Within hours of the vote projections coming forward in Indiana, gracing Donald Trump with the “presumptive nominee” title, a former Bush aide called for a third party candidacy to block the Republican standardbearer from winning in November.
Eliot A. Cohen, who served in the Defense and State departments in the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, respectively, wrote that Trump will produce “a national revulsion (for) the GOP candidate.” To avoid that calamity, Cohen proposes the formation of a center-right coalition to present an alternative who stands above bigoted, ugly politics.
Cohen does not suggest a candidate, but in a guest column this morning for The Washington Post he offers this:
A third candidate could lay the groundwork for a new political party. The Republican Party may right itself after this moral disaster, led by men and women of the caliber of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.). But the sad truth is that although the speaker has the qualities of a statesman, two of his Republican predecessors have indicated that they would vote for Trump without qualms, while a third is too preoccupied with his upcoming jail term to say much of anything.
… Even if a third candidacy still yielded a Clinton victory, it would be worthwhile. It would, first, deny the Clinton campaign the illusion of a mandate from American voters who would have, en masse, turned out to reject Trump. If nothing else, a strong third-candidate vote would send her a message to govern from the center, rather than in deference to her party’s increasingly powerful left wing.
As with the failed #Nevertrump movement, this idea probably comes much too late.
Those dismayed by the prospect of a Trump vs. Hillary Clinton general election should have had a candidate many months ago waiting in the wings, acting presidential, putting forth policy proposals, while the primary election circus continued up until the last votes were counted in Indiana. (More political drama awaits the Democrats as Bernie Sanders, with his deluded supporters cheering him on, now talking of a contested convention.)
At this late stage, it would be very difficult for a third candidate to get on the ballot in most states. And with such a late start, the best this insurgent contender could hope for would be to deny Trump and Clinton a majority in December and throw the race to the House of Representatives for a decision. That’s not a game plan that would appeal to most political figures.
Over at The Huffington Post, one longtime Republican operative declares that the buzz about a third-party candidate is “Beltway bullshit.”
The Huffington Post reports that even if the insurgents were able to recruit someone to run, for the purposes of helping GOP House and Senate candidates and denying Trump the presidency, qualifying for the ballot in certain swing states could have an impact.
Appearing on all 50 state ballots would certainly give the alternative candidate much more credibility. But even then, signatures have to be gathered and deadlines met. A group of conservative donors was reportedly looking into ballot access for just such a purpose back in February, according to HuffPo, but Republican sources say the effort lost momentum and has tapered off.
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