Politics

Anti-Trump ‘Lincoln Project’ To Become Full-Blown Media Business Post-Election

(Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for Fast Company)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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Popular anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project is set to become a political media company after this year’s Presidential election, according to a new Axios story. 

The “never-Trump” PAC recently signed a deal with United Talent Agency to build “Lincoln Media”, Axios reports. There are talks of developing more podcasts, books and potentially a TV show, Axios says. (RELATED: ‘Donate To These Savvy Grifters’: Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson Gets Trolled By Cartoon Interviewers)

The organization, which was founded by numerous ex-GOP figures like Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt, and George Conway, has amassed more than 2.6 million Twitter followers and nearly one million Facebook followers. They have gained attention via moves like buying giant ads in Times Square and creating viral anti-Trump videos on social media. 

Now, the group will seek to leverage that following into expanding its current media portfolio, which includes the Lincoln Project Podcast and two streaming shows on LPTV, which can be seen on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. The company is currently working on a documentary, discussing a “House of Cards” like TV show, and investigating the possibility of bringing its LPTV programming to traditional television, according to Axios. 

Parallels have been drawn by some to Crooked Media, which was launched after the 2016 election by former Obama staffers and now offers a popular slate of podcasts. The Lincoln Project has already surpassed Crooked in social media following, says Axios. 

The Lincoln Project has seen real business success up to this point, with more than 1.5 million podcast downloads per month and $1.8 million in merchandise sales, per Axios. It has faced pushback, though, particularly from the online left and conservatives who aren’t as openly hostile to the Trump administration. Some have called the group an elaborate “grift” meant primarily to enrich its leaders, and others question what kind of staying power an organization founded in opposition to Trump will have in the event Trump loses his re-election bid.