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 Friday night, Schmidt extended an olive branch to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on his Twitter account over a series of 8 tweets. 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. Update: You can view Schmidt's follow-up letter to AOC right here. I would like to officially reach out to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on behalf of the Lincoln Project in defense of democracy. We disagree on many issues, and that is okay in our view. By the way, we don’t look down on waitresses. We admire them. We are all the type of guys who always tip at 50 percent or more.
I have an idea. Let’s approach each other and our points of view with good faith. We say the following with respect and seriousness ma’am. Our hand is open, and we need to work together or we are going to lose America. The fight will last for many years. Here is the unexpected part. A democratic-socialist and former waitress, who knows what it is to actually work, combined with the Lincoln Project and many others, is going to hold the line together. We will not yield, and we will never break. We are the side opposed to autocracy. We are the left and right flanks of a broad coalition. Should we buckle, they will win. We must not. We are together. We pledge to listen. We pledge to learn. We pledge to be open to your ideas, and we pledge to compromise. We have no such offer for the other side. There are only two ways to win a fight. You can win through submission or exhaustion. Submission = Berlin in 1945. Exhaustion = Saigon in 1975. We have no open hand for the nationalists, white nationalists, fascist proud boys, militia groups or conspiracy theorists. Our proposition is we win, they lose. There is no accommodation. It is zero sum. Our coalition is fragile, but it must hold. Perhaps you look at us and see something that is not so. We do not know each other, and perhaps we should. Maybe even it is the case that the future of the country depends on us. Know this, since no one asked. We all admire your conviction, integrity and guts. We say the following with respect. Maybe it is the case that we are stronger together. I wish you a Merry Christmas and all of your supporters a happy holiday season. You are a living example of democracy and the importance of faith and belief in the system. We are one election away from losing this country to autocrats. We stand with you against that. We hope you will stand with us also. God bless America.