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jon huntsman
Don’t Fall for No Labels’ Trap
They are working behind the scenes to get Trump, an existential threat to our democracy, back into the White House.
Aug 30, 2023
When I first came to Congress, I was enamored with the alleged ideal behind No Labels and their mission to take partisanship out of politics. A world where people can work together on ideas that help the American people despite ideological differences.
Boy was I wrong.
Their nonpartisan agenda is and always has been dishonest. My first disagreement with No Labels came when I realized they were only looking out for megadonor special interests, advocating for lowering taxes on the rich and powerful, and weakening regulations for big business, making it easier for them to exploit workers or the environment.
Now why would major Republican donor Harlan Crow give money to No Labels for a third-party candidate?
After a short while, I became concerned about who was funding them. One day, I called them to ask, and they told me they would “quietly remove me from their membership rolls.” I told them, “I don’t do anything quietly.”
I left the organization and the Problem Solvers Caucus. Then No Labels got involved in electoral politics. In 2014, they endorsed Republican Cory Gardner for Senate, despite the fact that he was challenging Mark Udall, the sitting Democratic senator from Colorado. So much for “no labels.”
Late last year, it was reported that the organization is rife with toxicity and corruption. No Labels is apparently taking a page out of the Donald Trump playbook.
Fast forward to today.
No Labels is now working behind the scenes to recruit a “third-party” candidate for president if President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the two nominees. This is a recipe for disaster.
Instead of staying out of the current presidential race, No Labels is setting up this scheme to be a spoiler in the 2024 presidential election to prevent Biden from being reelected. They are working behind the scenes to get Trump, an existential threat to our democracy, back into the White House.
They know what they’re doing. No Labels doesn’t want a president in the White House who stands up to corporate interests like Joe Biden. They want someone like Donald Trump who turns a blind eye to rules, regulations, and laws.
No Labels isn’t even hiding it anymore. They just announced they are on the ballot in 10 states, including Arizona and Nevada where President Biden won by a very narrow margin in 2020.
No Labels knows that advocating for a third party is only going to take votes away from Joe Biden and attempts to give the electoral college victory to Donald Trump.
Candidates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) or former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman will only take votes from Biden, not Trump.
No Labels is doubling down on this anti-democratic approach. One of their billionaire donors is Harlan Crow—the same Harlan Crow who has been acting as Justice Clarence Thomas’s benefactor, taking him and his extreme MAGA wife, Virginia Thomas, on trips all over the country.
Now why would major Republican donor Harlan Crow give money to No Labels for a third-party candidate? Because he understands it’s all just a ruse to get Donald Trump back into the White House. To cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans. To eliminate regulations for polluters. And to push for an extreme agenda.
Reporting has only begun to scratch the surface of these anti-democratic plans from No Labels. But until they break through, we need to speak out.
No Labels is counting on you and me to go along with their plan. They know many Americans are disillusioned with the two-party system and want to vote for someone other than a Democrat or Republican. But this is not the way to do it. This is sabotage in the most anti-democratic way. Don’t fall for their trap. Don’t be duped.
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Who’s Buying the ‘No Labels’ Label?
The supposed reform group won’t disclose the source of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it’s hauled in from right-wing corporate interests.
Jul 31, 2023
As John Mellencamp sings: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” True. And here’s an equally true twist on that aphorism: “If you stand for everything, you won’t amount to anything.”
In a remarkable achievement, a newly formed political organization calling itself “No Labels” has managed to fall into both traps, standing up for everything and nothing at all.
The fledgling entity is using every synonym in the book to assure everyone that it is a middle-of-the-road, bipartisan, centrist, both-sides party, offering hybrid liberal-conservative solutions that won’t offend anyone.
While they don’t stand for much, there is one huge, overriding issue that the No Labels hucksters strongly agree on: corporate money contaminating American politics. These “reformers” are in favor of it!
But wait—they’ve chosen a multimillionaire coal baron and multimillionaire son of a global plastics polluter to be their standard bearers. If they’re put on a presidential ticket, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Jon Huntsman could unite voters of both parties—against them!
While they don’t stand for much, there is one huge, overriding issue that the No Labels hucksters strongly agree on: corporate money contaminating American politics. These “reformers” are in favor of it!
Indeed, secret fat cat donations are the No Labelers’ financial lifeline, having already hauled in hundreds of thousands of dollars from right-wing corporate interests. Such as? No-no, say the founders—we can’t tell you who’s buying the “No Labels” label, for the funders don’t want the public to know their names or their special interests.
Of course, secret-funding of elections equals secret government—of, by, and for the funders. By standing against the people’s right to know, the group has put a flaming neon “fraud” label on their hokey “reform” movement. Huntsman even admits it, saying financial disclosure would be the right thing to do, but “that’s not the way you play the game.”
“The game?” Just what we need—another gang of corporate politicos who think governing America is a game to be won by hook or crook.
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As Manchin Headlines New Hampshire Event, Critics Slam 'Bullsh*t Idea' of Presidential Run
"One more time for the people in the back: No Labels, and their candidates like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema aren't 'bipartisan,'" said one progressive activist. "They are 'corporate-donor-first.'"
Jul 17, 2023
As U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin took his so-called "commonsense" message to a New Hampshire audience on Monday, critics blasted the right-wing West Virginia Democrat for promoting a political organization backed largely by Republican donors and—if he decides to run for president next year as many observers believe he might—possibly helping to return former President Donald Trump to the White House.
Speaking alongside fellow headliner and former Republican Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman at Monday's No Labels "Common Sense Town Hall" at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire—a key primary state—Manchin said that "I haven't made a decision" about running for president next year, when the coal baron and habitual saboteur of his own party's agenda is also up for Senate reelection.
Claiming that Republicans and Democrats have "gone too far right and too far left," Manchin said the two parties can't be moved toward moderation "unless they're threatened."
Manchin said that if voters have viable alternatives to what critics have called the two-party duopoly, Democrats and Republicans "are in trouble."
Rejecting the notion that he would act as a spoiler were he to run for president, Manchin said that "I've never been in any race I've ever spoiled, I've been in races to win. And if I get in a race, I'm gonna win."
Numerous observers derided the notion that No Labels—a billionaire-backed organization seeking to run a so-called "unity ticket" in 2024—is nonpartisan.
"No Labels is nothing more than a Republican front group," the Progressive Change Campaign Committee tweeted. "They're staffed by Republicans, bankrolled by Republicans, and their third-party gambit will only help elect MAGA Republicans like Trump. Joe Manchin just gives them the patina of bipartisanship."
In a message to Manchin, 2020 GOP presidential candidate and former Republican U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh said that "the world doesn't revolve around you."
"What your country is going through right now is bigger than you and your ambition," he added. "Don't even think about this No Labels bullshit idea of running for president. Put your country first dammit."
Journalist, political activist, and comedian Francesca Fiorentini said it is "hard to hold back the rage at the No Labels group trying to float Manchin as a third-party candidate."
"Make no mistake that billionaires would rather see Trump Part 2 than anyone taking action for working people."
"Make no mistake that billionaires would rather see Trump Part 2 than anyone taking action for working people," she added.
Melanie D'Arrigo, who leads the Campaign for New York Health—which is fighting for single-payer universal healthcare—tweeted a megaphone emoji with the message, "One more time for the people in the back: No Labels, and their candidates like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema aren't 'bipartisan.'"
Sinema, a senator from Arizona who is also up for reelection next year, switched from serving as a Democrat to an Independent in December after long facing criticism for obstructing the party's priorities.
"They are 'corporate-donor-first,'" D'Arrigo added. "They help donors who donate to both sides of the aisle and call it 'bipartisanship.'"
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