Frederick George "Rick" Wilson (born November 21, 1963) is an American political strategist, media consultant, and author based in

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, and to ...

. A former member of the Republican Party, he has produced televised political commercials for

governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

candidates, Super PACs, and corporations. Wilson was a frequent guest on political panel shows during the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

, where he denounced

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

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 ''Everything Trump Touches Dies''.

Early life and education

Rick Wilson was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, the son of an accountant and a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

. According to Wilson, his parents were both "liberal Democrats" who later became Republicans. Wilson attended

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

Career

Wilson entered the political arena by campaigning for

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

during the 1988 Florida Senate election. Later, he served on George H. W. Bush's campaign as Florida field director. He left the Republican Party following the

, and in late 2019 went on to co-found

The Lincoln Project The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) formed in late 2019 by former and current moderate Republicans. During the 2020 presidential election, it aimed to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump and defeat all Rep ...

, a Super PAC organized by then-current and former Republicans opposed to and working to prevent the re-election of

in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Media

Wilson has written numerous opinion and analysis columns for publications such as ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'', ''The New York Daily News'', ''

The Federalist ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...

'', ''The

Independent Journal Review The ''Independent Journal Review'' (IJR) is a conservative American news and opinion website based in Alexandria, Virginia. The publication was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell. Skatell serves as its CEO, with Camden Stuebe as President and Shus ...

'', and ''

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

'', 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 An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

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 Molly Jong-Fast (born August 19, 1978) is an American writer, journalist, author, political commentator, and podcaster. Career As of November 2021, Jong-Fast is a contributing writer at ''The Atlantic'' and at ''Vogue''. She had previously w ...

have been the hosts of the podcast ''The New Abnormal''. In October 2022, Wilson launched a new podcast entitled ''The Enemies List'', named after Richard Nixon's famous list of political enemies.

Controversies

In 2012, Wilson posted to Instagram an image of a cooler emblazoned with a Confederate flag and the words "The South Shall Rise Again", prompting allegations of racism. After public backlash, Wilson eventually deleted the post. It resurfaced in 2020 while The Lincoln Project, a political consultancy Wilson founded, was airing television ads attacking the public display of the Confederate flag. Wilson played a significant role in the 2002 United States Senate election in Georgia, in which

Saxby Chambliss Clarence Saxby Chambliss (born November 10, 1943) is an American lawyer and retired politician who was a United States Senator from Georgia from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative from ...

was facing Democratic Party Senator

Max Cleland Joseph Maxwell Cleland (August 24, 1942 – November 9, 2021) was an American politician from Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a disabled U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star ...

, a disabled Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Silver Star. Wilson helped make an ad that criticized Cleland, while also tying him to Osama bin Laden and

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

. The ad appeared to question Cleland's patriotism. In an interview with ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', Wilson stated that he thought that "DHS epartment of Homeland Securitywas on the front line against Osama bin Laden". As Wilson reflected in 2016, "The Cleland ad was powerful because it went to his strengths ..Everyone assumed Cleland was immune to critiques on national security issues. ..they didn't calculate that I have no moral center when it comes to political ads, and I will destroy the innocent and the guilty." Following Cleland's death in 2021, Wilson received criticism from journalists such as

Glenn Greenwald Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...

and Charlie Pierce. In January 2020, Wilson appeared alongside CNN anchor

Don Lemon Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN. Lemon anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. He ...

and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali to discuss United States Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

'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 Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

." He also employed the tone of

Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by Wh ...

in the segment for emphasis. Wilson had been know to use extremely crude language and generalizations when criticizing supporters of Donald Trump, calling them "childless single men who masturbate to anime", during an interview with MSNBC leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election. In June 2020, Wilson tweeted a response to a 2012

Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., trading as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor ...

tweet thanking White House Press Secretary

Kayleigh McEnany Kayleigh McEnany (; born April 18, 1988) is an American conservative political commentator and author who served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021. Early in the 2016 Re ...

, 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 ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometo ...

'', "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.

Personal life

Wilson lives in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, with his wife. They have two children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Rick 1963 births American political consultants Florida Independents Florida Republicans George Washington University alumni Living people Criticism of Donald Trump Aviators from Florida