US elections: European Greens call for Jill Stein to step down

Here's the problem: Trump is out to maximize environmental damage and the US Green Party runs as spoilers. Let's look at three scenarios:

Scenario 1:

Harris: 1001 votes

Trump: 1000 votes

Stein: 0 votes

Harris wins

Scenario 2:

Harris: 1000 votes

Trump: 1000 votes

Stein: 1 vote

Tied vote, which goes to the courts and Congress, putting Trump in power

Scenario 3:

Harris: 999 votes

Trump: 1000 votes

Stein: 2 votes

Trump wins outright

This spoiler effect makes it really imperative to actively vote for Harris if you want to see any kind of climate action going forward. Republicans know this, which is why they're the ones funding the Green Party.

And that's why the European Greens want Jill Stein to step down now — they get that what she's doing is making it easier to elect a fascist bent on environmental destruction.

79 comments

The US Green party is fully captured. Their presence in any state-level offices has fully waned under Stein. They have no power to affect change anywhere anymore and exist only to spoil.
- I agree and would add that they didn't really have much power to begin with. If they cared about the environment, they would've stepped back for this election on principle of what's at stake.
  The fact that they don't care who wins means they don't actually care about the ideals the party is supposed to be about. If you don't live to fight another day, then you've ultimately lost.
  
  Or just run in deep blue districts to challenge sure-thing Democratic moderates who slow walk progressive stuff. You'd think that'd be where their best chances are while also being the places where the impact would be strictly beneficial.
  
  they do care who wins. they want to be the ones to win
I’m a hard lefty and even I will tell people not to give any votes to Stein. She rubs shoulders with Putin and a bunch of his cabinet members. There was also the time she called for a recount, took a bunch of donations to get the recount going, and then when it inevitably failed, she vanished with the money.
- I was going say that maybe Putin has a kompromat on Stein which is why she is buddy with an autocrat, but now that you mentioned she took away with donations, Stein is just a genuinely greedy thief.
  
  It wouldn’t surprise me if both of those things are true.
Maybe if the Russian Green Party asked, she would
I guess the US Green party got kicked out of the international federation of Greens? Somehow that's not surprising...
But then, shouldn't someone make a "New Green Party" that is a member of the federation? And can claim legitimacy as the true Green party with international support? Pointing out that the other Green party in the US lacks recognition and is thus a sham?
And then .. this new Green party - could endorse the Dem candidate for President. Most folks who'd follow the greens would probably follow that endorsement...
- You could do something like that, and run local and legislative candidates in states like Alaska and Maine which have ranked-choice voting for their general election, or California which uses top-two primaries. Would probably be easier if there was some way to redirect the existing US Green Party towards a path that might actually gain some amount of power, instead of serving as a spoiler.
Where o where is UniversalMonk when you want to shove something in his smarmy, trollish face...?
- On tons of block lists, probably.
  
  Definitely on mine.
- Wherever he is, he can fucking stay there.
That's good to hear.
Here in the US, I haven't seen a sign or heard a word from or about Stein this year. None. Also true in previous years. How's a GP going to get grown if it doesn't get a voice in and on the news? If the crazy right wasn't enough, I also notice that the Dems spent some time and money trying to put her down.
Looking at the GP platform, it seems solid. But, in the US, my position has NO representation in the US. If there is a GP in the US, it's been very muted. Stein is just a stale placeholder with no voice. That's not leadership. Every election for DECADES I've heard, "oh, not this time. We have to win it back" or "we have to hold on to it". OK, so when should we vote GP then? Screw that argument. We need another party, and there's only one way to get there. And that's quality, visable, vocal, energetic, leadership.
I looked at Canada's GP yesterday. They at least have -some- kind of org. in most provinces. IIUC, the GP has two seats in their congress. They got a million votes in 2019. That's better than nothing.
- I am delighted to vote green in local elections. They currently have no political machine, no elections ground game, no seats in the other branches of government... Say Stein somehow broke reality in six ways and got enough electoral college votes to win? Her and what cabinet? She'd still be at the mercy of the entire US government, who would bully her into status quo politics or worse, most likely.
  Vote your conscience locally. You don't walk up to a six hour old game of Monopoly with empty hands and big demands unless you're trolling or trying to change the game, and Stein is no revolutionary.
I just want to say, what's up with the comments here getting copious amount of downvotes but no feedback as to why they disagree with the comments? Could it be bad faith actors trying to downplay the criticism of Stein, and wants her to stay on the race?
This would make sense if Stein was actually taking voters from Harris instead of Trump.
- Nobody who voted, or leans Trumps way has ever voted for Jill Stein ever.
  And every troll on lemmy trying to get someone to vote for Stein, is lamenting her as the alternative to Harris. Get outta here with this unbelievable take.
  
  Nobody who voted, or leans Trumps way has ever voted for Jill Stein ever.
  There's plenty of people who are not fine with the current system that would vote for a third party. I'm gonna make an assumption less stupid than yours and claim that actually most people are not fine with the current system and would gladly vote for another candidate if it wasn't for the narrative spinning the fight between red and blue.
- Can't say I've met the elusive DeSantis/Green voter.
  It's almost like Newsweek is a rag publication and anyone who actually believes Greens pull from Trump, well, they read Newsweek.
This spoiler effect makes it really imperative to actively vote for Harris if you want to see any kind of climate action going forward.
Anyone who call to imperatively vote for the red and blue party is an enemy of the climate cause and of humanity. If you want to see any kind of climate action do not vote or advocate for the parties and politicians that have cycled in power for the past decades and have brought humanity on the brink of extinction.
- The difference is that the Biden line keeps all of Biden's climate laws and the Trump line kills them. So this is not including any climate laws Harris might introduce, however the difference until 2030 between both scenarios is about the annual emissions of the EU and Japan combined! Biden has a lot of flaws, but he has done some actually large scale positive climate action.
  https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-trump-election-win-could-add-4bn-tonnes-to-us-emissions-by-2030/
  
  The target has not being reached and the government isn't even considering doing something as simple as banning private jets or yachts. If you care about the climate cause do not advocate for the parties and politicians who have brought us to this point. Instead of defending them and pointing out that one is less awful than the other use your energies to do something better.
- Name any realistic scenario where voting for Stein would affect positive change.
  
  Name any realistic scenario where voting for red or blue would affect positive change
- Oh fuck off.
  Does it feel dirty as fuck? Of course it does, but if you genuinely think there is no difference at all in climate outlook between the two then I have a billion oil jacks to sell you.
  It might be the lesser of two evils, but every tonne less we emit is one less we need to remove.
  
  Scientists have been warning us for years that we are getting past the point of no return. Red and blue party have both led us there and not give a fuck about climate until the pressure was on losing votes because of it. Under the current climate crisis the government isn't even considering banning private jets and yachts to keep pleasing the 0.01%