Republican Accountability Project (RAP), formerly Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), is a political initiative launched in May 2020 by

Defending Democracy Together Republicans for the Rule of Law is the principal initiative of the conservative, anti-Donald Trump political group Defending Democracy Together, founded by Bill Kristol, Mona Charen, Linda Chavez, Sarah Longwell, and Andy Zwick in 2019. The proj ...

for the 2020 U.S. presidential election cycle. The project was formed to produce a US$10 million advertising campaign focused on 100 testimonials by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

, moderates, right-leaning

independent voter An independent voter, often also called an unaffiliated voter or non-affiliated voter in the United States, is a voter who does not align themselves with a political party. An independent is variously defined as a voter who votes for candidates ...

s, and former Trump voters explaining why they would not vote for Donald Trump in 2020. By August 2020, they had collected 500 testimonials. On January 29, 2021, it transitioned to the Republican Accountability Project (RAP), which focuses on defending "Republican principles", and attacking Republicans whom they hold responsible for the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.

Strategy

During the 2020 presidential campaign

The advertising campaign targets white college-educated suburban voters in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

Paul Waldman Paul Waldman (born February 27, 1968) is a liberal / progressive American op-ed columnist and senior writer for ''The American Prospect'', as well as a contributor to ''The Week'' and a blogger for ''the Washington Post''s Plum Line blog. Career W ...

, writing for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' compared the campaign to a similar 1964 Lyndon Johnson ad called "

Confessions of a Republican "Confessions of a Republican" is a political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 United States presidential election by incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign. Background of creation In the advertisement, a man in his la ...

" giving Republicans "permission" to vote against

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the United States Republican Party, Republ ...

in the 1964 presidential election. Ad space purchased on social media and

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

was scheduled to start the first week of June 2020. An ad produced by RVAT featuring Trump's descriptions of the coronavirus pandemic was planned to air during the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania.

After the 2020 presidential election

After the election, the

lame duck A lame duck situation generally refers to a time frame between a decision and its implementation. It may also refer to: *Lame duck (politics), an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure, and especially an official whose ...

president questioned the legitimacy of the results and encouraged his supporters to demonstrate in support of overturning the results. After the 2021 storming of the US capitol, RVAP transitioned to assessing legislators on their willingness to support the assertions that the election results were not legitimate and their support of the January 6th event and of overturning the election results. In April 2021, the organization released a "GOP democracy report card" which gave 14 members of congress an A and over 100 members an F.

Ads featuring former Trump officials

In August 2020, former senior official in the Trump administration Miles Taylor filmed a spot, calling Trump "dangerous" and saying "What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue—cyberattack, terrorism threat—he wasn't interested in those things. To him, they weren't priorities." Later that month another former Homeland Security staffer from the Trump administration,

Elizabeth Neumann Elizabeth Neumann (born 1979) is an American former homeland security official. In the Trump administration she served from February 2017 to April 2020 as a senior advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ...

, made an ad in which she endorsed Biden and called Trump "racist" and "a threat to America." In September,

Olivia Troye Olivia Troye is an American national security official who worked on national security and homeland security issues at the National Counterterrorism Center, the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, a ...

, former homeland security and counterterrorism advisor to

Vice President Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

and aide to the

White House Coronavirus Task Force The White House Coronavirus Task Force was the United States Department of State task force during the Trump administration that "coordinate and overs wthe administration's efforts to monitor, prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread" of cor ...

filmed an ad endorsing Biden.

Ads featuring other high-profile individuals

In October 2020 former CIA director and retired General Michael Hayden made an ad for the group. In October former GOP congressman

Jim Kolbe James Thomas Kolbe (June 28, 1942 – December 3, 2022) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Arizona's 5th congressional district from 1985 to 2003 and its 8 ...

made an ad.

Leadership

Organizers included Republican political strategist

Sarah Longwell Sarah Longwell is an American political strategist and publisher of the neoconservative news and opinion website '' The Bulwark''. A member of the Republican Party, she is the founder of Republican Voters Against Trump (now the Republican Accoun ...

, conservative writer

Bill Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine ''The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is now ...

, GOP strategist

Mike Murphy Michael James Murphy (born 20 October 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, actor and property developer. He is best known for his long broadcasting career with RTÉ, presenting many TV shows such as ''The Live Mike'', ''Winning Streak'' and ''The Big ...

, and former

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

aide Tim Miller.

Reception

The ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' said the group was "waging guerrilla warfare within the GOP". ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' columnist Jennifer Rubin called the pieces "some of the best pro-Biden ads".

References

External links

* * {{YouTube, channel=UC03-Q9vq-JyiStTnqasADVg 2020 United States presidential campaigns Never Trump movement Political campaign advertisements Political organizations based in the United States