John Hendrickson used most of his Atlantic magazine article on Tuesday criticizing No Labels. There was no big surprise in his critique of No Labels, "The Dangerous Confusion of No Labels," which portrays that sort of party as confused, impractical, and even downright goofy.
Deep into the story, Hendrickson revealed something that should have been the main focus. The desperation of the Lincoln Project to keep a No Labels presidential ticket off 2024 ballots in the states to the extent of threatening to ruin the lives of individual members.
Let us take a look at what was buried many paragraphs down in the story but should have been right at the top due to what it revealed about the shockingly heinous nature of the Lincoln Project.
Although it’s stocked with former elected officials and veteran Washington power brokers, No Labels can seem naive about the ugly contours of contemporary American politics. On a Thursday morning last month, the organization held an event at the National Press Club. All the No Labels luminaries were there: former Senator Joe Lieberman, the civil-rights activist Benjamin Chavis, former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. I thought the group might finally announce its candidates, and I suspect that many of the roughly two dozen other reporters in attendance assumed the same. No such luck. We were handed a purple folder containing a letter sent to the Department of Justice alleging an “illegal conspiracy to use intimidation, harassment, and fear against representatives of No Labels, its donors, and its potential candidates.”
The letter claims that Melissa Moss, a consultant associated with the Lincoln Project, told Page, “You have no idea of the forces aligned against you. You will never be able to work in Democratic politics again.” And: “You are going to get it with both barrels.” (Page told me that this happened last summer over lunch in a public setting; Moss declined to comment for this story.)
In a video screened at the press conference, Rick Wilson can be heard saying on a podcast that “they”—No Labels—“need to be burned to the fucking ground.” Jonathan V. Last, the editor of The Bulwark who has contributed to The Atlantic and other outlets, is also heard saying, “Anybody who participates in this No Labels malarkey should have their lives ruined,” and “The people who are affiliated with No Labels should be publicly shamed to society’s utmost ability to do so.”
Here is the video of Lincoln Project grifter Rick Wilson who does not hold back in his shrill attacks and threats against No Labels.
How much should we be worried about @NoLabelsOrg? A lot says @TheRickWilson. Listen as he explains why they're a pro-Trump SuperPAC posing a major threat to democracy leading into the 2024 election cycle. pic.twitter.com/UB4DeZo9uG
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 7, 2023
The reaction of No Labels to Wilson's rant only reinforces its image as an organization that mainly complains but fails to take action.
As the clip rolled on a flatscreen TV, the No Labels representatives looked out at the assembled reporters, solemn-faced. McCrory, the group’s national co-chair, raised his voice in disbelief when it was his turn to speak from the dais. “I mean, did you see that video? Did you listen to that video?” he asked. “Who do they think they are, Tony Soprano?”
And as of this writing the inaction by No Labels in actually going through with a plan to run a presidential ticket in 2024 is a signal that they have already folded in reaction to the attack upon them by "Tony Soprano" Wilson.
These people paint themselves as Guardians of Democracy. But they look more like haters of democracy.
