Donald Trump is terrified of the ads being run by the Lincoln Project. And one of the people in charge of the Lincoln Project is Steve Schmidt, whom you’ve no doubt seen on MSNBC. Schmidt is ardently and vocally anti-Trump, and he’s dedicated his talents to making sure Trump doesn’t get a second term in office.
So what did Donald Trump and his son-in-law, senior adviser Jared Kushner do? They decided to take the low road and try to smear Steve Schmidt by planting a story with the New York Post suggesting that Schmidt had begged to help run the 2016 Trump campaign.
According to the hit piece from The Post:
“Steve Schmidt, one of the co-founders of anti-Trump political action group the Lincoln Project, met with then-candidate Donald Trump and tried to join his campaign during a 2016 Manhattan meeting, sources with knowledge of the conversation told The Post.
“But the Republican operative — best known for his work on John McCain’s failed presidential bid before becoming one of the faces of the ‘Never Trump’ movement — failed to get the gig because Trump thought he was a ‘total idiot,’ one of the sources said.”
But rather than getting angry and pitching a hissy fit the way Trump does on an hourly basis, Schmidt turned the tables on the president and Jared by laying out his side of the story on Twitter, which we all know Trump constantly keeps an eye on:
I received a call from @ebonybowden from the NY Post, working on a new hit piece on behalf of the Trump Campaign. The questions she asked concerned a meeting I had with Donald Trump at his and Jared Kushner’s invitation. . I had never met Trump before and was 1/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
Curious. Ms. Bowden described this meeting in her phone message as a job interview according to several sources. I did not go to the meeting for a job interview though I was offered to run Trump’s campaign on three occasions. Trump credited me with being the first person on 2/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
Television, from the second he came down the escalator, to say that he could be a big factor in the race. I was amongst the first people, if not the first to say he could win the nomination, was winning the nomination and that he would win the nomination. I was working as an 3/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
Analyst for @MSNBC at the time of the invitation and I wanted to take his measure. Looking backwards from this moment of tragedy and with a full understanding of his depravity, ignorance and incompetence, it is hard to remember a time when there ever could have been any doubt. 4/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
When I met Trump he was well on his way to the nomination and Kushner’s narrative was that Trump was playing a role to win the nomination and that everybody would see the “real man “ when he became the nominee. I was dubious but curious. For sure I have a personality that if 5/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
A UFO landed in Central Park and I was invited to go on, it I would.That is the fundamental reason I took the meeting. Not in a million years would I ever work for Trump. At the time I joked to friends, not for a billion dollars, a lifetime supply of Trump steaks and a PHD from 6
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 27, 2020
So Steve Schmidt took a meeting. Why wouldn’t he? As he said, he wanted to get a measure of Trump up close.
It’s easy to see exactly what happened here: Trump got very worried by the threat from Steve Schmidt and the Lincoln Project, so he tried to destroy his credibility. But the problem is that a man who has zero credibility (Trump) was trying to impugn the integrity of a man with actual convictions.
And that’s how you take on a bully, kick his ass, and sending him running home in tears.
Well done, Mr. Schmidt!