[Evan McMullin] Anti-Trump Republican Launching Independent Presidential Bid

[jllundqu]

lol

 

[FyreLyon]

If McMullin is running to win Utah's electoral votes then his endeavor is counterproductive since he'll steal Never-Trump/Never-Clinton votes from the only third party candidate who has a realistic chance of carrying the state.

 

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

If McMullin is running to win Utah's electoral votes then his endeavor is counterproductive since he'll steal Never-Trump/Never-Clinton votes from the only third party candidate who has a realistic chance of carrying the state.

I think this may be the point. The GOP elite's want to sink Trump, but they don't want to risk empowering a legit third party.

This literally who neoconservative is aimed at Romney types who would otherwise vote for Johnson. Anyone for Trump or Johnson should oppose this shell third party candidate if he gets any traction and isn't just a footnote. This guy benefits no one except Hillary and the GOPe.

 

[RootBeerExplosion]

I think this may be the point. The GOP elite's want to sink Trump, but they don't want to risk empowering a legit third party.

This literally who neoconservative is aimed at Romney types who would otherwise vote for Johnson. Anyone for Trump or Johnson should oppose this shell third party candidate if he gets any traction and isn't just a footnote. This guy benefits no one except Hillary and the GOPe.

Yup. Thomas Knapp (a libertarian journalist) thinks so as well:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/10/nevernevertrump-whats-evan-mcmullin-really-after/

For months, voices from the #NeverTrump movement have confidently promised Americans a fifth credible presidential candidate, an alternative not only to Donald Trump but to Democratic pick Hillary Clinton, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party standard-bearer Jill Stein.


Echoing those promises, a shadowy group calling itself “Better For America,” funded by Mitt Romney associate John Kingston III, has been doing prep work for that unnamed candidate.


On August 8 the suspense, such as it was, came to an end. The candidate is David Evan McMullin, a name unfamiliar to voters but well-known on Capitol Hill. Starting as an adviser to congressional Republicans on national security issues, he rose to the position of GOP House policy chief. Now he’s running for president.


Why? The conventional wisdom says that he’s there to keep Trump out of the White House — even at the cost of a Hillary Clinton presidency — by giving anti-Trump Republican voters somewhere else to go.


I think the conventional wisdom is wrong. When we look at what McMullin and Better For America are up to, and where, two far more likely reasons leap into focus. Those reasons are:


First, to help Trump get elected, but with plausible deniability so that the GOP wins the White House without #NeverTrump leaders having to lose face by kissing the ring (“we did our best but he won anyway, guess we have to live with it”).


Secondly, to ensure that Libertarian Gary Johnson doesn’t become the first independent or third party presidential candidate to carry a state since George Wallace won Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia in 1968.


McMullin is custom-made for Utah — a native, a Mormon and a graduate of Brigham Young. Better for America seems focused on promoting him there. The organization also made a seemingly unsuccessful ballot access attempt in New Mexico.


Johnson is the former two-term Republican governor of blue New Mexico. He’s going toe-to-toe with Trump and Clinton in Utah’s polls and endorsements contest. If he’s going to win anywhere, it will be in New Mexico or Utah.


The most likely purpose of the McMullin campaign is to fragment the anti-Trump vote in New Mexico, Utah and perhaps other states, allowing Trump to win those states with smaller pluralities than he’d need in a race with fewer significant opponents — and to contain the threat of a third party breakout that might carry over into, and expand in, future elections.

 

[misterx]

I'd vote for Hillary before I'd vote for McMuffin.

This could potentially hurt Trump in some battleground states if McMuffin can get on the ballot, but I think it actually helps Trump take Utah. Instead of the NeverTrump fools voting for Hillary they will vote for him. Utah is so red that the only way Hillary could win is if the Republicans who don't vote Trump vote Hillary. There simply aren't enough D votes in Utah for Hillary to win otherwise. Bill Kristol, and Erick Erickson are idiots, and I'm going to laugh when this backfires on them.

 

[devil21]

Smart money is that they are going to do everything they can to help Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and this no-name hack... if they can split the vote enough... no one gets to 270 electoral votes.

The only question is.... who would Speaker Paul Ryan vote for to be POTUS? Because if no one gets to 270... House of Reps decides.

That is an interesting scenario you have posted and worth watching for. That would indeed create the "political instability" needed to start the falling dominoes of economic collapse aka order out of chaos.

 

[randomname]

Never Trump conservative candidate qualifies for Utah presidential ballot

By Daniel Strauss

08/15/16 04:24 PM EDT
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Anti-Trump conservative candidate Evan McMullin has made it onto Utah's presidential ballot, a small victory in his quixotic presidential campaign.

McMullin, running as an alternative to Donald Trump, filed the required 1,000 signatures on Monday to be on the ballot, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox's office confirmed.

"Petition filed. He will be on the ballot," Mark Thomas, Cox's director of Elections told POLITICO moments after members of McMullin's campaign walked into his office to file.

The deadline to file the signatures was Monday by 5 p.m. Mountain Time, 7 p.m. Eastern.
Anti-Trump conservative Evan McMullin jumps into race

Anti-Trump conservative Evan McMullin jumps into race

By Daniel Strauss

The news is welcome for McMullin, but he still faces a near insurmountable hill to the presidency. Utah is among the states with the fewest hurdles to get on the presidential ballot.

Over the weekend though McMullin's long-shot bid got another tiny victory: The Minnesota executive committee of the Independence Party voted unanimously to back McMullin. The party will be working with McMullin's campaign to gather the 2,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot there.

That endorsement raises the likelihood that McMullin will get on the ballot, but he still isn't on dozens of ballots around the country and right now isn't likely to make it into the presidential debates.

Election Day is 85 days away.

 

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

PPP - Egg McMuffin polling 0%, behind even Deez Nuts and Harambe the gorilla. Neocon dud Lindsey Graham 2.0 confirmed.

PublicPolicyPolling ‏@ppppolls 2h2 hours ago
Gary Johnson 6, Deez Nuts 3, Harambe 2, Jill Stein 2, Evan McMullin 0

 

[CPUd]

He didn't make the CA ballot, is fairly close to making the CO ballot this week.

 

[Suzanimal]