others might consider her "naive and
quixotic," or at least "annoyingly ear-
nest," but she was not ready to give up.
'Tm like Charlie Brown with the foot-
ball, right?-me thinking that these
guys are going to stand up."
As the House was conducting its im-
peachment vote, which Kellyanne Con-
way dismissed as the result of Demo-
crats' "get-Donald-Trump obsession,"
her husband and other Never Trump-
ers announced the creation of the Lin-
coln Project, a group aimed at punish-
ing Trump's "Republican enablers" in
the Senate in the 2020 election. "There
has to be some political price for put-
ting party over country," George Con-
way told me. Earlier in the fall, he had
talked with.Anthony Scaramucci-who
had :Barned out as Trump's White House
communications director after only
eleven days and eventually became a
biting critic of the President-about
'\w;ys to get under Trump's skin." Con-
way wanted to run TV ads targeted at
the President that would feature an actor
playing Trump's disapproving fat:her-
an idea from the political strategist Rick
Wilson. Scaramucci wanted them to
start a political-action committee. In-
stead, they created the Lincoln Project
with an array of consultants who had
wmkcd on .Republican Presidential cam-
paigns, including Wilson and Steve
Schmidt, as well as Jennifer Hom, who
had served on the Log Cabin board
with Longwell.
The new group ran scorching im-
peachment-related ads against Repub-
lican senators seeking reel.ection in key
swing states. It also touted, on its Web
site, a comment by Trump's former strat-
egist Steve Bannon, which underscored
Trump's vulnerability. "We need the Re-
~ publican establishment on board, "Ban-
~ non told the Associated Press inJanu-
~ ary, noting Trump's narrow victories in
~ Pennsylvania, Michigan. and Wiscon-
~ sin, the states that sealed his Electoral
~ College win. "If these guys can peel off
if three or four per cent, that's going to
~ be serious."
~ This was also Longwell's theory
i about 2020, and the reason for her focus
~ groups. She dichit need to convert every
~ Republican in the room, just a few of
~ them. Longwell planned to assembk a
; database of disafiCcted Republicans and
... give them "permission structures" to
Longwell. right. doesn't need the whole Party to abandon 'Ihlmp,just Mt-slice.vote for a Democrat. She a.heady knew
who they were: the audience of her
Never Trump groups; the readers of the
Bulwark, which receives about two mil-
lion unique visitors a month and has
had eleven million downloads of its
podcast in the past year; and the more
than three hundred thousand people
who had signed petitions circulated by
Republicans for the Rule of Law.
But as she watched the Democratic
Presidential race unfold, with its falter-
ing front-runner and disjointed debates,
Longwell became increasingly discour-
aged. For Republicans like her, the 2020
Democrats ranged from uninspiring
(Biden) to terrifying (Sanders). Repub-
lican elected oflicials,mea.nwhile, seemed
to be even more vocally pro-Trump than
before impeachment. When Longwell
and I returned to Pennsylvania in Jan-
uary for more focus groups, the women
were still leery oITrump and the direc-
tion of the country, but this time the
~n was dominated by the most
pro-Trump woman in the room. Sound-
ing like a Fox News host on a roll, she
said, "I think they hate him so bad be-
cause he threatens their liberal agenda.
They want to get rid of him any way
they can."
At this point, Longwell abruptly
stepped out from behind the mirror and
interrupted the focus group. "I'm from
Dillsburg," Longwell told them. "I'vebeen a Republican my entire life. "Then
she launched into a speech. "I've be-
come persuaded that President Trump
is very bad for the Republican Party, in-
cluding the fuct that he should be im-
peached," she said. She t:alkcd about the
dangers of an out-of-control executive,
the future of the Republican Party, and
the hypocrisy of senators who claimed
to believe in the rule of Jaw for every-
one except Trump.
Longwell seemed to want to con-
vince someone, anyone, even a dozen
suburban moms munching chips in a
focus group on a Wednesday night. '1
:really believe character counts in a Pres-
ident," she said, "and I can tell you do
as well "But, while most of the women
did not love Trump, they did not really
ca.re about him, either, and Longwell
did. The last word went to the Presi-
dent's most ardent backer. "I think
Trump is the one who could bring us
togt:ther if Democrats would stop £ght-
ing him so hard," she told Longwell
"He has to have been one of the most
influential politicians of all time. nA
few weeks later, on Friday, Janu-
ary Jl,8t, Longwell and I met in her
bright new office, overlooking McPher-
son Square, in Washington. The night
before, Senator Lamar Alexander had
put an end to the infuriating charade
of a Senate trial, announcing that he