Weaver himself has tried to move the party to the center in the past two presidential campaigns, as chief strategist for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman in 2012 and then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich in 2016. Each did well among educated moderates but crashed and burned among the 70 percent of Republican voters who are conservatives. Never Trump thus reveals its real names: Never Learn and Never Listen.

Indeed, the Lincoln Project itself is misnamed. It should be called the Doughface Project. “Doughface” was a pejorative term applied to Northern Democrats who supported Southern stances on the question of slavery in the territories before the Civil War, such as Lincoln’s strongest opponent, Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.). The Lincoln Project’s leaders clearly align with Democratic values on questions such as trade, immigration and the Internet, and are willing to, at best, overlook Democratic values on matters such as taxes, climate change and religious liberty. Democratic principles in Republican clothing: That’s a modern doughface in a nutshell.

The Lincoln Project has no future if its objective is to remake the post-Trump Republican Party in its image. Republican voters didn’t want what they were selling before Trump, and they certainly won’t want it afterward. Worldwide, center-right voters are seeking populist-tinged conservatism, and so the initiative’s only effective purpose will be to elect Democrats this fall and in the future. There’s a name for people who want to do that: Democrats.