October 30, 2016

Consider McMullin: "We're building something new.... And this new movement is what we need."



Text here. Excerpt:
MIKE MURPHY: All right. So, I think it's an awful choice as an anti-Trump Republican between the malevolence of Trump and the distrustworthiness of Clinton. But the practical effect if you carry Utah, and I think you might, will be to give her a big electoral advantage. Are you okay with that lesser evil winning.... if that means stopping Trump?

EVAN MCMULLIN: Everybody wants us to, to think about this election in terms of this binary choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Look, if we keep--

MIKE MURPHY: But that's the choice we have.

EVAN MCMULLIN: Well, no. If we keep casting our votes for leaders like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump because we only accept that those are the only two real options, as many would say, then we're going to get-- we're going to keep getting more Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. We need to finally take a stand in this country. Voters are sick and tired of the options they're being given by the two major parties. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump personify the leadership crisis that we're having in this country. We're standing up. We're building something new.... And this new movement is what we need.

MIKE MURPHY: So it's a vote for--the future to make a statement, although the raw politics of it are it probably helps the--...

EVAN MCMULLIN: If the race-- if the race is close, we can block them both. And if no one was doing that, we wouldn't have this chance.
The idea is that if he gets one state, Utah, and it prevents either Clinton or Trump from getting a majority of electoral votes, it will throw the election to the House, and he will be one of the options and the best solution. 

66 comments:

tim in vermont said...

If you're in a hole, stop digging. If he is on the ballot in Florida, I will vote for him. Actually, I will look at the polls right before the election, and vote for the strongest third party candidate, even Jill Stein. The two-party system has failed us. The Clinton machine gave us Trump because they thought they could actually get their execrable candidate over the finish line that way.

Kevin said...

But he also said that if all he did was block Trump, he will have achieved his goal. So his real goal is to block Trump.

https://pjmedia.com/video/evan-mcmullin-says-his-goal-is-to-prevent-donald-trump-from-being-president/

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Trump could block McMullin by telling his voters to vote for Gary Johnson in states like New Mexico and Maine. Then Johnson would be the third choice to go to the House under the 12th amendment. Then if the House fails to act, Bill Weld could be selected by the Senate to become President.

rcocean said...

The only way to stop Hillary is to vote FOR Trump.

Everything else is Bullshit.

I'm never going to forgive Mitt, Ryan, and all the other "cucks" for helping to elect Hillary by stabbing Trump in the back. I'd say the same about McCain, but he's always trying to help the Democrats. And McCain's not a "cuck", he's a selfish, egoistical whacko-bird.

Eleanor said...

Evan McMullin, the Rosie Ruiz of the 2016 election.

Fabi said...

I'm sure the entire country would warmly embrace the House selecting a guy who won only Utah as the next president.

traditionalguy said...

You do understand don't you,that this prize disguised as a righteous Mormon is really an undercover a CIA Special Operator who has always worked as a soldier for the Bush Family. And he plays his psyops suggestion cards here like a card shark.

mockturtle said...

the malevolence of Trump and the distrustworthiness of Clinton.

Aw, c'mon! Hillary is the malevolent one. Malevolence personified.

Kathryn51 said...

I live in a state where Hillary will win by +12 points, so I have the luxury of casting my vote without regard to possible impact. At one point it was going to be for Johnson, but I really don't want to vote for a grown-up stoner. McMullin isn't on our ballot but I might write in his name. Or Scott Walker.

tcrosse said...

As if Hillary and her court would let this guy fuck things up for her....

Sebastian said...

"The idea is that if he gets one state, Utah, and it prevents either Clinton or Trump from getting a majority of electoral votes, it will throw the election to the House, and he will be one of the options and the best solution." Framed that way, the idea is insane. A Hill majority doesn't depend on Utah, a Trump majority does. So the actual idea is to prevent Trump from getting a majority. No honesty points for this guy -- you sure he's a Mormon?

mockturtle said...

No matter who wins, the GOP, as we know it, is finished! And rightfully so.

SteveR said...

You can rationalize anything your ego wants to do. One way or the other, every vote or non vote, no matter who for, will help Hillary or Trump. Pick one or the other, or help one or the other.

Big Mike said...

Since it's Utah, he won't block Hillary but he might block Trump (Hillary's chances of winning Utah are zero to as many digits as you care to calculate). But let's assume he does win Utah and neither Trump nor Clinton have 270 Electoral College votes, but Trump has 264 or more. At that point it goes to a House of Representatives that will have st least 20 and maybe 30 more Republicans than Democrats. If they pick anyone other than Trump what happens to their party, not to mention their careers?

McMullin is a waste of time.

mockturtle said...

Ann, I picked you to vote for McMullin. But I also stated that I really don't have any idea.

campy said...

One way or the other, every vote or non vote, no matter who for, will help Hillary or Trump.

"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do."

~ attrib. J. Stalin

Phil 314 said...

I'm a proud cuck!

rhhardin said...

50 shades of grey. Women will love it.

Anonymous said...

Ask Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams how well this play worked out when their goal was to block Andrew Jackson, the plurality winner of the election of 1824. Not only did it convince Jackson's voters that a corrupt bargain had been struck, but Jackson went on to storm to victory in 1828 anyway.

The House kicking this thing over to a person not named Trump or Clinton is a fun cocktail conversation for people who dig politics for a living, but on a practical level, if this ended up happening it would enrage not only Trump's supporters but Clinton's as well, along with anyone who has no idea who Evan McMullin is. Good luck convincing anyone the elections aren't a sham after Congress selects as president someone less than 2% of the country (in all likelihood) voted for.

rhhardin said...

I've forgotten what the Mormons are mad about.

rhhardin said...

Mormons already have their own nations museum, the Smithsonian.

SteveR said...

@ camply

Well yeah there's that

rhhardin said...

The famous airplane, the Spirit of St. Lake City.

rcocean said...

"distrustworthiness"

Does this guy speak English for a living?

Unpossible.

rcocean said...

"I've forgotten what the Mormons are mad about."

Starbucks.

rhhardin said...

No more binary. Zero.

rhhardin said...

The Simpsons, Two Party System h/t Klavan

Douglas B. Levene said...

It will be a constitutional crisis of the first order if the election is thrown into the House of Representatives, but part of me wants it to happen anyway. That would probably lead to the breakup of the GOP, which is probably going to break up anyway, and maybe the breakup of the Democratic Party, too, and a realignment into a populist, nationalist party (anti-trade, anti-immigration), a center-right party (McMullin) and a socialist party (the Bernie Bros and Sen. Warren).

rhhardin said...

What malevolence, by the way. I assume they mean mean old Trump. Not PC so he's malevolent.

Malevolence and denigration are the two chief characteristics of the French maid.

My favorite Philippe Sollers quote (_Women_ p.307)

You may notice I misread it but it's better my way.

rhhardin said...

PC and corruption go together. A plus for Trump right there.

Kathryn51 said...

Big Mike said:
At that point it goes to a House of Representatives that will have st least 20 and maybe 30 more Republicans than Democrats.

The vote isn't based upon a majority of 435 Reps. It's based on each state delegation vote, so California gets the same number of votes as Rhode Island or Wyoming. It wouldn't take much for the Clinton Mafia to buy off a few Never Trumper Republican Reps to "rig" the vote within a handful of states.

I would be happy if this election fell into the House of Representatives - this country needs a big ass shake-up and history lesson.

rhhardin said...

How would Nicholas Sparks script the election. It would come out well and then he'd kill off somebody, forgetting that Melania can't be President because she's not native born.

cacimbo said...

Wonder how many McMullin believers also just happen to have been victims of alien abduction.

rhhardin said...

Klaban cartoon, guy pounding on ceiling with broomstick handle, "downstairs at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir."

rhhardin said...

Hey Trump doesn't drink coffee. That should make him tight with the Mormons.

hombre said...

Even a rumpswab like Michael Moore gets that Trump is the anti-establishment candidate. McMullin is just a spoiler shilling for Hillary, intentionally or unintentionally.

Hopefully, Utah's Mormans are not stupid.

Michael K said...

The Clinton machine gave us Trump because they thought they could actually get their execrable candidate over the finish line that way.

So you are going to help her. Got it.

rhhardin said...

I suppose nobody remembers how Whitewater made its money.

It was from fine print. Miss a single payment and you forfeit everything back to Whitewater.

At least back then they still had the decency to put in the print, fine print or not.

rhhardin said...

It's like the old Soviet days, the dread was a knock in the night.

They at least knocked.

cacimbo said...

Trump doesn't drink alcohol either, Mormons still hate him.

rhhardin said...

I don't drink alcohol but drink lots of coffee, which is responsible for the unfavor.

Rosalyn C. said...

McMullin has no problem slandering Trump by calling him corrupt, admittedly with no factual basis for that claim. Also McMullin doesn't seem to remember that Senator Ted Cruz ran for the Republican nomination as a Conservative. If America were clamoring for new leadership and a Conservative Ted Cruz clearly would be the Republican nominee today.

McMullin doesn't come across to me as intelligent or honest. How is he a better candidate? Because we don't know him at all and he has a hairbrained plan? Then there's that very strange haircut. If someone comes across as crazy, believe him.

rhhardin said...

Put Hillary on the Council of Elders.

Larvell said...

If nobody gets a majority, McMullin doesn't need to be the third choice in the House. Just get a bunch of less-committed Trump electors to switch their presidential vote to Pence so he comes in third instead of McMullin. Then the House gets to decide who they want to deal with for the next four years, Trump or Pence.

Earnest Prole said...

Utah is the most reliably Republican state in the country. Mormon voters look at Trump and do not recognize him as a Republican, both politically and temperamentally. They believe that if Hillary is elected, the GOP can regroup by opposing her, but if Trump wins the GOP will be destroyed.

tim in vermont said...

I think "distrustworthiness" is a word whose time has come.

tim in vermont said...

The GOP as we have known it has been destroyed. I happened when they decided that their future did not include the white working class, a class already abandoned by the Democrats. That's a pretty large tranche of the electorate. Where are they going to go? Here is a hint, they will vote in the primaries of whatever party they choose.

Personally, I wish there would be a grave for that party. I would like to piss on it.

Fabi said...

Why would the GOP "regroup" to fight Hillary when they've hardly "grouped" to fight Obama? Hopefully most Utah voters aren't so naive.

Gahrie said...

But let's assume he does win Utah and neither Trump nor Clinton have 270 Electoral College votes, but Trump has 264 or more.

If no one reaches 270 Electoral votes, than I predict that at least one, and probably both, of the parties will mount a campaign to get the electors to vote for a "compromise candidate" to "heal and re-unite" the country. The Democrats will pick Biden and the Republicans will pick Jeb.

Gahrie said...

The GOP as we have known it has been destroyed. I happened when they decided that their future did not include the white working class, a class already abandoned by the Democrats.

The problem is, the Republican establishment thought that they could get away with the same shit the Democrats pull on their base. They forgot that the base are Republicans largely because they refuse to put up with the type of shit that the Democratic base will.

All you need to know is the fact that they really thought they would be able to impose Jeb on us the way that the Democrats forced Hillary on the Democrats, and that the Republican base would ultimately support Jeb the way the Democratic base will roll over for Hillary.

Gahrie said...

Remember people, the purpose of the Electoral College is precisely to avoid electing a turd like either Hillary or Trump if presented with that prospect by the voters.

Fen said...

No. Fucking. Mormons.

And it pains me to say it, because up until a few weeks ago I considered them salt of the earth types. Each one worth a dozen of my normal friends. What changed? This conversation:

Mormons: We can't support Trump because of his moral flaws.

Fen: Churchill was a drunk and a sexist. His sin was Vanity. You would have kept him out of office too? Even though he was the only man at the right time and right place to rally England and defeat the Nazi?

Mormons: Correct, we would not have backed him either. We have to keep our souls pure.

Fen: Doesn't your God warn about forsaking this world for the next? You would have doomed millions more Jews to the gas chambers. The Nazi would have kept Europe and likely taken over the Americas too.

Mormons: Doesn't matter. Churchill was immoral. We wouldn't have supported him, even to stop Hitler.

Fen: Well FUCK YOU. You won't fight for anything. Some girl could be getting gangraped on your front porch and you wouldn't lift a finger to stop it. Might stain your soul. If Hillary wins, I hope she persecutes the fuck out of you useless cowards.

mockturtle said...

Very hypocritical--like the Pharisees. Shit, we are voting for a President, not a pastor or church elder!

mockturtle said...

The problem is, the Republican establishment thought that they could get away with the same shit the Democrats pull on their base. They forgot that the base are Republicans largely because they refuse to put up with the type of shit that the Democratic base will.

It was the white working class that crossed party lines to vote for Reagan. The GOP is in such a bubble they can't see further than their blue noses.

Quayle said...

As a Mormon, as a kid, I always wondered about the coffee prohibition. Especially after my ancestors drank coffee when they crossed the plains to the great basin of the Salt Lake. The prohibition came after that. Once Starbucks arose and charged $5+ for a cup of coffee, I saw the hand of the Lord amd the prophetic vision of the early leaders. Most mormons I know are now happy and feel bleased that they've never paid such an ungodly price as Starbucks charges for a simple, common beverage.

Fen, I love you too. I know that is what you really want to say. Mormons did their part in WWII, and they liked Churchill and quote him sometimes in Church. Most mormons I know (most outside of Utah, anyway) don't hold others to a standard of behavior that the others have not willingly adopted themselves.

Or as Joseph Smith said,
"[W]hile one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes "His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." He holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, "according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil," or whether these deeds were done in England, America, Spain, Turkey, or India. He will judge them, "not according to what they have not, but according to what they have," those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right."

Jupiter said...

He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, "according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil,"

So, is that where the special underwear comes into it?

Earnest Prole said...

Gee, Fen, when you put it that way it's utterly convincing: on the one hand, Hitler, Mormons, and gangrape; on the other hand, Fen and Trump.

Joe said...

How do we know that McMullin isn't entirely corrupt? For what it's worth, Clinton and Trump have been thoroughly vetted, McMillin hasn't been.

The most disturbing McMillin said is that Trump is corrupt because he's leveraged the American capitalist and tax system to his advantage. I'm sure McMillin has itemized deductions. By his reasoning, hasn't he exploited the tax laws? Isn't he also corrupt? I find it very chilling that following the law now makes you corrupt. (Last year I offset some capital gains against some capital losses. Was that corrupt? Had my losses been big enough and I carried them over to this year, would that have made me corrupt?)

jg said...

mcmullin looks non-binary

jg said...

what's with the photos of mcmullin in frame w/ ISIS-affil (muslim brotherhood) people we were using, poorly, against Assad+Russia? i know he's CIA

jr565 said...

Even Mcmuffin said: Well, no. If we keep casting our votes for leaders like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump because we only accept that those are the only two real options, as many would say, then we're going to get-- we're going to keep getting more Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. We need to finally take a stand in this country.'
Well YES,Evan. If you take the state from Trump you give extra points to Hillary.And those ARE our only two options. There is no scenario in which Evan becomes president. Further, if he succeeds in taking Utah, and Hillary wins, he will damage the conservative brand for generations. They would be the ones that spoiled election. Especially if its close. You'r not going to build a new movement if the peopel who would vote for you think you are carrying the water of the other side.

Just_Mike_S said...

I remember the good old days when the CIA only manipulated foreign elections.

Just_Mike_S said...

And being a CA bay area "republican", a likely Hillary supporter. All the rest of'em are.

viejo loco said...

Most Mormons are dishonest, especially if they employ non-Mormons ( I know, I got shorted by one while working for one. Harry Reid is a typical Mormon, tpical of the breed. Also, they are a cult.

Shawn Levasseur said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shawn Levasseur said...

"How do we know that McMullin isn't entirely corrupt? For what it's worth, Clinton and Trump have been thoroughly vetted, McMillin hasn't been."

I've been tempted to bring this up. Much of that is a befuddlement at how a previously anonymous guy can walk into a presidential race, cold with 90 days left in the election, and get the press he has, with little scrutiny, compared to the decades of work other third parties have put in, and the longer campaigns they have had, with greater scrutiny. But as a Gary Johnson supporter, that could easily come across as a bit whiney, especially in a year when the Johnson/Weld ticket has gotten tons of press.

At least this all continues to uphold my standing prediction for this election. "It'll get weird."