{"id":118830,"date":"2021-02-05T13:15:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T18:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118830"},"modified":"2021-02-05T13:27:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T18:27:32","slug":"flashback-lincoln-project-cofounder-steve-schmidt-was-too-untrustworthy-for-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-lincoln-project-cofounder-steve-schmidt-was-too-untrustworthy-for-donald-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"FLASHBACK: Lincoln Project Cofounder Steve Schmidt Was Too \u2018Untrustworthy\u2019 for Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflashback-lincoln-project-cofounder-steve-schmidt-was-too-untrustworthy-for-donald-trump%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118830&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/steve-schmidt-trump-e1612545114600.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>It has been almost five years since Steve Schmidt, cofounder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, tried to persuade then-candidate Donald Trump to hire him as campaign manager but was rejected after Trump assessed him to be a &#8220;total idiot&#8221; who was &#8220;very untrustworthy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>From a July 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/07\/27\/lincoln-project-co-founder-met-with-trump-for-campaign-role\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> in the <em>New York Post<\/em>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Politics<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/steve-schmidt-donald-trump\/\"><strong>FLASHBACK: Lincoln Project Cofounder Steve Schmidt Was Too \u2018Untrustworthy&#8217; for Donald Trump<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/hunter-biden-book-cash\/\"><strong>Hunter Biden Cashes In with Book Deal as Career Prospects Dwindle, Child Support Payments Mount<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/buttigieg-opioid-scandal\/\"><strong>Buttigieg&#8217;s Former Firm Shells Out $573 Million to Evade Lawsuits Over Role in Opioid Crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Steve Schmidt, one of the co-founders of&nbsp;anti-Trump political action group the Lincoln Project, met with then-candidate Donald Trump and tried to join his campaign during a 2016 Manhattan meeting, sources with knowledge of the conversation told <em>The Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But the Republican operative\u2014best known for his work on John McCain\u2019s failed presidential bid before becoming one of the faces of the &#8220;Never Trump&#8221; movement\u2014failed to get the gig because Trump thought he was a &#8220;total idiot,&#8221; one of the sources said.<\/p>\n<p>Ten days after Schmidt\u2019s March 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, the campaign hired Paul Manafort as chairman and eventually promoted him to campaign manager.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump was especially &#8220;turned off&#8221; by Schmidt&#8217;s decision to snitch on his former boss by becoming a primary source for &#8220;Game Change,&#8221; the book-turned-movie about the 2008 election authored by John Heilemann and disgraced pervert <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/issues\/nbc-news-msnbc-terminate-contract-halperin-allegations-sexual-misconduct\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Halperin<\/a>. This suggested Schmidt would make a &#8220;very untrustworthy&#8221; employee.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt, who was portrayed in the HBO drama by the far more attractive and athletic Woody Harrelson, later alleged&nbsp;that his meeting with Trump was a casual encounter to &#8220;see what he was about,&#8221; akin to going to take a ride on a UFO.<\/p>\n<p>Before founding the Lincoln Project, Schmidt was&nbsp;best known for urging McCain to choose Sarah Palin as a running mate in 2008. Former president Barack Obama has <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/satire\/steve-schmidt-ruined-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">implied<\/a> that Schmidt is almost single-handedly to blame for ruining politics in America. Schmidt has said his critics will &#8220;have to&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">wait \u2026&nbsp;<\/span>for the&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">apology<\/span>&nbsp;that&#8217;s never coming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Lincoln Project is best known for its association with John Weaver, the former McCain strategist who left the group in disgrace after <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/john-weaver-sex-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">admitting<\/a> to &#8220;inappropriate&#8221; sexual interactions with dozens of young men.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/31\/us\/politics\/john-weaver-lincoln-project-harassment.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the <em>New York Times<\/em> earlier this week there was &#8220;no awareness or insinuations of any type of inappropriate behavior&#8221; within the Lincoln Project, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanGirdusky\/status\/1355898635544911873\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> from multiple individuals who say they were rebuffed after reaching out to express concern about Weaver.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been almost five years since Steve Schmidt, cofounder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, tried to persuade then-candidate Donald Trump to hire him as campaign manager but was rejected &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892718,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4388,5469,4145,4146,5472,5022],"class_list":["post-118830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cofounder","tag-flashback","tag-lincoln","tag-project","tag-schmidt","tag-steve"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}