The GOPe gravy train just got some bad news.
New: In a remarkably candid note to donors, the head of a well-funded GOP group admits that after extensive testing of more than 40 anti-Trump TV ads, “all attempts to undermine his conservative credentials on specific issues be ineffective.” https://t.co/EUzNErSBUw
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) September 28, 2023
A well-funded group of anti-Trump conservatives has sent its donors a remarkably candid note that reveals how resilient former President Donald J. Trump has been to the millions of dollars of negative ads the group deployed against him in two early voting states.
The political action committee, called Win It Back, has close ties to the influential fiscally conservative group Club for Growth. He has already spent more than $4 million trying to undercut Mr. Trump among Republican voters in Iowa and nearly $2 million more to try to damage him in South Carolina.
But in the memo, dated Thursday and obtained by The New York Times, Win It Back PAC head David McIntosh acknowledges to donors that after extensive testing of more than 40 anti-Trump TV ads, “they all try to undermine the conservative headquarters. credentials on specific issues were ineffective.”
[…]
“All of the traditional post-production ads attacking President Trump backfired or made no impact on his support and voter turnout,” adds McIntosh.
The GOPe realized they have to treat Trump, whom they hate, with kid gloves:
Mr. McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana who co-founded the Club for Growth and the Federalist Society, makes it clear in the memo that any anti-Trump message should be delivered with kid gloves. That might explain why the super PAC of Mr. DeSantis, Never Back Down, has treated Mr. Trump cautiously, even in ads designed to contrast his character and record unfavorably with Mr. DeSantis.
“Broadly acceptable messages against President Trump with voters in the Republican primary that do not produce a significant reaction include sharing concerns about his ability to beat President Biden, expressions of Trump fatigue due to the distractions he creates, and polarization of the country, as well as his pattern of attacking conservative leaders for vested reasons,” McIntosh writes in the memo.
“It’s essential to disarm the viewer at the opening of the ad by establishing that the person being interviewed on camera is a Republican who previously supported President Trump,” he adds, “otherwise the viewer will automatically raise their guard, assuming The Messenger is just another Trump hater whose opinion should be summarily dismissed.
An ad by Liz Cheney really helped Trump:
Win It Back didn’t bother running ads focusing on Mr. Trump as an instigator of political violence or a threat to democracy. The group tested an ad called “Risk,” narrated by former Rep. Liz Cheney, that focused on the actions of Mr. Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. But the group found that Cheney’s announcement helped Mr. trump with Republican voters, according to Mr. McIntosh.
Millions of dollars down the drain for nothing, that’s the GOP way!
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