The #NeverTrump movement may not have stopped the Trump train from leaving the station, but some are still trying to halt its arrival. Editor and founder of The Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol, has been actively pursuing an independent, third party candidate. After failing to recruit Mitt Romney, reports surfaced that he tapped attorney and National Review writer David French.
Filling in for Glenn Wednesday on The Glenn Beck Program, Buck Sexton discussed how improbable a third party run would be --- regardless of the candidate.
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"Since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 established a Republican-Democrat duopoly, third party candidates have competed in some two dozen presidential candidates and all suffered crushing defeats," Sexton said. "Just nine of them topped 5 percent of the popular vote. The eight most recent third party attempts, including Ralph Nader in 2000 and Ross Perot in 1996, 1992, failed to win a single electoral vote... That's courtesy of Bloomberg.com."
Buck was never an advocate for Trump during the primaries, but the thought of another Clinton in office is enough for Sexton to pull the lever for The Donald.
"Give me another option that allows me to be Never Hillary that's not Never Trump, and we can have a conversation. But I need an option. Otherwise, I'm just never Hillary," Sexton said.
One variable that could threaten to put Hillary over the top is a third-party or Libertarian Gary Johnson, who is polling around 10% right now.
"Look, without Ross Perot, we don't have Bill Clinton," Sexton said. "Without Ross Perot, we wouldn't have all the wonderful stuff that Bill brought to us... I mean, without it, we would have never been in a position where we had two terms of a Clinton presidency and we wouldn't be in a place now where we're facing another two terms of a Clinton presidency."
Just when all the surprises anyone could have imagined have happened, the biggest surprise just might be yet to come -- but don't hold your breath.
Listen to this segment beginning at mark 1:34:48 from The Glenn Beck Program:
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
BUCK: Buck Sexton here in for Glenn today. Thank you so much for joining. 877-727-BECK. We're talked third party. David French. Writer of the National Review. Also, somebody who served. He's a veteran. His name has been floated out by Bloomberg and others. Bloomberg the site. Not like Bloomberg Bloomberg, but Bloomberg the news organization. And Bill Kristol has put the name out there as well. Or is behind this effort.
What do we think -- first, let me just give you a little background. This one also coming from Bloomberg Bloomberg, not like Mayor Bloomberg.
Since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 established a Republican-Democrat duopoly, third party candidates have competed in some two dozen presidential candidates and all suffered crushing defeats. Just nine of them topped 5 percent of the popular vote. The eight most recent third party attempts, including Ralph Nader in 2000 and Ross Perot in 1996, 1992, failed to win a single electoral vote. End quote. That's courtesy of Bloomberg.com.
So that's not -- I mean, it's not looking like good odds. I think we can say, the odds are not high. They're not zero, but they're not high. Just something to keep in mind.
Mark, in Florida, what do you think about all this?
CALLER: Well, I think it's a bad idea for a third party run. And the statistics you just threw out is the exact reason. Trump is a terrible candidate, in my opinion. I was a Cruz supporter. Still am a Cruz supporter. But we can't have Hillary Clinton in office, period. End of discussion.
BUCK: Why is that -- why has that become a controversial thing to say, Mark? When I tell fellow conservatives that I'm never Hillary, some of them get mad at me. They're like, "No, you have to be never Hillary and Never Trump," but I'm like, "It doesn't really work that way."
CALLER: Right.
BUCK: Give me another option that allows me to be never Hillary that's not Never Trump, and we can have a conversation. But I need an option. Otherwise, I'm just Never Hillary.
CALLER: Yes. And the recent poll showed that Johnson was maybe going to pull 10 percent.
BUCK: Yeah. Johnson might pull a sizable portion of the vote. Then we get to this discussion of whether he's pulling more Democrats or Republicans into the fold on the Libertarian side of things. And that could be a game changer. Look, without Ross Perot, we don't have Bill Clinton.
CALLER: Right.
BUCK: Without Ross Perot, we wouldn't have all the wonderful stuff that Bill brought to us. And all the lovely ladies that he met over the years. I mean, without it, we would have never been in a position where we had two terms of a Clinton presidency and we wouldn't be in a place now where we're facing another two terms of a Clinton presidency.
CALLER: Right. And the last caller from Ohio, that actually gives me some hope in the future. It's going to be the next generation, being Generation X as I am -- the millennials have got to wake up and see what the Democrats have done and know that they're going to do more in the same thing in the future. And we can't continue down this path.
They're the ones that are going to lose, besides my kids losing president millennials will be the first generation to lose based on the policies of the Democrat Party, right now.
BUCK: Look, I totally agree with you. I am technically -- I refer to myself as a gray-beard millennial because I'm at the very top of the millennials spectrum, so I squeak in as a millennial. But -- and thank you for calling in, Mark. I appreciate it.
Featured Image: Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embraces her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a primary night campaign event April 26, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)