“Are You a Double Hater?”
By Dan Murphy
Former Democratic House leader Dick Gephardt’s interview, with Michael Smerconish on his Sirius XM show Oct. 11, revealed the democratic party’s rationale as to why there should be no third-party Presidential candidate in 2024. “If you vote “No Labels you, are voting for Donald Trump,” said Gephardt, referring to the group that said it will put a bi-partisan ticket for President and Vice-President on the ballot in all 50 states next year if the two major party candidates are Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Despite the fact that recent polling shows 63% of Americans are not satisfied if the two choices next year are Biden and Trump. While Gephardt acknowledged that the 2024 Presidential election appears most likely to be a rematch between Biden and Trump, he announced that his organization Citizens to Save Our Republic, will work to keep third party Presidential campaigns out of next year’s election.
The long-held belief says that if there are three Presidential candidates in the 2024 race, Biden, Trump and any other candidate, the third-party candidate will take votes away from Biden and hand the Presidency back to Trump.
For the first time, Gephardt provided his own polling data as evidence of this belief. “The polls say that if its Biden and Trump, it’s basically a tie or Biden leads by 1. Donald Trump has a locked in, iron clad, 38%-45% of American voters. Those folks are not going to vote for anyone but Trump.
“The only way he (Trump) can get to a victory is a third-party candidate siphoning off votes from Biden. That’s what our polling has indicated. This combination of a third-party candidate, especially No Labels, will help Trump back to The White House. I conducted a poll that says exactly that-Trump wins by 3 or 4 points.
Gephardt also said that in “those vital swing states that decide the presidency,” (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan), his polling found the same result; Trump winning by 3-5 points if there is a third-party candidate, and especially “if you put a third party, centrist ticket in like No Labels.”
“No Labels will come up with some type of ticket, and the voters they will attract we call double haters. They don’t want Trump or Biden, and they will be thrilled to have an off ramp. Those people decided the 2020 election for Joe Biden, and if they are siphoned off that will elect Trump.”
It is ironic that Gephardt labeled the small group of independent minded American voters as Double Haters, on the Smerconish show, with the host and many of its listeners identifying as wanting a third-party choice.
When Smerconish asked, why not run someone other than Biden, Gephardt offered lackluster support, if that, for a Biden 2024 campaign. “I can’t tell Joe Biden what to do, everybody has to make their own decision. It is what it is. We have the two candidates that are likely to be, (Trump and Biden). A lot of people don’t like it but you have to make a decision.”
Instead of injecting his own independent minded views into the interview, Smerconish, as always, let the guest speak their mind.
Gephardt’s argument against Trump has been heard again and again. “These are not normal times. We avoided having a broken election in 2020 by a whisker, because Mike Pense and 20 electors election did the right thing.
The individual who tried to overthrow that election is running again. He has still not conceded the race of 2020. If you don’t win you have to concede. I agree with Liz Cheney, we can never allow Trump back in The White House.
Gephardt’s arguments against another choice for President will be a hard sell for the “Double Haters.” As Smerconish has said, “The moon and the stars seemed to have aligned next year,” for an independent Presidential run.
Gephardt and Citizens to Save Our Republic may be playing a game of Whac- a- Mole, with several independent Presidential campaigns a possibility in 2024. In addition to No Labels, Robert F. Kennedy announced his independent run last week, and the Libertarian and Green Parties will likely be on the ballot in most states.
