Be as wary of No Labels as you are of Trump
Barring a miracle, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will carry their parties’ nomination to the top of the ballot in November. And a miracle is what many are looking for: They want a viable third option to rescue them from a choice many abhor.
This nation has never seen a candidate like Trump, who needs the shelter of the Oval Office to protect him from ruinous civil judgements and the looming threat of criminal prosecution and stood silent for hours while his followers ransacked the Capitol, seemingly at his behest. His increasingly bizarre pronouncments have many of his fellow Republicans quaking in their boots at the damage he could do in a second term. Yet they cowered away from the prospect of igniting the wrath of his fanatic following.
But the Democratic and independent voters needed to form an alliance against Trump’s malignant, messianic grip on millions of followers feel they have seen far too many candidates like Biden: Too enmeshed in the Washington power structure, too tone-deaf to Americans’ priorities and perceptions of his foreign policy and possibly too old to complete a second fouryear term in good health.
Can that many Americans be so gullible? The answer is no. Too many Trump followers know just what he is, but don’t care: They are hell-bent on voting for him anyway. Too many Democrats and nonpartisan voters understand the stakes, but feel justified in a decision to sit this one out rather than turn out for Biden.
But some voters have been seduced by a potential Hollywood ending: An as-yet-unidentified alternative who swoops in to save the day. The longer they believe that, the more likely it is that the more-committed Trump voters will hustle their hustler back into the White House.
That’s what makes the prospect of a last-minute, miraculous third choice being dangled by the group that calls itself “No Labels” so dangerously toxic. By now, its leaders know that perpetuating this fantasy is tantamount to waltzing Trump back into the presidency he despoiled.
No lock on 2024 election
We have genuine problems. The wealth gap is widening, to the benefit of billionaires and the disadvantage of the middle class. Although overall inflation has subsided, groceries still cost too much, due to pandemic shortages and profiteering that followed. Immigration demands bipartisan solutions, and has for decades.
But Trump can be trusted only to break things. He’s talking again about cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits and raising the retirement age.
The MAGA people don’t seem to care, even though they’re the ones with the most to lose.
But Trump does not have a lock on this election.
He loses if Nikki Haley’s voters remember in November why they didn’t vote for him. He loses if Democrats, independents and patriotic Republicans refuse to be swindled by an independent spoiler like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or by the still-unknown slate that No Labels says it will put up.
It can’t be coincidence that the No Labels announcement came after Biden proved in the State of the Union Speech why he’s still in command and ready for the fight ahead.
Without No Labels disclosing who has been bankrolling it, how its delegates were chosen or even who they are, the only safe conclusion is that No Labels is as trustworthy as that Nigerian prince who just emailed you, offering billions if you only fall for his lies.
The Electoral College will install either Biden or Trump in the White House for the next four years. Those are the choices. There is no third-party Prince or Princess Charming waitng in teh wings, and there will be no fairy tale ending. But delusional voters could create a national nightmare. And No Labels’ leaders do not seem to care.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Anderson. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.