Rick Wilson slams No Labels for calling Donald Trump a ‘problem solver’
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson on Thursday slammed No Labels over the ostensibly centrist group’s recent characterization of Donald Trump as a “problem solver.”
The Lincoln Project co-founder during an episode of “ The Breakdown” urged voters not to take at face value No Labels’ claim that it’s working to push back against hyperpartisanship by running centrist candidates.
Wilson played a video clip in which No Labels co-founder Holly Page suggests that at least to some degree, Trump exemplifies the group’s stated values.
Page during an appearance on KUSA’s “Next with Kyle Clark” responded to a question from the host over whether her group stands by its characterization of Trump in 2016 as a “problem solver.”
"We had an event, everybody who came to the event got the seal," Page said.
"He solved some problems. And he didn't solve others. Just like every other politician in Washington."
Wilson suggested the notion that Trump is similar to other political leaders to be problematic.
“You've got to educate yourselves, folks, on the danger that No Labels poses,” he said.
Wilson noted that University of Virginia’s Center for Politics founder and director Larry Sabato on Thursday published findings of an assessment that predicts the 2024 presidential election outcome will likely be determined by four swing states.
“Look, ordinarily, I wouldn't give a rat's ass about No Labels and Nancy Jacobson and Mark Penn, I wouldn't spend 15 seconds of my day thinking about it, but Donald Trump and Joe Biden are going to be a neck and neck race,” he said.
“All those states are states that No Labels wants to be on the ballot so they can draw down Democratic votes, every single one.”
Wilson said the danger No Labels poses isn’t abstract.
“We’re not facing some academic drawing room Georgetown argument of ‘oh, well, maybe we should have a third-party candidate,’" Wilson said.
“That's not the choice this time. The choice is America or Donald Trump. The choice is whether or not you are going to take the risk to destroy American democracy and destroy our Constitutional Republic by reelecting Donald Trump.”
Wilson said the group’s announcement that it wouldn’t run a third-party candidate if Ron DeSantis were to win the Republican nomination is a tell.
“Why is that you ask? I'll tell you why,” Wilson said.
“Because a lot of the same people that are giving money to Ron DeSantis, these mega billionaire donors, these Harlan Crow-types from Texas and from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, they are giving money to No Labels and to Ron DeSantis.
“He's fine in their mind, he's not he's not a danger to America. He's not an insane edge-case weirdo whose governed Florida like an authoritarian lunatic.”