President Obama recently became the newest Democrat to suggest that a vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for Donald Trump. The remark came Wednesday morning in a radio interview with Steve Harvey, and Obama also stated that not voting is a vote for Trump. Said Obama, “If you don’t vote that’s a vote for Trump. If you vote for a 3rd party candidate that’s a vote for Trump.” He went on to suggest that the November election is a referendum on his presidency, stating “All the work we’ve done over the last eight years is on the ballot.”
In other words, Obama thinks that anything other than a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Trump. On its face, this is an absolutely ludicrous statement. Voters are not somehow bound to vote for the lesser of two evils, as much as politicians may believe otherwise. It is shameful that the President of the United States is employing such a fallacious theory.
Of course, Obama is only the latest Democrat to set his sights on Johnson. Nancy Pelosi has recently begun attacking the Libertarian, musing that people will move toward Clinton after they get over interest in Johnson’s hairstyle. In addition, Clinton supporter Carl Bernstein seemingly invented a theory that Libertarian vice presidential nominee William Weld would withdraw and endorse Clinton. Weld himself has suggested he believes that the Clinton campaign may have planted the rumors. Even George Takei has gotten involved, attacking Johnson.
This all brings to mind the old saying often incorrectly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “first they ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they attack you; then you win.” In this case, it would appear that the libertarian movement has reached stage three of that sequence. Fortunately, this means that libertarians are likely closer than they think to victory.
Watch Gary Johnson’s previous statements on being a potential spoiler:
