Word count: 1,520; six minutes to read.
Paul Dans loyally served as an appointee in President Trump’s first administration.
Afterwards he led a major planning initiative to ensure Trump 2.0 was set up for success and certain mistakes did not recur.
He is running in the Republican Senate primary for South Carolina and was just endorsed by Tucker Carlson.
They did an interview last week and it’s essential viewing if you want to understand who Lindsey Graham really is, what is at stake in this election, and what it means for the future of the America First movement.
It’s also hilarious watching Tucker go off on Graham.
Watch it here:
We’re doing a fundraiser for Paul on Monday, November 17th, in the private upstairs room at Raheem Kassam’s restaurant Butterworth’s on Capitol Hill.
And we want you there!
Contributions below $200 are not reported to the Federal Election Commission, so if you’re an appointee or work on the Hill and want to join, don’t worry, your name won’t show up on any lists.
And if you can’t make it, donate anyways.
Every dollar will matter in this race, so open your wallets and give what you can!
At the event I’ll personally deliver subscribers a free copy of my new book: Maxims: A Presidential Appointee Handbook.
You can’t buy it online and the only way to secure a copy is to be in the room (be sure to email me if you do sign up so I bring enough).
This book, which Paul helped inspire, is what presidential appointees are currently reading and free copies have been distributed to appointees throughout the administration.
Filmmaker (and former Trump appointee) Amanda Milius, who is a blast to be around and is as MAGA as it gets, will be there.
Amanda is famous for her brilliant documentary The Plot Against the President, which explains the biggest political scandal in U.S. history: Russiagate.
I’m supporting Paul and raising money for him not just because he’s a personal friend I’ve known for years, but because he is the only authentic MAGA candidate.
Paul is known for being the face of Project 2025, which was unfairly maligned by the media and Democrats, who deceitfully used it as a point of attack to thwart President Trump’s campaign.
That’s literally all last year’s controversy was about.
I wrote about it here, laying out why Project 2025 developed and was so essential, along with the real story about what was happening and why.
And the Project 2025 effort paid off, massively.
Beyond what many of us thought possible.
Throughout the firestorm Paul stood tall and with integrity.
He never once wavered from his support of President Trump.
Nor on his commitment to ensuring future Republican administrations (both the president and his appointees) would be set up for success.
What people forget is before the controversy erupted President Trump was praising Project 2025 and the work of people like Paul.
You might think President Trump doesn’t like Project 2025 because of reports about the campaign distancing itself, but just last month President Trump posted this:
Russell Vought is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and a key player in the administration.
Paul brought Russ on to lead Project 2025’s transition planning effort and serve on the board.
Virtually every important organization and player in the conservative ecosystem was a part of Project 2025, from long-time conservative activists to first term Trump appointees to thought leaders of the America First movement.
And Russ is not the only Project 2025 alum to join the new admin.
I can name off the top of my head a dozen friends and acquaintances who were paid staff or volunteer contributors to Project 2025 and are now serving as appointees.
Many more, perhaps hundreds I don’t personally know, are also in the admin.
I said upfront Paul is the only MAGA candidate in the race.
What you may not know is Paul was talking up President Trump as a candidate in 2011 and was MAGA before it even existed.
And this Senate race is a cage match for MAGA’s future.
Because Lindsey Graham is not MAGA.
He’s a Bush/McCain neocon with a voting record which consistently puts open borders, other countries, the billionaire class, and fighting forever wars, ahead of the interests of all Americans.
Graham represents the old Republican Party. Paul represents the new.
When President Trump is gone you can guarantee Graham will stab the MAGA movement in the back and return to doing what he’s done before: trashing President Trump and America First conservatives.
We all know it.
Consider the following:
In 2015 Graham said President Trump is “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
He then added “I’d rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him.”
Graham has said about President Trump: “I think he’s a kook. I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office.”
And when it came to supporting Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, Graham said this about Trump voters: “There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”
According to Lindsey Graham, people who vote for Trump don’t love America.
After the 2016 election Graham boasted he voted for Evan McMullin instead of President Trump. Which is another way to say Graham supported Hillary Clinton.
Unlike Paul Dans who worked as volunteer for Trump in 2016, Lindsey Graham did nothing to get President Trump elected.
Even worse, he actively sabotaged the campaign and the administration.
Graham played a pivotal role in the Russia Hoax by recommending to Senator McCain that he pass along the infamous Steele Dossier to the FBI.
The result?
Years of investigations and the waste of countless hours of the administration’s time and energy that could have been used to advance the MAGA agenda. It also cost the U.S. taxpayer tens of millions of dollars.
In 2018, Graham called upon President Trump to fire Stephen Miller, who was leading efforts to build the wall and get immigration under control. At the time Graham was trying to push through amnesty for illegals.
It wasn’t until Graham was up for re-election in 2020 that he warmed up to Trump to secure his endorsement.
He admits it himself, here.
As Graham put it “If you don’t want to get re-elected, you’re in the wrong business.”
He also said this to the reporter . . .
At the end of our second interview, in mid-February, I asked Graham if he trusted Trump. Graham’s eyes seemed to bulge for a split second.
He sat back in his chair and paused.
“That’s a good question,” he told me.
He paused some more.
“Do I trust him?” he said at last. “I trust the president to want to be successful,” he said.
After the 2020 election, Graham once again disavowed Trump.
And started cozying up to Biden.
The New York Times reported Graham called Biden days after the 2020 election to revive their friendship.
In the call Graham told Biden that during the campaign he only called for a special counsel investigation of Biden’s son Hunter to trick Trump supporters into re-electing him as senator.
And we all remember what Graham sneeringly told a Capitol Hill police officer about those protesting on J6: “You guys should have shot them all in the head. We gave you guys guns, and you should have used them.”
Make no mistake: Lindsey Graham is neither pro-Trump nor America First.
This is not a Senate election being held in Maine or some other purple state where it makes sense to support the incumbent, even if they’re a liberal Republican.
In those situations, you try to get the best you can considering the political landscape and who can actually get elected.
The winner of the Republican primary in South Carolina will win the general, whether it is Paul Dans or Lindsey Graham, so we need to support someone who will keep the MAGA agenda going once Trump steps off stage.
And that’s not Lindsey Graham.
Anyone looking at this race needs to ask themselves the following:
Do you want to go back to the old Republican party controlled by neoconservative Bush/McCain types once Trump is gone? Do you want open borders, Americans dying in needless forever wars, and politicians who put other countries ahead of America?
Or . . .
Do you want to institutionalize MAGA in the Republican party and American politics, ensuring Americans are put first by electing someone has made deep sacrifices for President Trump and has given blood for the movement?
If it’s the latter, there is only one choice: Paul Dans.
Support him now.
Here’s Paul’s campaign website, his X (definitely worth following), and where to donate (do it now!).
Until next time,
Bill Short
P.S. Follow me on X (I’ll follow you back): @POTUSAppointee
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.