Jonathan Swan Describes How Lincoln Project Pence Ad Set Off Trump: He Was ‘Enraged’
President Donald Trump, per multiple reports, has privately grumbled about Vice President Mike Pence’s role in presiding over Congress officially tallying the election results. He has privately and now publicly been pressuring Pence to stand up for him (even though there’s really not much the vice president can actually do.)
One notable detail in a report from Axios’ Jonathan Swan last month was that apparently the president was set off by a Lincoln Project ad. Yes, really.
The Lincoln Project has made some ads that were less about the election and more about, well, needling President Trump, and their December Pence ad was clearly intended for an audience of one.
It begins, “The end is coming, Donald. Even Mike Pence knows. He’s backing away from your trainwreck.”
The ad also said, “On January 6th, Mike Pence will put the nail in your political coffin, when he presides over the Senate vote to prove Joe Biden won. It’s over. And Mike Pence knows it.”
On MSNBC, Swan spoke with Nicolle Wallace about all this pressure on Pence, and he said that yes, the Lincoln Project ad really did get into Trump’s head:
“The president didn’t realize Pence had this ceremonial role — he didn’t know about it until very recently. And the way he found out about it was the Lincoln Project came up with this ad… and they ran it just in the DC market. Mostly on Trump’s favorite shows on Fox, designed for an audience of one. And the ad sort of, in an over the top ominous framing, points out to their audience of one that Pence actually plays this role and will be sort of putting the ceremonial sound of death to President Trump’s presidency. Trump sees this ad, becomes enraged ,and begins to take this up with Mike Pence privately.”
Swan even said that Trump asked Pence “to send cease and desist letters to the Lincoln Project,” before moving on to asking him to join the objections to the election results.
He added that some Pence allies are worried that despite how loyal he’s been to the president, Trump could “exact revenge and damage him politically potentially for 2024.”
You can watch above, via MSNBC.
