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 unleashed a stinging criticism of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for his brazen hypocrisy in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on his Twitter account over 7 tweets. MaxNewsToday has assembled these tweets and reprinted them as one op-ed for our ongoing segment, Schmidt Storm. His tweetstorm has been edited for accuracy and clarity.
Panic is an unbecoming quality.
People, mostly, don’t drown because they can’t swim. They drown because they panic. RBG was steady, calm, steely and resolved.
There is much panic on social media about the political consequences of Justice Ginsburg’s passing. Much of it supposes this is an advantageous event for Trump and Senate Republicans.
I believe this is wrong. In fact, I believe this will be the final political nail in the coffin for Trump and the GOP majority. It will certainly be fatal for Gardner and Collins. Lindsey Graham’s astounding dishonesty, treachery and deceit will be prosecuted from tonight until the end of the election by the Lincoln Project.
It may be that South Carolina voters will send Washington’s lowest and least-principled man not named Trump back to the Capitol for 6 more years. They will send him back without his mask.
When we are done, there will be no illusions about Lindsey Graham. Our broken politics will never heal with men like Lindsey Graham in power. He is a liar and a self-interested man who cannot be trusted.
He does not care about the people he is asking to vote for him. He cares about power and proximity to power. It is a narcotic for him, and it has poisoned his soul. There will be times when voters may not agree with a vote taken by Senator Jamie Harrison, but he won’t be an ass-kissing sycophant who stands for nothing. He is a friend of mine and a good man. He wants to help people. He is a pragmatic centrist who will fight hard for South Carolina and her people. Lindsey Graham is the living incarnation of everything that is broken in American politics.
The Lincoln Project will fight as hard as we can to help get him the hell out of Washington. He can settle comfortably in Trump Tower and golf with Trump in Bedminster, as they discuss their humiliations late into the night.