Heck, how can anyone trust a political party that would install such a calculated liar (or, in the other Hanlon’s Razor alternative, an utter moron) who would issue such cynical, obvious, “it isn’t what it is” piece of unconscionable gaslighting?

Clyburn has one of the most damning Ethics Alarms dossiers of any member of Congress, which is impressive, considering what an awful collection of corrupt and destructive incompetents “low-information voters” have elected to govern us. He, or more likely a soulless aide—the best defense Clyburn could offer for this thing is that he allowed his name to be attached to it without reading what it said—gave the ludicrous primal scream against democracy to CNN, which dutifully published it instead of handing it back laughing and saying, “Good one. Now where’s the real op-ed?”

Democrats are freaking out because the public is showing signs of ignoring all the smoke and mirrors and realizing what an epic disaster Joe Biden has been as President. That’s puzzling, because this was a guaranteed result based on his age, demonstrated abilities and the devolution of his party into a proto-totalitarian, Marxist, anti-American, Constitution-hating cult. Democrats, however, are locked into the delusion that the American public has the average IQ of a bathroom sink. Failed, unpopular presidencies almost always generate challenges to the President in the primaries and third party candidates in the election, yet apparently the Democratic leadership is shocked–shocked!—that this is what is happening to their pathetic White House occupant (who never should have been nominated in the first place) now.

So some smoky room meeting (or Zoom conference) came up with the idea of having Clyburn author a screed explaining why none of this should happen to Joe, aka the Democrat’s version of Bernie in “Weekend at Bernie’s.” Cliburn’s argument: it’s hopeless, America! You’re stuck with a choice between Biden and Donald Trump, and there is no point in resisting (or, to quote the fictional “Star Trek” entity that 21st Century Democrats increasingly emulate, “Resistance is futile.”) The op-ed, titled “A third-party run is a risk we can’t afford,” begins with an exhaustive, if dishonest recitation of the failures of third party candidates in the past.

“Claiming, as some do, that a third party could save the system is also not a reality-based solution. In fact, that approach has failed to improve anything in the past, and often made matters worse,” Clyburn’s ghost-writer asserts. Funny, I wonder why our two major parties today aren’t the Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans? What happened to those parties, if third party rivals always fail? For that matter, where are all the Whigs? In 1860, the Republican Party was a third party (or fourth, or fifth): its candidate turned out pretty well. To the retort that the last third party to win the White House was in the political chaos leading up to the Civil War, I would answer, yes, and what we are seeing now is legitimately compared to that chaos.

Bad parties split, rot, and get replaced. Right now, we are seeing the Democratic Party roiled by anti-Semitism, Marxism and a deathlock embrace of abortion, a practice that bears disturbing similarities to slavery. Like the Communist Party in its death throes, it is being led by feeble and aged ideologues who should have retired long ago. It has also bet wrong on a succession of issues and policies. No wonder Clyburn’s party doesn’t want a third party challenge.

Predictably, his history is more than a bit shaky. His main example is Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose challenge to Taft and Wilson in 1912, but that was an entirely personality-driven campaign by Roosevelt. Taft, TR and Woodrow Wilson were all progressives: Roosevelt wasn’t trying to start a new party, he just thought his party should have nominated him instead of its current President, Taft. The objective of legitimate third party efforts is to highlight and attract support for neglected political positions and policies so the major parties feel compelled to change course….or lose.

A good argument could be made that Donald Trump’s candidacy was essentially a third party effort, with the Republican Party meekly capitulating and not nominating its own candidate because it lacked leadership and core values. Large constituencies felt neither party represented them or their interests, so they gravitated to Trump. Eugene V. Debs ran repeatedly for President as a Socialist, and made enough of a splash to push the Democratic Party leftward, culminating in the transformational Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Third parties can change the nation, and they are a threat to one-party dominance, the current obsessions of Clyburn’s cabal.

Clyburn also misleads about the Ross Perot challenge to George H.W. Bush in 1990. We’ll never know, but Perot was in a good position to win as a third party candidate focusing on the national debt and irresponsible fiscal policies (“Where have you gone Ross Perot, our nation turns its bankrupt eyes to you, woo woo woo..”) until he had a snit and quit the field mid-campaign. When he returned, he had sacrificed much of his support by showing that he was too unpredictable and impulsive.

Clyburn indulges other dubious partisan fantasies, like “The Iraq War and the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts — among other things — would not have happened under a President Gore.” Roberts, a moderate conservative Chief Justice, is hardly the Black Plague, and the Iraq War speculation is 100% hindsight bias. Most Democrats in Congress voted for that war.

So far, the op-ed is just typical partisan propaganda and historical revisionism, but then Clyburn sets off the Hanlon’s Razor alarms with this:

“President Joe Biden is among the finest. He has guided this nation with extraordinary skill, deep foresight and abiding decency. His fatherly demeanor and compassionate tone do not engender the attractive headlines and quotable sound bite for which many seem to yearn. But his policies and practices are yielding spectacular results for individuals, their families, and communities.”

If you were buying Clyburn’s history lesson, and of course most readers, having the knowledge of American history of the typical gerbil, would, that hilarious assertion is the equivalent of the defense’s star witness in a sensational trial declaring that he is Elvis in disguise. Spectacular results! That’s a cleverly ambiguous word for disastrous inflation, high crime, failing schools, epic government dysfunction, hyper-partisanship, a divided nation, the rejection of merit-based hiring in favor of identify-based quotas, an open Southern border, an explosion of Jew-hate, the government using the criminal justice system against political opponents…and the link Clyburn supplies as evidence goes to the White House propaganda website! You know: the perfect place to find an objective analysis. Extraordinary skill—like the snap decision to abandon Afghanistan? Foresight—like choosing a wildly unqualified hack to be his VP because she was the right color? Decency…fatherly demeanor and compassionate tone—

?

Who could possibly read this and not find themselves spitting and gagging? Is it remotely possible that Clyburn believes what he signed—is he that stupid and blind? Does he truly have such contempt and disrespect for the American people? How can any sentient voter trust a political party that will lie like this?

Instead of making the case against third parties, Rep. Clyburn has made a powerful case for them.