Friend,  

We all heard last night’s news. Trump got indicted. And if you are following along, there will likely be many more indictments to come.

The questions I keep getting and have been discussing with Rick, Reed, Stuart and the rest of the team boil down to:

1. What’s the playbook for beating Trump in 2024? What do Democrats have to do (besides fighting about what they have to do?)
2. Why does it feel like the media is fighting the last war when it comes to Trump coverage?

Here is what you need to remember about both of these questions. For one, Trump is a master manipulator. Yes, we can all agree he is totally unhinged. A threat to democracy. But he knows how to work the media. Look at the coverage for the past two weeks. He’s been begging to be arrested and has completely dominated every bit of the news cycle. Ron DeSantis can’t get a word in, and he’s cratering to the point I’m not even sure he runs for President anymore. That’s how devastating this has been.

I am calling it the Trump Trap. Trump says something incendiary. The media tries to both-sides it. He dominates another cycle. Rinse and repeat.

We’ve been shouting this from every rooftop we can for the better part of four years. That’s the fight we’re in for 2024. It’s why I’m emailing you a few hours before our end-of -quarter fundraising deadline. If you haven’t made a contribution to The Lincoln Project yet, there has never been a better time. We are gearing up for a bruising battle again next year.

The thing about this trap is – it’s actually easy not to fall into it! We have a clear playbook to beat Trump. We did it so well in 2020. We force him to make bad mistakes. We shine a spotlight on his reaction. Voters see just how far gone he is. Then we beat him by 7 million votes.

If anything, pro-democracy forces have another really important point to make going into 2024: The guy they elected instead of Trump is doing the job.

Joe Biden’s first two-plus years as President have been a success on a global scale. Three huge bills passed investing in America. Tackling inflation. Reducing the price of insulin for millions. Building chip factories in places like Ohio and Arizona (those locations were not coincidental, believe me.) And taking on a fascist warmonger and holding the entire democratic world together against Putin’s aggression.

Yes, it’s darker now. The rhetoric is getting angrier and more violent. Look at the threats Alvin Bragg is getting from ultra-MAGA lunatics. Look how Trump is fueling them. It will get worse.

But make no mistake. Trump wanted this indictment. It’s helping him solidify his grasp on the nomination and elbow out the guy who couldn’t even beat Mickey Mouse.

Read that last part again, though. The presumptive frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President of the United States wanted to be indicted to strengthen his chances of winning his nomination. If that doesn’t motivate you to join the fight, I don’t know what will. 

So Trump wanted this indictment and he got it. If 2022 was the year of “let them do the crazy and we do the work,” then the next two years will be double the crazy and that means double the work.

There really isn’t anyone standing in Trump’s way anymore. Good luck, Chris Christie. Bless your heart, Nikki Haley. Has anyone even seen Mike Pompeo? That’s my point. Don’t fall into the trap. Don’t equivocate.

Why do we need to continue to spotlight the contrast? Tom Nichols made a great point about it the other day. He tweeted: “My case for amplifying Trump: 1. Trump fatigue is real. Encourage it. Make people smoke the whole carton, not just one. 2. Too many people claim "I didn't see that." No more. 3. Make the choice as stark as possible. Don't let Trump's team control the narrative with sound bites.”

Now, what other political organization out there does a better job of living in Trump’s brain and putting a giant spotlight on every outrageous thing he does? 

It’s The Lincoln Project. You know that. That’s why you’re reading this email right now. It’s why we’re all here.

With our final fundraising deadline coming up, now is the time to keep us in the fight. We’re not falling for the Trump Trap. We’re going to keep doing the same effective work we’ve always done. That’s peeling off those moderate voters and building a pro-democracy political movement that will continue to defeat Trump and his MAGA candidates at the ballot box. 

Midnight tonight is the deadline. If you can, please pitch in now >>

-Joe Trippi

Senior Advisor, The Lincoln Project

@JoeTrippi on Twitter