The Lincoln Project may soon have to change its name to the ‘Don’t-Link-Back Project’.
The anti-Trump political action committee has been hit repeatedly with allegations that they steal content for their Twitter account, which boasts two million followers.
Vic Berger, a video editor and political satirist, was one of the first to call out the Lincoln Project in July after they ripped a photo making fun of Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein without giving Berger credit.
I made this image and the Iraqi child-killing neocons at The Lincoln Project stole it. https://t.co/peMclEguWg
— Mr. Victor Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) July 22, 2020
Grace Spelman, a comedy writer, said on August 3 that the PAC not only took a video she edited without permission, but made it worse by adding new text.
I fuckin made this video you fucks take that text off there https://t.co/3cBZbcfplU
— grace spelman: totally exonerated, no wrongdoing (@GraceSpelman) August 3, 2020
The Lincoln Project took at least two other tweets nearly word for word in August, both from smaller accounts.
Nice pic.twitter.com/vkmPG1uyiT
— Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) August 15, 2020
i hate it here pic.twitter.com/Vbl3IkK6wM
— kelly 回晓屹 (@halfmoonpoem) August 16, 2020
It’s not unusual for people to rip ideas from other users on Twitter — in fact, it is almost inevitable given how content is freely shared on the internet with little regard for the original creators. But it is certainly interesting how the Lincoln Projects only seems to hate people who ‘lie, cheat, and steal’ when the person in question is President Trump.
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) August 16, 2020
And, as Spelman notes, it doesn’t hurt as much to have your content stolen when the group responsible doesn’t exist for the approval of liberal wine moms and neocon cretins.
‘I never get mad at people stealing my shit on the internet bc I’ve been on here long enough to know it’s inevitable but I fucking hate the Project Lincoln republican shit-swamp lmao,’ she wrote.
I never get mad at people stealing my shit on the internet bc I’ve been on here long enough to know it’s inevitable but I fucking hate the Project Lincoln republican shit-swamp lmao
— grace spelman: totally exonerated, no wrongdoing (@GraceSpelman) August 3, 2020
Cockburn wonders if the PAC got a bit desperate after having to can video editor Ben Howe, who was described as the ‘creative mind’ of the group, in mid-July. Howe’s old tweets referring to political rivals as ‘twats’ and worse weren’t exactly clever, but at least they were his own.
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The Lincoln Project will also suffer from the loss of George Conway, who is leaving to focus on his family after daughter Claudia went on a TikTok rampage accusing her parents of years of abuse. Conway, being a famous lawyer and all, would be instrumental should the group get hit with an intellectual property suit.
Perhaps after the Conways finish their stint in family therapy, Claudia can offer the Lincoln Project tips on how to go viral without lifting memes from smaller accounts…
