Podcast
The Lincoln Project
Hosted by The Lincoln Project · EN
The creators of the most watched and talked-about ad content in the political/cultural sphere, THE LINCOLN PROJECT, and co-founder/host Rick Wilson, have a reputation for saying the things others are afraid to say.
Headed up by LP's notorious creative team, THE LINCOLN PROJECT podcast features a range of special guests, from leading political minds to the hottest pop-culture icons. Broadening the subject matter beyond politics and making the conversation more relatable to everyone, The Lincoln Project podcast’s mission is to reignite the political flame in every American and break down the biggest topics of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
103episodes
Episodes
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THE DAY AFTER: BRIAN TYLER COHEN HANDS DEMS THE PLAYBOOK TO CRUSH MAGA IN 2026 💥📘🔥
4d ago00:32:19Tap to summarizeSTOP DOOMSCROLLING AND PRESS PLAY. This week we get our hands on THE PLAYBOOK. Brian Tyler Cohen — the #1 New York Times bestselling menace behind Shameless — is back with a brand-new battle plan, THE DAY AFTER: HOW TO WIELD POWER IN A POST-TRUMP WORLD, and it is exactly the kick in the pants the left has been begging for. We’re talking about the morning-after question nobody wants to answer: once the smoke clears, WHAT DO DEMOCRATS ACTUALLY DO WITH POWER?? No more clutching pearls. No more bringing a strongly-worded tweet to a knife fight. Brian lays out why Democrats have to go on OFFENSE, stop apologizing, and use every lever they’ve got — because MAGA isn’t waiting around and neither should we. Rick and Brian get into the guts of it: the fumbles, the fixes, and the ruthless, proactive strategy it’ll take to WIN in 2026 and beyond. It’s loud, it’s urgent, it’s a masterclass in spine. Grab the book, grab your headphones, and let’s GO. 🎙️⚡🇺🇸•••••Brian Tyler Cohen is everywhere @BrianTylerCohen, and on his website https://briantylercohen.com. His new book, ‘THE DAY AFTER: HOW TO WIELD POWER IN A POST-TRUMP WORLD,’ is out now, wherever fine books are sold. Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson, Bluesky @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.
Transcribe →They Tried To Stay Polite. I Wouldn’t Let Them.
1w ago00:32:25Tap to summarizeThis week’s EITR comes to you from LP’s trip across the pond. Rick reports back from a week of speaking in the UK — on America’s declining standing abroad, the rise of authoritarian populism, and the growing pull of social media, foreign actors, and political figures on Western democracy. He shares stories from the road, compares British and American society, and calls for real political accountability and democratic reform in 2026 and beyond.•••••Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson, Bluesky @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.
Transcribe →How Democrats Actually Win It All Back by 2028
2w ago00:50:09Tap to summarizeEverybody's got a hot take on how American democracy is dying. Almost nobody has an actual plan to save it. This week, Rick Wilson sits down with Ben Wikler — the former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair who turned a purple-state battleground into a national model, and author of This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy — to skip the hand-wringing and get straight to the blueprint. Because the authoritarian playbook Trump is running isn't magic. It's a system. And systems can be beaten by people who understand how they actually work.Rick and Ben get into the real fight: the systemic threats hollowing out the guardrails, why Supreme Court reform has to be on the table, and the unglamorous grassroots work — local elections, state parties, showing up between the presidential years — that actually moves power. They map the road to a federal trifecta in 2028 and what it would take to finally rip out the rot that's rigged the whole system. It's not a doomscroll and it's not a fairy tale. It's a strategy — and a reminder that the people who built this mess are counting on you believing it can't be fixed. This is the conversation that proves them wrong.•••••Ben Wikler is the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and author of This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy. Find his work at https://www.benwikler.com/, and follow him @benwikler.Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson, Bluesky @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#BenWikler #ThisIsThePlan #SaveDemocracy #RickWilson #LincolnProject #SupremeCourt #Grassroots #2028 #Democracy #Politics #PoliticalPodcast #Podcast
Transcribe →Somebody's Losing Their Seat + He Doesn't Know It Yet
3w ago00:53:28Tap to summarizeWhile Washington burns, there are people out there actually doing the unglamorous work of winning elections — and this week Rick Wilson brings you two of them. First up: Josh Turek, running for Senate in Iowa, where tariffs have gutted family farms, rural hospitals keep going dark, and corporate consolidation has squeezed working families until there's nothing left. Turek's pitch is what he calls a "prairie populist" agenda — lower costs, real support for family farms, healthcare people can actually reach, and a hard shove back against the corporate money that's been running the table. It's the kind of message that used to win the Midwest, and might again.Then Rick heads to Colorado for Manny Rutinel, currently in the state House and gunning for CO-8 — one of the most competitive districts in the entire country and the most Latino district in the state. The incumbent, Gabe Evans, has voted with Trump an estimated 97% of the time, which is less a voting record than a signature stamp. Rutinel's betting that a working-class background and a genuine grassroots operation beat a rubber stamp with a war chest. Two races, two very different maps, one shared question: can Democrats stop talking past the people they need and start winning them back? These are the fights that decide whether the next Congress is a check on the chaos or a co-signer.•••••Josh Turek is a candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa: https://turek4iowa.comManny Rutinel is a Colorado State Representative and candidate for Congress in CO-8: https://mannyforcolorado.comRick Wilson is @THERICKWILSON on socials and on Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#JoshTurek #MannyRutinel #Iowa #Colorado #CO8 #Midterms2026 #RickWilson #LincolnProject #Democrats #Politics #PoliticalPodcast #Podcast
Transcribe →Trump Could Not Stand Up. Blanche Could Not Shut Up.
3w ago00:37:36Tap to summarizeTwo acts, one circus. Part one: Trump shuffled out last night, grabbed the podium like it was the only thing keeping him upright, and delivered a low-energy, incoherent rerun of his greatest 2020 grievances. And here's the thing — it doesn't matter what he said or how badly he said it. The speech had exactly one job: to poison the well before the 2026 election, to get millions of Americans primed to distrust the results months before a single vote is cast. It wasn't a rant. It was a pre-game. Rick Wilson breaks down why the incoherence is the point, and why the "rigged" groundwork being laid right now should have every one of us paying attention.Part two: enter Todd Blanche, stumbling through an AG confirmation hearing that played like an audition for a job he'd already promised to somebody else. He dodged and dissembled on the Epstein files, made a spectacle of himself under basic questioning, and then — in a Freudian slip for the ages — referred to himself as "Trump's lawyer." Which, let's be honest, is the truest thing anyone said all day. Rick digs into what it means when the person up for the nation's top law enforcement job can't stop admitting who he actually works for. Grab a drink. You'll need it.•••••Rick Wilson is @TheRickWilson on socials and on Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#Trump #ToddBlanche #Epstein #Election2026 #ElectionIntegrity #RickWilson #LincolnProject #ElephantInTheRoom #Politics #PoliticalPodcast #CurrentEvents #Podcast
Transcribe →Dominion Conspiracies, Jared Polis’ Capitulating, & My Pillow Guy’s Endorsement: The Tina Peters’ Commutation Starter Package
4w ago00:35:39Tap to summarizeHere's a sentence that should stop you cold: a Democratic governor just cut loose one of the most notorious election criminals in the country — because Donald Trump told him to. Tina Peters, the Colorado clerk convicted for helping breach her own county's voting system and handing the guts of it to Mike Lindell's crew, was doing nine years. Then Trump started posting "FREE TINA," and Governor Jared Polis obliged — slashing her sentence and springing her on parole, dressing it up as a "free speech" stand. His own party censured him. All six Colorado Democrats in Congress lit him up. And it still happened.This week Rick Wilson is joined by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold — the election-integrity watchdog who fought Peters from the start — to break down what this commutation really signals: that the pressure campaign works, that the people who attacked our elections are being rehabilitated in real time, and that it's a dress rehearsal for what's coming this fall. Rick and Jena get into how the machinery of election sabotage actually operates, why the midterms are the next target, and — most importantly — what we can do right now to lock the doors before November. The last election deniers got prosecuted. This time they're getting pardoned. Time to pay attention.•••••Jena Griswold is the Colorado Secretary of State. Check out her campaign for Colorado Attorney General at https://jenaforcolorado.com and follow her @JenaGriswold.Rick Wilson is @TheRickWilson and on Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#TinaPeters #JenaGriswold #JaredPolis #ElectionIntegrity #Trump #Colorado #RickWilson #LincolnProject #Midterms #Democracy #Politics #Podcast
Transcribe →Send in the Clown: Trump Does NATO
4w ago00:28:59Tap to summarizeTrump flew to Ankara for the NATO summit and turned it into an open-mic disaster. In two days he threatened to bomb Iran again, screamed at Europe for blocking his Greenland obsession, called Spain "a terrible partner," and trashed half the alliance for skipping his war — then spread his arms and declared it all a lovefest of "tremendous love." This week's Elephant in the Room, Rick Wilson breaks down the clown show.Here's what the spin can't hide: our allies aren't laughing with him — they're backing away. Rick gets into what it actually costs when a president treats the most powerful alliance on earth like his personal roast: the credibility bleeding out, the adversaries taking notes, the friends who've quietly stopped counting on us. Greenland grabs, Iran threats, insulted partners, and a standing ovation he gave himself. It'd be hilarious if it weren't our national security.•••••Rick Wilson is @TheRickWilson and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and @ProjectLincoln.Go to https://shopify.com/lincolnproject to start your free trial today. #Trump #NATO #Ankara #Greenland #Iran #RickWilson #LincolnProject #ElephantInTheRoom #ForeignPolicy #Politics #CurrentEvents #Podcast
Transcribe →Erin Brockovich: Big Tech Is Draining Your Town Dry for AI
Jul 700:39:24Tap to summarizeSomewhere near you, Big Tech is quietly bolting together a windowless box the size of a stadium — and it's thirsty as hell. The AI gold rush has unleashed a wave of massive data centers that swallow staggering amounts of water and electricity, spike local utility bills, and buckle small-town grids that were never built to feed a machine that never sleeps. The trillion-dollar companies get the profits and the press releases. The town next door gets the drained reservoir, the power crunch, and the bill. If that racket sounds familiar, it should.This week, Rick Wilson sits down with the one and only Erin Brockovich — the legendary crusader who's spent her whole life dragging corporate giants into the light and making them pay — to break down the fight communities are waking up to across the country. They get into who's really footing the cost of the AI boom, why local families keep getting steamrolled by companies with unlimited lawyers, how ordinary people are actually beating these projects when they organize early and loud, and exactly what to do if a data center shows up on your doorstep. It's a David-and-Goliath story with a very 2026 twist — and Erin's entire career is proof that Goliath bleeds.•••••Erin Brockovich is a legendary environmental activist and consumer advocate. Find her work at Brockovichdatacenter.com, thebrockovichreport.com, and follow her at @ErinBrockovich.Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson and on Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#ErinBrockovich #DataCenters #BigTech #AI #WaterCrisis #RickWilson #LincolnProject #Environment #Grassroots #Politics #Podcast
Transcribe →America at 250: This Is Our Moment
Jul 400:24:55Tap to summarizeLet's be honest about the moment we're in: it's dark. The institutions are strained, the norms are cracking, and it's easy to look around and wonder if the whole American experiment is finally running out of road. But here's the thing the doomscrollers keep forgetting — we have been here before. We've faced worse, stared down bigger, and clawed our way out of holes that made this one look shallow. A civil war. A depression. World wars. Movements that had to bleed for the rights the Constitution only promised on paper. Every single time, the smart money bet against us. Every single time, they were wrong.This week's Elephant in the Room is Rick Wilson's case for exactly that: Americans don't fold in the dark — we do our best work there. Across 250 years of tragedies and triumphs, failures and moonshots, this country has been at its most inventive, most stubborn, and most extraordinary when the odds looked impossible. That's not a fairy tale; it's the pattern. The fear is real, the opposition is real, the darkness is real — and so is the thing Americans have always done when the lights get low. This isn't the end of the story. It's the part where we decide how it goes. This is our moment. Let's go earn it.•••••Rick Wilson is @TheRickWilson on socials and therickwilson.substack.com on Substack. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.#America250 #ThisIsOurMoment #RickWilson #LincolnProject #ElephantInTheRoom #July4th #Democracy #History #Hope #Politics #Podcast
Transcribe →America at 250: We Ran It Into a Ditch. Now We Dig Out
Jul 401:04:35Tap to summarizeAmerica is 250 years old, and the fix is in — the DOJ bent to serve whoever's holding the whip, the rule of law treated like a suggestion, the guardrails quietly sawed through while everyone's distracted by the fireworks. This week Rick Wilson sits down with two people who've seen the rot up close and refuse to shut up about it: Congressman Jamie Raskin, the constitutional scholar who's spent his career defending democracy on the House floor, and Liz Oyer, the DOJ pardon attorney who got fired for one unforgivable sin — saying no. What she saw inside the building should scare the hell out of you, and what Raskin knows about how this ends should light a fire under you.Here's what they won't tell you at the birthday party: the republic doesn't save itself, and nobody's riding in to do it for us. Rick, Jamie, and Liz get into what's already broken, what we can do right now before the next crisis lands, and the longer fight to reclaim, rebuild, and reinforce a country worth keeping. At 250, the tools are still in our hands and the door's still open — but not for long. They stole it in broad daylight. This is the conversation about taking it back.•••••Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08), constitutional scholar and author, is at @RepRaskin.Liz Oyer, former U.S. Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice, is at @lawyeroyer.Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson and on Substack at therickwilson.substack.com or https://www.againstallenemies.net/. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and @ProjectLincoln.#America250 #JamieRaskin #LizOyer #RickWilson #LincolnProject #TakeItBack #RuleOfLaw #DOJ #Democracy #Politics #July4th #podcast
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