Is Trump or Biden a bigger threat to democracy?

When more than two-thirds of the American electorate doesn’t want to vote for either major party’s nominee, a third party should have a chance. Polls have demonstrated that whichever party chucked its front-runner would win –even if it nominated a cloned sheep. Yet last week, having failed to convince a prominent politician to sign up, No Labels closed shop.

The centrist project was doomed from the start. The formation of a successful ‘unity party’ is inherently unlikely in an era of rabid polarisation. Republicans and Democrats differ substantially on policy issues, and compromise positions on tax, Israel, Ukraine, immigration, and racial preferences would be either unappealingly timid or impossible. While claiming to be nonpartisan, No Labels had promised not to run any candidate who benefitted Donald Trump, a stipulation that was as partisan as could be. The negative designation ‘No Labels’ itself suggested an absence, like a ‘My name is …’ lapel sticker left blank.

The disaffected are therefore left with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr – whom in the same week CNN subjected to an aggressive, interruptive and personally insulting interrogation. To the network’s undoubted exasperation, the independent held up to Erin Burnett’s finger-jabbing impressively well. Intended to take RFK down, this interview was part of the larger Democratic media’s concerted effort to murder the upstart’s candidacy in its crib. The New York Times never misses an opportunity to smear the guy as an ‘anti-vaxxer’ and a ‘conspiracy theorist’, because the plan is to cast Bobby Kennedy’s rasping, craggy son as a fruitcake.

The usual accusation hurled at third parties is that they’re ‘spoilers’. Burnett inevitably brought up Ralph Nader’s role in helping to elect George W. Bush. But so far it’s not clear whether RFK takes more votes from Joe Biden or Trump.