Dems Suffer Flashbacks As 2016 ‘Spoiler’ Jill Stein Announces White House Run

Democrats across the country are pacing their living rooms with clenched jaws and fists, as the woman they hold responsible for tipping the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump has announced she’s jumping into the 2024 race.  

Jill Stein, who previously ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2016 and 2012, announced her bid on Thursday. “With the war machine swallowing trillions of dollars as working people struggle to survive and the climate crisis accelerates, it’s time to offer voters a viable alternative to the bought-off politicians who have thrown them under the bus,” said Stein. “The ruling parties that got us into this mess aren’t getting us out.”

In a video promoting her latest Green Party candidacy, Stein took shots at both major parties, but many of her most pointed barbs were illustrated with headlines about the Democratic Party’s actions —  including references to “throwing competitors off the ballot, suppressing the base” and “rigging their primaries.”   

The political system is broken. Over 60% of us now say the two-party establishment has failed us and we need a party that serves the people.

I’m running for President to offer a better choice for the people. Join us!https://t.co/sjGXNNSnmK pic.twitter.com/QkrugPGadb

— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) November 9, 2023

Stein is reviled by Democrats who think she took enough votes from Hillary Clinton in 2016 to allow Trump to win key battleground states and thus the election. Stein’s vote-counts in both Michigan and Wisconsin were larger than Trump’s margins of victory. 

In 2019, when the Russia Collusion hoax still had legs, Clinton went so far as to accuse Stein of working directly for Moscow. Discussing the 2020 field, Clinton first said the Russians were grooming Tulsi Gabbard. She continued, “That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not, because she’s also a Russian asset. Yes, she’s a Russian asset, I mean, totally. They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate.”

Hillary Clinton accused Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate in both the 2012 and 2016 elections, of being a “Russian asset.”

Stein tells @smerconish it’s a “completely unhinged conspiracy theory.” https://t.co/zm0aJeH8M7 pic.twitter.com/wT1kAk2g0z

— CNN (@CNN) October 19, 2019

In that same wacky spirit, following Stein’s announcement, many are rushing to social media to post a photo that’s supposed to be some sort of gasp-inducing, smoking-gun evidence of Stein’s status as a Russian agent. 

Jill Stein is a Russian asset. What part of what happened in 2016 don’t you all understand? pic.twitter.com/B4fCcUaAvy

— American Veteran (@VetsNyc30811) November 10, 2023

Stein’s campaign issued a statement disputing the photo’s implications:

“Jill Stein was invited to a 2015 media conference in Russia, which she attended at her own expense to spread a message of peace and diplomacy. At the Moscow conference, Dr. Stein gave a speech in which she criticized the excessive militarism of both Vladimir Putin and U.S. leaders.

At the dinner, she was seated with diplomats and office holders from various countries, including Michael Flynn, who had most recently served as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under Obama. Putin sat at the table for a few minutes, during which he spoke only with his Russian-speaking companions. Dr. Stein publicized her experiences at the time via a press release and social media posts. The Senate Intelligence Committee later investigated the trip and found no wrongdoing whatsoever.” 

Against the backdrop of the proxy war in Ukraine and blank-check backing of Israel’s ruthless destruction of Gaza, Stein is certain to capture at least some progressive voters outraged with the Biden administration. However, as with 2016, the debate about Stein’s potential spoiler status rests on the extent to which those voters might simply stay home if Stein weren’t in the race — as opposed to making the effort to vote for the warmongering Biden. 

Stein’s announcement coincided with another blow to Democrats: On Thursday, centrist West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2024, virtually guaranteeing the seat will flip to the Republican Party. Manchin also dropped strong hints that he’ll pursue a third-party White House run via the No Labels organization.  

Manchin and Stein are the latest in a wave of late-to-the-2024-party, wild-card entrants:

• This summer, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced that he was abandoning the rigged Democratic Party nomination process — which includes refusing to host debates — to run as an independent. A recent Quinnipiac poll found Kennedy leading among independents. His candidacy briefly had high appeal for many libertarians and progressives, before Kennedy startled them with a series of intensely pro-Israel statements that shattered his anti-war credentials. 
• In October, Democratic Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips announced he was challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination. Phillips has voted in lockstep with the Biden agenda. The mega-millionaire Phillips’ campaign appears to be a call option on a scenario in which the clearly-declining Biden is finally deemed physically and/or mentally incapable of running again.