Lincoln Project cofounder Rick Wilson gets sabotaged by Colbert's cartoon news anchors

Rick Wilson squirms
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Tooning Out the News)

It doesn't appear Rick Wilson, the longtime Republican strategist who helps run The Lincoln Project super-PAC, knew he was walking into an ambush when he agreed to speak with the cartoon news anchors on CBS's Tooning Out the News, executive produced by Stephen Colbert. The Lincoln Project has been received warmly by many on the left for its ruthless savaging of President Trump. And the interview started out in that vein — until Wilson called Trump "a whining bitch addicted to Twitter," and "Inside the Hill" cartoon anchor Sarah Sabo (Maureen Monahan) jumped in, deadpanning: "Yes, he is a bitch. That is the biggest insult, comparing someone to a woman — I hate us."

Co-anchor Richard Ballard (Addison Anderson) started the battering in earnest by noting that seven members of The Lincoln Project's leadership (though not Wilson) are alumni of George W. Bush's campaign, adding, "I gotta say, we really miss Bush: He always did what was right for the country — and that country being Saudi Arabia." Things got increasingly uncomfortable from there, with Ballard, Sabo, and their color commentators highlighting Wilson's past tweets about liberals then digging into The Lincoln Project's use of its millions in donations.

The coup de grâce was with a Lincoln Project–style video on the "savvy grifters" at The Lincoln Project. Wilson did not appear amused, but there was a slightly lighter moment at the end. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.