I start off hating this argument that I am about to make. You hear people say that this election is the most important in our nation’s history. Of course, that’s always true until the next one. Hyperbole doesn’t do anyone any good. It conjures up images of a Shepard boy clearing his throat about some wolf he may have seen.

However, it is impossible to ignore the rhetoric. The GOP nominee for president of the United States is predicting a bloodbath if he loses. We can try as hard as we can to normalize this. He is just a raving lunatic. He is just joking. He is speaking figuratively and nothing he says is to be taken seriously. He really didn’t say it and if he said he didn’t really mean it. Even if he did mean it who cares?

We’ve seen this all before and we saw January 6th. Whether or not he is really serious doesn’t even matter at this point. He’s activated hundreds if not thousands of people to not only believe the words he is saying, but also do something about it. This is nut crunching time folks. If we want to keep democracy around we have to defeat this man and defeat him soundly.

In the backdrop we have the burgeoning presidential runs or RFK Jr., Cornel West, and whatever No Labels wants to throw up there. We should talk for a minute about what third party candidates are there to do. Usually they are there because there is dissatisfaction with the two major parties. It can come down to the platforms or the candidates themselves.

In this case, you have two old men that weren’t particularly popular last time that are running again. Very few people wanted this matchup again. Yet, here we are. However, we need to be very clear about what third party candidates do. They don’t win. They’ve never won and they likely never will win. They do two things. They syphon votes from one or both of the major parties and they get at least one of the major parties to adopt some of their policy planks.

RFK is known for two things. He’s a Kennedy and he’s anti=vax. Maybe Trump adapts the second plank but RFK isn’t likely to siphon votes from Trump. Biden is not adopting an anti-vax stance anytime soon. West doesn’t have any major policy initiatives that we know of. His is more of a protest run based on dissatisfaction with the two major parties.

Under normal circumstances that would be fine. Yet, that is calling for us to normalize Trump. We can’t. We shouldn’t. The press has been carrying that water for over eight years probably because Trump is good for business. Outrage is good for business. It creates page views, likes, comments, and sells ad space. Yet, Trump has not been artful about where this is going. He is openly broadcasting it at this point.

Maybe he is playing ten dimensional chess. Maybe he has done a thorough analysis of the electorate and the press environment and determined that this is the best way to position himself to gain power. Maybe he is just a damn lucky fool that stumbled into this because no one wants to be the bad guy and tell him no. That dirty job goes to the American people.

We start with Kennedy, West, and No Labels. I don’t know what you think you are doing. Maybe you think you are representing a portion of the electorate that is dissatisfied with the choices they have. Maybe you think you are raising issues neither major party is raising. Maybe you are a bought and sold stooge for the Russians or Trump himself. Whether your motives be pure or sinister (or somewhere in between) it doesn’t matter. You need to bow out and you need to bow out now. Let that son of a bitch be dead and buried and then you can tilt at your windmills.