Editor's Note: Steve Schmidt is one of the founding members of the Lincoln Project. He is a communications and public affairs strategist who has worked on several Republican campaigns, including John McCain's 2008 bid for the White House, and he is now a regular political contributor to MSNBC. On Saturday, Schmidt penned a 7-tweet editorial on his Twitter feed calling for the political unification of a pro-democracy movement. MaxNewsToday has assembled this thread and reprinted it as one easy-to-read op-ed for our ongoing segment, Schmidt Storm. It has been edited for grammar and clarity.
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 allowed for the westward expansion of slavery. Its passage broke the Whig Party and gave birth to the Republican Party. American politics has been transformed since election night. We all witnessed the poisoning of faith and belief in democracy over the course of November. Now we have seen 126 members of Congress and 17 state attorneys general sign a declaration of repudiation. They have repudiated democracy. The lawsuit was ludicrous and baseless. Every person who signed onto that lawsuit knew it was garbage and had no merit. Every single person. This was a political act. It is critical that we all understand the immensity of this moment. Nothing like it has ever happened before in this country. We have an autocratic movement that has taken off like a rocket, and it is very real. We must build a pro-democracy coalition in this country that is unbreakable and unbeatable. Going forward, we have to win every presidential election. The autocratic side has to win one. This coalition will have to learn to talk and listen to one another. It has to unite around the expansion and preservation of American democracy. The Trump presidency has been a disaster for this country at a level that beggars belief. His conduct since the election has been a travesty. But it is the faithlessness of 126 Members of Congress to their oaths that is terrifying. They want to maintain Trump’s power despite his being fired by the American people. They want him to rule. They want to make him a dictator. The Lincoln Project will work with anyone who wants to fight back against this. We must build a vast and enduring coalition that can crush this autocratic movement. The American pro-democracy coalition is made up of left, center and right. We have to learn to talk to each other. We might lose the country if it can’t or won’t.