President Donald Trump launched a successful takeover of the Republican Party in 2016, beating establishment candidates to win the nomination and ultimately the Presidency. 

Now, a group of Republicans -- Never Trump Republicans -- are trying to wrest the party away from him and his brand of politics. The Lincoln Project is part of that effort. I spoke with Susan Del Percio, a longtime Republican consultant in New York, about why she joined the group and how they plan to succeed this November. 

Q: Why did you decide to join the Lincoln Project?

A: I believe Donald Trump must be stopped and so must Trumpism, which is what the Lincoln Project is all about. They've been extremely effective with their messaging. 

Q: You look at polling and the President does have really strong support among Republican voters. What is the goal of the Lincoln Project, given the overwhelming number of people who either identify as Republicans or registered as Republicans support Donald Trump for a second term?

A: It's going after that small sliver of voters, frankly, that could be anywhere from three, to seven, to eight percent, moderate Republicans or right-leaning Republicans who voted for him in 2016, maybe because they were just frustrated with their choices, they had a problem with Hillary Clinton, they thought why not give Donald Trump a try. But now he has a record to stand on and, frankly, that record is abysmal, especially when it comes to the COVID response. So what the goal is is to get those voters who may have had a change of heart.

I know they may not be Democrats and they may not love the idea of voting for Joe Biden. But voting for Donald Trump is something this country can't afford four more years of. 

Q: Is part of the argument that Trump is, in many respects, not your typical Republican? He was supportive of Democrats in the past and if you compare his platform to George W. Bush, or John McCain, or Mitt Romney, he doesn't really line up with them. 

A: He doesn't line up with the party at all. He doesn't have any core principles or values that he wouldn't be willing to swap out. So that was him before, as well. That was him as a candidate. It's not about being a Republican. It's about putting country above party.

This country is at a crossroads. We are so divided. Donald Trump has never put any energy into learning governance or what to do in a crisis. He is just bad for the country. I'm not suggesting people vote for Democrats saying they have all the solutions. We just need to stabilize. While our pillars of our democracy are holding, there are definitely cracks in those pillars and four more years of Donald Trump can bring them down. That's not a Republican or Democratic point of view. That's a country above party point of view. 

Q: Where are the margin in this race going to be? You talked about the portion of the electorate you hope to attract. What areas of the country are you guys looking at where those voters live, and who may flip and vote for Joe Biden?

A: The states that gave Donald Trump the Presidency -- Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania -- are certainly all in play. They're in play now. We can add North Carolina, where there's virtually a dead heat, and Arizona is another place that's new to being vulnerable. And Florida. Florida, Florida, Florida. These are all states -- like Florida -- that Trump won by one percent or less than one percent. 

Hillary Clinton's turnout numbers were double digits less than Barack Obama. But Donald Trump did not do that well in comparison to Mitt Romney. In Wisconsin, Mitt Romney got a few thousand more votes than Donald Trump. People didn't turnout. It's really a mechanism of turnout.

Q: Do you think some of the unrest we've seen in cities like Kenosha and Rochester here in New York could play to Donald Trump's advantage? Is it something Biden should be pushing back more forcefully on?

A: Biden should be pushing back because the way Donald Trump is trying to take advantage of the situation is by pouring more fuel on the fire. When people see chaos, they don't want people adding to it. They want people tamping down those flames. That's what's hurting him with suburban voters. He's making us less safe and more separated and divisive. That's exactly the wrong way to go about getting suburban women.