The problem in practice is that it takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of candidates willing to work to get elected to positions. And no one wants to work that hard. Just run for President and get publicity and fame, which are the real goals of third-party candidates.
The second-best option, since hard work is off the table, is to find a plurality of voters in a large state (or several geographically close smaller states) who agree with some aspect of the party platform and focus on winning that (those) state(s). A platform like, say, segregation.
Getting electoral votes is real power, especially if no one gets a majority, now, this is where that hard work was supposed to pay off, with Reps of the third party of those states making a dent in a coalition.
Iāll disagree, as I feel people like their local choices and in some places the politician will change parties based on least resistance and run on multiple tickets (Democrat, Green, Conservative, Liberal).
At the national level is where I feel the divide the widest. The non-MAGA republicans should start a conservative, centralist party on a national level. I donāt think people would take it seriously at the local level, unless there are big names nationally, like a Romney, or McCain. I could see some Dems who feel the party is going too Liberal joining as well.
My congresspeople are pretty excellent, Iāve never had a concern with them. But I donāt live in Kentucky or somewhere. One of mine was even among the few who voted against going to war in Iraq. Pro reproductive healthcare rights, pro-legal marijuana, pro-labor in relation to the middling Democratic Party (far more pro-labor than the GOP), pro-ACA, F scores from the NRA and other conservative groups, pro-background checks to purchase firearms.
Honestly, my generally purple state had great representation in the Senate. As could be expected, the House is more of a mixed bag, with some pretty great people and some absolute shitheads. And when I was younger there was a shithead in the Senate too.
I couldnāt ask for a much better Congress person than the one who represents my district. Pretty much every āscorecardā that I care about rates him at 100% or damn near close to it and every one I think is absolute garbage gives him scores in the single digits.
One site I think described him as āthe best progressive youāve never heard ofā or something like that.
Oh, Iām only particularly proud of our Senators. The House is a mixed bag and weāve got some grade-A morans. If you get down to the state level, there are a few of the GOP congresspeople that Iām surprised remember to breathe.
āIf you disrupt the proceedings, you can be excluded from the courtroom and committed to jail based on your conduct and the trial will continue on in your absence,ā Merchan told Trump, per a transcript that Phang posted on X. āIf you do not show up, there will be an arrest,ā the judge continued. āDo you understand?ā
IMO the problem with those parties is that they are to the right and left of the republicans and democrats respectively. In perfectville a new centrist party would form and peel voters mostly from the GOP but also a little from the democrats making them a viable party.
I mean, itās certainly campaign season, so itās obviously interfering with his ability to campaign and fundraise.
The charges of election interference by Russia in the 2016 election certainly include actions they took well before June 2016.
That said, the alternative to holding the trial during election season is to allow Presidential candidates a blanket extension past Election Day and I donāt like the idea of doing that. Justice delayed is justice denied.
So itās not a ludicrous complaint IMO, but itās also quite appropriate for the trial to move forward. Just my $0.02.
I agree that it looks like Bragg is really stretching to get a felony out of this.
I canāt see how they are planning to chew up 6-8 weeks.
OTOH, itās been a whole year since the indictment. I assume Trump could have had this trial last summer if he really wanted to keep it out of the 2024 election season.
I enjoy that Trump is trying to use Barronās graduation to delay his trial.
You see, he canāt make that day of the trial, related to him cheating on his wife with a porn star who he illegally paid hush money with campaign finance money while his wife was pregnant with Barron, because heās a good dad and needs to be there for Barron.
