Rick Wilson (political consultant)


Frederick George "Rick" Wilson is an American political strategist, media consultant, and author based in Florida. A former member of the Republican Party, he has produced televised political commercials for governors, U.S. Senate candidates, Super PACs, and corporations.
Wilson was a frequent guest on political panel shows during the 2016 United States presidential election, where he denounced Donald Trump and his supporters. He was later a strategist for the Evan McMullin presidential campaign. Since Trump's election as president, Wilson has continued to be a critic. In 2018, Wilson released the bestselling Everything Trump Touches Dies.

Early life and education

Rick Wilson was born in Tampa, Florida, the son of a CPA and a housewife. According to Wilson, his parents were both "liberal Democrats" who later became Republicans. Wilson attended George Washington University.

Career

Wilson entered the political arena by campaigning for Connie Mack during the 1988 Florida Senate election. Later, he served on George H. W. Bush's campaign as Florida field director. Wilson was also a presidential appointee to the Department of Defense under then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
In 1994, Wilson joined a Florida media firm, where he created Pollie-award winning ads for Rudy Giuliani during the 1997 New York City mayoral election. In 1999 Wilson moved to New York City where he initially worked at City Hall, and then later campaigned for Giuliani during the 2000 New York Senate election.
He left the Republican Party following the 2016 United States presidential election, and now works as an advisor to The Lincoln Project, a Super PAC organized by current and former Republicans opposed and working to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Media

Wilson has written numerous opinion and analysis columns for publications such as The Daily Beast, Politico, The New York Daily News, The Federalist, The Independent Journal Review, and Ricochet, and is a frequent guest on various cable and network news outlets.
In 2018, Wilson released his first book, Everything Trump Touches Dies, in which he laments the re-alignment of the Republican Party behind Trump. The book reached number one on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for a week. An audiobook read by Wilson was released alongside the print version.
Wilson’s second book, entitled Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump—and Democrats from Themselves, was published in January 2020.
Since 2020 Wilson and fellow The Daily Beast contributor Molly Jong-Fast are creating podcast The New Abnormal.

Controversy

In 2012, Wilson posted to Instagram an image of a Confederate flag-themed cooler emblazoned with "The South Shall Rise Again". Though Wilson later deleted the post, it resurfaced in 2020 while The Lincoln Project was airing television ads attacking the public display of the Confederate flag, prompting criticism and questions of hypocrisy.
Wilson played a big role in the 2002 United States Senate election in Georgia, in which Saxby Chambliss was facing Democratic Party Senator Max Cleland, a disabled veteran and recipient of the Silver Star. He helped make an ad that criticized Cleland, while also tying him to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, the ad seemed to question Cleland's patriotism. In an interview with HuffPost, Wilson thought that "DHS was on the front line against Osama bin Laden". On July 18, 2015, Wilson tweeted that his ad questioned Cleland's votes.
In November 2018, Wilson praised Qatar after visiting the Persian Gulf nation, which is accused of supporting terrorism and financing Muslim Brotherhood. He tweeted that "Qatar is a stunning, vibrant nation."
In January 2020, Wilson appeared alongside CNN anchor Don Lemon and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali to discuss United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent exchange with an NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly. During this segment, Wilson made comments towards Trump supporters stating they were "part of the credulous boomer rube demo." He also employed the tone of Southern American English in the segment for emphasis.
In June 2020, Wilson tweeted a response to a 2012 Domino's Pizza tweet thanking White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, then a college student, for her opinion that Domino's pizza was superior to pizza from New York. In his tweet, Wilson declared, "You just killed your brand." This later prompted a response from Domino's Pizza's official Twitter account, saying "Welp. It's unfortunate that thanking a customer for a compliment back in 2012 would be viewed as political. Guess that's 2020 for ya." According to The Daily Dot, "Domino’s response immediately went viral," however, it also credited Wilson for not deleting the tweet "despite the unrelenting onslaught of mockery" directed at him.