On Sunday, the New York Times dropped a detailed expose on Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver’s long history of sexually predatory behavior toward young, politically engaged men and minors.
The Times is nearly a month behind on this story. In early January, allegations against Weaver first emerged. Pictures of messages sent by Weaver illustrated his sickening behavior; targeting minors and young men interested in politics; using his position in the political world to tempt them; asking predatory questions about their bodies; dolling lewd compliments about their voices, faces, and physiques; utilizing a pet name “my boy” to construct a faux sense of endearment. Paired with harrowing personal accounts from victims of how Weaver’s unwanted advancements made them feel was sobering. The lack of response to these allegations by Weaver and those who have made him powerful was deafening.
When Weaver finally did respond, he did so in a manner befitting a figure such as himself. In Weaver’s “apology,” he stated he was sorry about how he made his victims “feel,” came out as gay, and attempted to imply that his suppressed sexuality drove his decision to prey on minors sexually.
Both Weaver’s apology, the mum responses from those surrounding him, and the fallout from the Times article published this weekend have unveiled some ugly truths inherent within “The Resistance” and our country’s larger governing class.
John Weaver has been a political consultant for longer than two decades. In that time, he has worked on notably successful campaigns like John McCain and John Kasich’s respective bids for the White House. Following President Trump’s election, Weaver and his friends started the Lincoln Project. A group whose alleged mission is to “restore the soul of the GOP.” Behind the scenes, however, Weaver was engaged in predatory behavior targeted at young men. Rumors have surrounded Weaver since at least the runup to the 2000 Election. Like Epstein, however, Weaver was never forced to confront his deeds until far too late.
In the Lincoln Project’s statement, released after the Times story dropped, they stated, “for years, Weaver lived a lie.” Mirroring a claim Weaver made himself in his apology earlier, “the truth is that for years I have been living a lie.” This is both false and destructive. John Weaver did not live a lie; he lives the life of a predator and criminal. To say otherwise, or to imply that his self-inflicted sexual repression inevitably resulted in his predatory actions, is insulting towards every gay man in America. Plenty of gay men remain closeted, marry women, and sometimes cheat on their wives with other adult gay men. That is living a lie. John Weaver did not do this. Weaver instead preyed on young men and minors then sought to use his power to coax them into sleeping with him. That is not a lie; it is depraved.
For years, individuals on both the right and left have demonized gay men by unjustly tying homosexuality to pedophilia. That the Lincoln Project, Weaver, and their allies are now unashamedly spreading this myth in an attempt to coverup their crimes unmask their true motives, tactics, and beliefs.
Throughout the Trump years, men like Weaver claimed that Donald Trump posed a significant threat to our Republic, in part because of his alleged behavior towards women. Weaver and his groups made millions off of their supposedly principled opposition to Trump. Average Americans sat back and watched our governing class pontificate for an entire quadrennium on the unique danger posed by a big bad sexually predatory orange man. Only by giving more power to our governing classes, they promised, would our country be saved. Joe Biden’s campaign slogan was “Restore the Soul of our Country.”
We now know this will all a grift. In reality, what scared our governing classes most about Trump was not his alleged behavior, his beliefs, or his policies. The foundation of Trump derangement syndrome was not some Sorkinesque belief in Republican values. Instead, it was a subconscious recognition that our nation’s elites saw themselves reflected in Trump. Unable to confront this reality, they became Trump’s fiercest opponents, but be under no illusion; every quality he possesses that they hate is a quality they have.
Jonathan Weaver has revealed that the classes that govern our country’s cultural and political institutions are just as rotten, corrupt, bigoted, and power-hungry as their would-be opponents. For decades, men like Weaver advanced political aims that destroyed families, regional economies, and whole industries. The moral virtues espoused by Weaver and his friends were hollow and perverted. Though they will never admit it, we now live in a country these elites built. That America is a country where Donald Trump can win an election, our congress can be besieged, and men like John Weaver are allowed to abuse our youth provided they prove themselves sufficiently appalled with the former.
So much for building back better.
