evangelical movement, are 100% out of step with average Americans on core issues of the day. This is not complicated. We just need to tell them over and over and over again.
So if there's anybody from a democratic organization listening, if you are sitting on tens of millions of dollars, start spending them. If you are sitting on tens of thousands of volunteers, write the script and get them to the doors, get them on the phones, get them texting, get them talking to their friends. If it's an environmental group, here are the bad things that are going to happen when Donald Trump's back in office. You care about the environment. You care about global warming and climate change.
Might as well give up the ghost because you know what? They're going to gut the EPA, right? What is Project 2025, which I call Trump 2.0? What's that going to be? How's that going to affect everybody? It's going to affect every American.
Right. And we need to meet every American where we can. And so, as I said on another podcast with my friend Ken Harbaugh on his podcast, this is going to be the most high tech and the most low tech campaign any of us have ever seen. It's going to be easier and more possible for me to highlight and target each and every one of you listening to this individually. I know your name. I could find your cell phone number. I could find your address. I can shoot an ad to your phone.
That's great. I can even probably tell how long you watch the ad, but it's going to be an army of
battalions and regiments of volunteers out at the doors making sure that once you've seen that ad three, four, five times, that you have that human interaction. Still, the best way to have a discussion with anyone is not over Zoom, but at their door, face-to-face. Most people are working from home. You're going to find them there, right? It's going to be like an Army Special Forces group on horseback with high-tech satellite targeting gear, right?
We need the guys in the skies with the missiles, but we need the guys on the ground on the horses, right? And we all represent different pieces of that dynamic. And so, guys, I am optimistic about November. What I'm a little bit worried about is the dedication that I'm seeing. What I'm a little bit worried about is the hemming and hawing that I'm hearing. What I'm a little bit scared of is the idea that
that Donald Trump can't win this, but if we don't get our act together, we can certainly lose it. Nothing is guaranteed here. Nothing. And so what I would leave you with this on this Monday is the idea that when we do this together, it's very difficult for us to lose. But if we individually cry in our beer and say, I don't know, I'm not sure how I feel, I'm scared, well, then they've already won. They've already won. And that's what they want. We can't have it.
We cannot and must not have it. Not for us, not for our kids, not for our families, our communities, for our country, and frankly, the world. Yeah, this all ladders up to the frickin' globe. And I'm sorry for the lecture on a Monday, but here we are, guys. The time for spring training and the silly season is rapidly coming to an end, right? We are now less than two months away from Donald Trump's coronation in Milwaukee at his convention. If you think you've seen crazy before, you haven't yet seen it.
This is only going to get more insane. It's only going to get more turbulent. And we have to say where are we going and we have to stay on that path and we will be buffeted. But we must come back to center line every time, back to center line every time. And I know we can do it. And I know the people that are listening to my voice are those that are among the most dedicated Americans in this country. And for that, I can only say thank you.
I hope that you will follow me on social media at Substack, at the Homefront, on Twitter and TikTok, as long as either of those things are either in existence or legal, at Reed Galen, on threads at Instagram at Reed underscore Galen USA. Thanks for all you're doing and all you're going to do. And we'll see you next time. Thanks again to everyone for listening.
Be sure to follow and subscribe to The Lincoln Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or however you listen. Don't forget to leave a five-star review. To connect with us, follow us on Twitter, at Project Lincoln. And for more information on our movement, to join our mailing list, subscribe to our newsletter, or make a contribution to our efforts, visit lincolnproject.us.
If you want to message the podcast directly, please send an email to podcast at LincolnProject.us. And if you want to personally join the fight to save our nation's democracy, visit JoinTheUnion.us. For The Lincoln Project, I'm Reid Galen. I'll see you on the next episode.
Support for the Lincoln Project podcast comes from Odoo. If you feel like you're wasting time and money with your current business software, or just want to know what you could be missing, then you need to join the millions of other users who've switched to Odoo.
Odoo is the affordable, all-in-one management software with a library of fully integrated business applications that help you get more done in less time for a fraction of the price. To learn more, visit odoo.com slash Lincoln. That's O-D-O-O dot com slash Lincoln. Odoo. Modern management made simple.
