There was a time not so long ago that experts believed the third party candidates could act as more than spoilers: they could have made the debates, won some electoral college votes, and ended the two-party system.
Well, with the election just days away, all of those dreams have been squashed, and both the Libertarian Party and Green Party nominees seem to be advocating for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
Ironically, the Green Party candidate Jill Stein has taken a lot of time telling liberals that Trump isn’t the end of the world while Clinton has found a friend in the Libertarian vice presidential nominee, Bill Weld.
Weld, the former Republican turned Libertarian, released a statement in late October telling voters that he didn’t want to see a Trump presidency.
“I would not have stepped out of the swirl of the campaign to make this statement if I did not fear for our country, as I do,” Weld said. “After careful observation and reflection, I have come to believe that Donald Trump, if elected President of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office.”
Weld appeared on CNN a week later and slammed FBI Director James Comey for writing a letter to Congress about re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
On the flip side is Stein, who has been slamming Clinton and telling progressives that she is much more likely to launch a war, gut social security, and support Wall Street than Trump.
Big Pharma & Wall St have given Clinton millions. Could it explain her hostility to #MedicareForAll? #FollowTheMoney https://t.co/Wt9gkQtdOE
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) November 1, 2016
Hillary Clinton represents the entrenched interests of the status quo. Read the op-ed @ajamubaraka and I wrote: https://t.co/i95mcx1rlt
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 31, 2016
Are we supposed to be impressed when one criminal who lied to bring us to war in Iraq endorses another? #NoMoreWar https://t.co/BlqsELPJxe
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 27, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy is much scarier than Donald Trump’s, who does not want to go to war with Russia. #PeaceOffensive
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 14, 2016
If Donald Trump wins, Hillary Clinton deserves the blame because she knocked out Bernie Sanders through backstabbing & sabotage. #DNCleaks
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) July 28, 2016
While neither the Libertarian nor the Green Party nominees have formally endorsed Clinton or Trump, respectively, it’s clear that they have favorites.
If Clinton loses, progressives like Stein can take over the Democratic Party and have a more Bernie Sanders-like candidate in 2020 and Weld is hoping for Trump’s defeat to maintain the status quo.
