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Trump should never again be president

By Joe Lieberman & Benjamin Chavis
RealClearWire

https://www.realclearwire.com/

In 2009, No Labels was founded to bridge the growing political divides in America. Since our inception, we’ve focused most of our work on strengthening a bipartisan governing coalition in Congress, and we created the House Problem Solvers Caucus that’s been a driving force behind major legislative achievements like the 2021 infrastructure bill.

But over a year ago, our members looked at the approaching 2024 presidential election and feared the major parties would put forth candidates the vast majority of Americans don’t want to support. So we started laying the groundwork for a potential independent Unity presidential ticket – featuring a Democrat and a Republican – that could unite our divided country.

We think of this as an insurance policy for America. As enthusiasm for our 2024 effort has spread, so too has the false malicious charge that our effort is designed or destined to elect Donald Trump in 2024.

We are the national co-chairs of No Labels and want to be very clear about what we, and our movement, believe:

Donald Trump should never again be president of the United States.

We don’t believe there is any “equivalency” between President Biden and former President Trump, who is a uniquely divisive force in our politics and who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election.

But we reject the notion that No Labels’ 2024 presidential insurance project would inevitably help former President Trump’s electoral prospects if he were the Republican nominee.

We reject the notion that hyperpartisanship and hatred in America exist on only one side. There are forces on the extreme left and extreme right who do not respect foundational American ideals like freedom of expression, who are willing to trample norms and laws they find inconvenient to their pursuit of power or policy goals, and who seek to intimidate and ostracize anyone who thinks or acts differently.

We reject the notion that it is desirable or even possible to solve America’s defining national challenges with one party seeking to impose their will on the other.

We affirm forthrightly the importance of securing bipartisan common-sense solutions to our nation’s problems.

Most importantly, we know there is a growing common-sense majority among the American people who agree. They are exhausted by the politics of grievance and victimhood. They seek unity and cooperation. And they believe our country can do so much better than the choices of the election we seem headed for in 2024.

In national poll after poll, two-thirds of Americans say they do not want a rematch of the 2020 election, but the powers that be are not listening.

No Labels is listening and we are giving a voice to the common-sense majority of the American people. Our 2024 insurance project is a constructive effort to compel the two major parties to nominate candidates and present ideas that speak to this majority. But if they continue ignoring the clear will of most Americans, No Labels will have a ballot line in every state ready to nominate a potential Unity presidential ticket.

We welcome a fulsome debate about No Labels’ effort. Reasonable people with civility and integrity can disagree about the best way to heal the political divisions afflicting our nation.

But we won’t let the voice of America’s common-sense majority be shouted down or suppressed.

We have the privilege to live in the oldest continuous democracy in the world. In our system, the American people decide which candidates appear on the voting ballot. The American people decide who gets elected.

No party or candidate owns any American’s vote. A vote is something a candidate or party should earn, not expect as a result of blind loyalty or partisan animosity. There are times like today where we should put the future good of the nation before the extremes of political parties.

No Labels’ work to bring more voices and choices state by state into the political process isn’t a threat to democracy, it is to ensure and protect American democracy.

It is democracy – and we feel blessed to live in this one.

Joe Lieberman, a former U.S. senator from Connecticut, is national co-chairman of No Labels, an organization working to create a new center in American politics that puts country before party.

Comment

R. Ryan (not verified)

6 May 2023

"It is democracy – and we feel blessed to live in this one." No, it is a republic – and yes, God has blessed the greatest nation on Earth. I like the concept of an "independent Unity presidential ticket – featuring a Democrat and a Republican – that could unite our divided country." For 2024, I'm on board with Rob Portman (R) and Joe Manchin (D) to challenge the establishment parties. That's as liberal of a ticket that I could possible support. But it's better than Biden 2.0 or Trump redux.

Jim Thompson (not verified)

6 May 2023

Interesting that you think Donald Trump should never be president again. What about Joe Biden? Kamala Harris? Michelle Obama? They are equally as bad in my opinion. Want someone from the D side? I think I could get behind Robert Kennedy Jr. He makes more sense than any Democrat since his Uncle, JFK.

Patiently Waiting (not verified)

6 May 2023

As if the president actually controls anything or sets policy…
He who prints the gold, makes the rules. The cartel of international banks and the giant, global corporations they’re in cahoots with are the real agenda setters. Under them you’ll find a mixed bag of politicians (paid sales reps who are gatekeepers to public policy), military/law enforcement (a global fiat currencies version of being backed by gold), and of course, the intellectual/aristocratic class (whose beliefs seem to stem from the radicals who fled from the mess they created in Europe around WW2 to America). The president is just the guy who won the popularity contest to deliver the message to us, the masses.

"We started laying the groundwork for a potential independent Unity presidential ticket – featuring a Democrat and a Republican – that could unite our divided country." Dream on. There are too many people who do not want to unite our divided country. Nothing short of WW III can do that, and maybe not even a war – in which we were attacked – will unite us. Maybe there is hope in 18-year-old Megan Simpkins, a senior at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, Calif. See: https://nypost.com/2023/05/04/high-schooler-slams-california-school-dis…

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