Red Alert: Trump & MAGA Are Openly Aiding Third-Party Candidates

Third parties were the key to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, and now—in what is panning out to be the closest election in nearly 150 years—Trump and his MAGA allies are again aiding and boosting third-party candidates to help usher in a second catastrophic Trump presidency, including running ads in battleground states to help them and laying the groundwork to disrupt the election in Pennsylvania. This election could come down to a few thousand votes in just a couple of battleground states. Trump and his MAGA allies understand this, which is why they’re again openly propping up these third-party campaigns. Here’s how:

Jill Stein has hired MAGA Trump lawyers and Jan 6 rioters in crucial battleground states as Donald Trump praises Stein for helping elect him—again.

• Trump lawyers who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results are representing Stein in Wisconsin: “In Wisconsin, where the state Supreme Court ruled to keep Stein on the ballot after declining to hear a Democratic National Committee challenge, Stein accepted legal representation from Michael D. Dean, a Wisconsin lawyer involved in lawsuits attempting to overturn the 2020 election results on behalf of Trump…” – CBS News, (Sept. 17, 2024)
• Former Trump personal attorney and MAGA extremist Jay Sekulow is representing Stein and the Green Party in key battleground state court cases: “In Nevada, where the Green Party was removed from the ballot earlier this month because of incorrect petition forms, according to the Nevada Supreme Court, the party is seeking reinstatement and is being represented by Jay Sekulow, an attorney who represented Trump during his impeachment trials.” – CNN (September 13, 2024)
• Stein’s campaign hired the firm of a MAGA operative who breached Capitol grounds on January 6th: “Federal Election Commission records show Stein paid $100,000 in July to a consulting outfit that has worked with Republican campaigns, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid. The firm, Accelevate, is operated by Trent Pool. The Intercept reported that he appeared to be part of the mob that breached the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” – Wall Street Journal (Sept. 21, 2024)
• Republican operatives have helped Stein get on the ballot in New Hampshire: “Jefferson Thomas is a longtime GOP operative whose firm, the Synapse Group, has worked for a prominent Donald Trump surrogate and an Elon Musk-affiliated super PAC… records filed with local election officials show he has submitted signatures for her in at least four New Hampshire municipalities this election cycle, helping the third-party candidate secure a spot on the potential swing state’s presidential election ballot.” – Boston Globe (Sept. 11, 2024)
• Donald Trump and Steve Bannon are using Stein as a spoiler to take votes from Harris because “she takes 100% from [Democrats]”: “And I like — I like her also. Jill Stein. I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from [Democrats].” – Donald Trump (June 22, 2024) “The path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives…No Republican knows that oil production under Biden is higher than ever. But Jill Stein’s people do….The more exposure these [third-party candidates] get, the better it is for us.” – Steve Bannon, New York Times (April 10, 2024)
• Charlie Kirk says Trump would be President today if Stein was on the ballot in 2020:“Biden's math gets messy when you introduce a Jill Stein…The Green Party was not on the ballot in 2020. It was not on the ballot in Georgia...there was no Green Party in Wisconsin. No Green Party in Pennsylvania…if the Green Party would have been on the ballot, Donald Trump would still be President.” – Charlie Kirk, The Megyn Kelly Show (November 10, 2023)
• In 2016, Stein was backed by an anti-choice, billionaire Trump donor to take votes from Democrats: “In 2016, a billionaire backer of President Trump, Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, provided support to Jill Stein, the Green candidate, according to people with knowledge of the strategy, who said the effort was done with the knowledge of some officials at the Trump campaign and its chairman at the time, Paul Manafort.” – New York Times (September 22, 2020) Marcus bankrolled campaigns “to place the Green Party on election ballots in order to take away votes from Democrats.” – Haaretz (June 27, 2022)

Cornel West is being directly propped up by MAGA.

• Trump 2020 operatives were hired to get West on the ballot in Wisconsin: Cornel West “received a boost from Republican operatives who helped collect petition signatures for his candidacy…Dausin Olberding, one of the paid circulators for West signatures in Wisconsin, works as vice president of field operations at the Republican-aligned Blair Group Consulting and previously worked for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign in Iowa while serving as the chairman of a young Republicans group in Iowa.” – USA Today (August 14, 2024)
• A Republican lawyer who previously helped Trump in 2020 recount challenges is representing West in Michigan: “West also has been represented by a slew of attorneys with connections to Republican politics. In Michigan, West has received representation from John Bursch, a former state solicitor general under GOP former Attorney General Bill Schuette… Bursch also received $25,000 for legal consulting on recount issues from former President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.” – Michigan Advance (August 29, 2024)
• A Republican firm tied to deep MAGA candidates hired a dozen operatives to get Cornel West on the Arizona ballot: “A dozen paid operatives registered with Arizona’s secretary of state on Sunday to collect signatures on behalf of left-wing presidential candidate Cornel West, listing their employer as a Republican-leaning firm that recently worked for GOP House candidate Blake Masters... All listed Wells Marketing LLC — or some variation, with a few misspellings — as the company they are working for.” – NBC News (June 30, 2024)
• A longtime Republican lawyer is defending West in North Carolina, while the Republican Party is openly advocating for West to be on the ballot: “The lawyer bringing the suit, Phillip Strach, frequently represents Republican legislative leaders in court and has recently defended them in gerrymandering lawsuits and challenges to stricter election laws. His law firm, Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, has been paid tens of thousands of dollars for legal services by the Republican National Committee, North Carolina Republican Party and National Republican Congressional Committee in the last several years.” – The News & Observer (July 22, 2024) “The North Carolina Republican Party and Republican National Committee filed a brief supporting JFA’s ballot access efforts.” – The Carolina Journal (July 30 2024)
• West was represented by a Pennsylvania Republican attorney in his attempt to spoil in the battleground state: “Matt Haverstick, an attorney who has often worked with Pennsylvania Republicans, represented West in his attempt to stay on the ballot.” – The Daily Item (Sept. 16, 2024) “Haverstick declined to say who hired him or why.” – WHYY (August 21, 2024)
• A Republican attorney with a history of working for the RNC was hired to defend West in Georgia: “Other attorneys for West with GOP connections include Bryan Tyson, also a member of the RNLA, who has represented West’s interests in Georgia. Tyson is a partner with the Atlanta-based Election Law Group, which has received $60,000 this year for services to the Republican National Committee.” – Michigan Advance (August 29, 2024)