Don't fall for this

A group of political "independents" who want to run a third party candidate for President, voted today to go forward with a nomination.

This group, called No Labels, purports to be politically centrist and promote bi-partisanship. Sounds reasonable. But some of the people involved, and those they've looked at for their Presidential candidate, expose that lie -- people like Joe Lieberman, Joe Manchin, Nikki Haley, Larry Hogan, and Chris Christie. What do those folk have in common? None of them are centrist, and most are very conservative. Senator Joe Manchin is technically a Democrat, but during the first two years of Biden's term he held up dozens of progressive initiatives and has scuttled myriad vitally-needed climate change bills.

There is some debate over the impact of a No Labels candidate on the election. They clearly won't win, but they could throw key races. For example, the No Labels candidate could be an option for Republicans and Independents who don't like Trump and might otherwise vote for President Biden. This could result in Trump taking states that he would not otherwise, if the No Labels candidate runs, despite No Labels frequent refrain that they don't want to inadvertently bring Trump back into power.

So why are they not taking off this election cycle, other than a potentially fatal case of stupidity? As usual, follow the money:

The most discussed potential candidate for No Labels has been Manchin, who has declined to say whether he would participate in this effort. Poll data suggesting a No Labels campaign would hurt Biden more than Trump—as well as the conservative bent of the few previously known funders of the group, such as billionaire Harlan Crow, the billionaire benefactor of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a collector of Nazi memorabilia—has prompted Democratic strategists to speculate that this endeavor is a not-too-secret project to elect Trump or another Republican. Prominent Democratic operatives and Never-Trump Republicans recently met privately in Washington, DC, to discuss how best to counter a No Labels presidential campaign. 

Because it's a dark money organization, it's impossible to identify all of its donors. But one is Harlan Crow, and I think that says it all. He's not promoting candidates to promote progressive (or even centrist) ideas and policies. He's trying to manipulate the system.

I long ago concluded that No Labels is not a serious political party, but an attempt to throw the election to Trump and put the United States under the control of a fascist, white Christian Nationalist dictatorship.

Don't let them.