Jill Stein’s Risky Tactics May Help Trump, a Fascist, Return to the White House

Jill Stein seems to care little for democracy, focusing instead on her personal fame and financial gain through continuous presidential bids. This is a perilous strategy.

Coming off her 2016 campaign, which arguably contributed to Donald Trump’s victory, Stein, a longstanding disruptor within the Green Party, appears to be angling for a Trump comeback.

Stein’s former Wisconsin campaign manager, Pete Karas, was quoted by Politico saying:

“We need to teach Democrats a lesson.”

It seems Democrats might have already learned that lesson.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin to Trump by a margin of 22,748 votes, while Stein garnered 31,072 votes. Michigan and Pennsylvania told similar tales, with Stein’s vote totals surpassing the narrow margins by which Clinton lost those states.

If Clinton had won these states, she would have clinched the presidency.

The Green Party, for which I cast a safe vote in 2000 while living in Vermont, deserves a candidate committed to genuine change, not one who undermines our electoral system through self-serving campaigns.

These narrow losses seem forgotten as Stein aggressively campaigns in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, criticizing President Biden’s controversial support of Israel’s actions in Gaza, as reported by Newsweek:

“In Michigan, a key battleground where the Greens are active and home to a large Arab American population, 40 percent of Muslim voters supported Stein, compared to 12 percent for Harris and 18 percent for Trump, according to a late August poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

“Michigan’s electorate includes over 200,000 Muslim voters and 300,000 individuals of Middle Eastern or North African descent. Biden won Michigan in 2020 by 154,000 votes, whereas Trump’s margin in 2016 was a mere 10,700 votes—or 0.23 percent.

“In Wisconsin, the CAIR poll indicated that 44 percent of Muslim voters supported Stein, with Harris at 29 percent. Stein also leads among Muslim voters in Arizona.”

I chaired the 2012 presidential debate where Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson participated, both reminding me of insincere political opportunists, a perception that has only solidified over time.

Stein has done little to advance the Green Party’s foundational goals. In earlier years, the party was at the forefront of combating climate change and promoting instant runoff voting, achieving notable success with the latter.

David Cobb, a Green candidate in 2004 and frequent guest on my radio show, advised listeners in swing states to vote for John Kerry, not him, employing a “safe states” strategy and avoiding campaigning in battleground states—actions reflecting true integrity and patriotism.

Stein, on her third presidential run, lacks these qualities. Instead, she boasts about potentially handing the 2024 election to Trump, seemingly unconcerned about the repercussions for those in politics and the media that Trump has threatened to imprison. According to Stein in Newsweek:

“Third Way found that, based on polling averages in battleground states, the 2020 margin of victory for Democrats would be lost in four states — Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — due to third-party support.

“So they can’t win. There’s a fair amount of data now that suggests the Democrats have lost. Unless they give up their genocide.

“We’re doing outreach all the time to a lot of different groups, but it’s really been the Muslim Americans and Arab Americans who have really taken this campaign on like it’s theirs — like they have enormous ownership over this.”

Stein’s relentless pursuit to lead the Green Party has been devastating for the organization’s once-respected image. As Alexandria Ocasio Cortez critiqued:

“If you run for years in a row, and your party has not grown, has not added city council seats, down ballot seats and state electives, that’s bad leadership. And that to me is what’s upsetting.”

And as Peter Rothpletz noted in The New Republic:

“As of July 2024, only 143 officeholders in the United States are affiliated with the Green Party. None hold statewide or federal offices. No Green Party candidate has ever won a federal office. And under Stein’s leadership, the party has seen a sharp decline, with membership dropping from a peak of 319,000 in 2004 to 234,000 today.”

Stein’s notoriety increased when she brought a Fox News crew to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, demonstrating her willingness to partner with anyone for personal gain.

It appears no Democrat is ideal enough for Stein; Rothpletz reports she even criticized Bernie Sanders for being a “DC insider” and “corrupted” by corporate funds. Her campaign, despite its purported opposition to massive corporations and defense contractors, has accepted donations from entities like Google, Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and McKinsey.

Stein is aggressively courting disenchanted Muslim voters in Michigan and Wisconsin, among other swing states, potentially costing Harris the presidency just as she claimed to do to Clinton in 2016.

The unfortunate truth is that our democratic system, established in 1789, fundamentally necessitates a two-party system due to its first-past-the-post, winner-take-all electoral structure. This inevitably leads third parties to siphon votes from major parties with similar ideologies.

Until the U.S. adopts proportional representation nationwide (requiring a constitutional amendment) or instant runoff voting (achievable through legislation), voting for a third-party candidate will invariably harm the party most ideologically aligned with it. Jill Stein is well aware of this but chooses to overlook—or deliberately exploit—its implications.

Most advanced democracies employ a parliamentary or proportional representation system, allowing multiple parties to reflect a wider range of views and participate in governance. This fosters coalition-building and inclusive governance.

For instance, Germany’s Green Party is part of the current governing coalition, influencing the country’s energy policies. This diversity in political representation generally leads to more progressive outcomes, evident in the politics and lifestyles of most European nations.

However, until America embraces proportional representation or instant runoff voting, any vote for a third-party candidate will continue to undermine the party most aligned with it. Jill Stein understands this but opts to disregard or exploit it for her own ends.

The Green Party, which I once supported in Vermont, deserves better than repeated vanity campaigns that harm our imperfect electoral system.

It’s time to bid farewell to Jill Stein and work towards improving our democratic republic.