If we thought lesser evil politics was rough-going during the Sanders campaign, it was just heating up for the Drumpf vs Clinton main round. The alarmism about Drumpf ushering in fascism is nothing but manipulation or naiveté about how, by, & for whom this government is run & about how fascism rises to state power. Drumpf cannot usher in fascism on his own despite his demagoguery. That is not the power dynamics of how fascism took power in Germany, Spain, or Italy.

Angela Davis, who in March swore on Democracy Now not to endorse a candidate, already by June was saying “We have to defeat Trump by any means necessary.” That’s the mantra to chasten those who will not be browbeaten by the manipulations of lesser evil voting & it’s not more valid coming from her than from any other lesser evil advocate.

Those who vote for Stein may be ignoring the provincialism of her politics & how dead wrong she is on Syria & Israel & on US militarism but at least they can identify Clinton as a war criminal from her record & have a clearer sense of how & by whom this country is run. The most important contribution Stein has made to this election is her cogent elaboration of the folly of lesser evil politics & her ability to make chopped liver of the parsing between the politics of Drumpf & Clinton.