Independents' Search For Leadership

Independents who remain skeptical of Trump's commitment to fighting corruption look for new leaders to carry the torch of Independence into 2026 and 2028.

Sep 14, 2024

MAHA Reacts to Trump/Harris Debate

Days after RFK Jr. went all-in on the MAHA coalition and encouraged his supporters to vote for former President Donald Trump in all fifty states, Trump’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris split MAHA supporters.

*Buttons for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 campaign, Phoenix, Arizona, December 2023 [Source—Gage Skidmore]*

MAGA and MAHA agreed that ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis acted more like Harris’ teammates than unbiased hosts. Muir and Davis repeatedly fact-checked Trump throughout the night, sometimes accurately and sometimes not, but did not fact-check a single one of Harris’ numerous false claims.

Entrepreneur and Libertarian activist Larry Sharpe said that Trump lost the debate, however, in part because he did not mention his new team of rivals including Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, and Elon Musk. Trump did not mention the chronic disease crisis either, but he did make a strong pledge to end the war in Ukraine.

Kennedy’s supporters certainly would have appreciated a shout out, but more importantly, Trump missed a unique opportunity to pitch himself to Americans as a coalition-builder rather than the polarizing figure that he has come to be seen as.

Gabbard and Kennedy have both been fiercely critical of Trump over the years. Both were lifelong Democrats who feel abandoned by their party under the Biden/Harris administration. Their stories of coming around to a coalition with Trump can reach an audience that Trump himself is otherwise unable to speak to.

Kennedy said that he believes Trump won the debate “on substance … but he didn’t tell that story.” There is “no metric that you could use,” he said, to make the case that Americans are better off now than they were four years ago, but Harris dodged that very first question of the debate entirely.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate, said that Trump did not leave “many undecided voters feeling great.” Still, she was far more fiercely critical of Harris. While she is supportive of the MAHA coalition, she has not endorsed Trump herself. A number of Independents have looked to Shanahan for leadership as she forges her own new path, somewhat independent of the Trump/Kennedy partnership but aligned in their missions.

Around the time that Kennedy endorsed Trump, Shanahan floated the idea of a campaign for California Governor in 2026. She has not been named to join Trump’s transition team, as Kennedy and Gabbard have.

Gabbard was less critical of Trump’s debate performance. Trump, she said, remained focused on the affordability and border crises that “matter most to the American people.”

Many Independents acknowledged that Harris appeared polished and prepared in the debate, but this polish was not enough to overcome deep disagreements with and distrust of Harris among MAHA supporters. Her party is the one responsible for locking Kennedy out of the Democratic primary, suing him off of state ballots as an Independent, smearing him, and censoring him, after all.

As two targets of the Democratic Party’s lawfare campaign this election cycle, MAGA and MAHA feel a certain sense of unity.

Former Independent Ohio State House candidate Justin Tjaden supported Kennedy’s Independent campaign, but he rejected the decision to partner with Trump after the debate and said he could no longer see himself supporting a Kennedy 2028 campaign. He remains supportive of Shanahan, however.

The Reform Party, which endorsed both Kennedy and Tjaden, also expressed “frustration” with Kennedy’s decision to endorse Trump and withdraw from the Florida ballot line that they had nominated him on.

Kennedy and Gabbard announced this week that they will host a joint event in support of Trump with Jessica Reed Kraus with House Inhabit, who has long been supportive of a Trump/Kennedy alliance, in Arizona this weekend. Gabbard also joined Trump at a Nevada rally on Friday night, where Trump’s closing remarks included a call to ‘Make America Healthy Again.’

Kucinich Wants to Lead Independence Into Congress

Independent congressional candidate Dennis Kucinich joined The Daily Independent’s 𝕏 Spaces on Friday to discuss his mission to bring his anti-war, constitutionalist agenda to Congress.

*Dennis Kucinich at 2013 International Students for Liberty Conference, Washington, D.C. [Source—Gage Skidmore]*

Kucinich is running to represent Ohio’s 7th District in the U.S. House as an Independent against incumbent Republican Representative Max Miller and Democrat Matthew Diemer. Last week, he was endorsed by the editorial board of The Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest daily newspaper.

His message on Friday focused heavily on the need to reverse escalation with Russia and Iran and avoid plunging the world into a wider and possible nuclear war.

On the campaign trail, Kucinich often remarks that Congress may be split down the middle after the 2024 elections, with 217 Republicans, 217 Democrats, and 1 Independent—if he wins. He pledges to wield that position of influence to wind down the endless war machine, mass surveillance, deficit spending, and to force transparency and accountability in government.

Kucinich views the influence of the military-industrial complex, the intelligence agencies, and censorship as fundamental threats to the Constitution and a free society:

“Countless people were impressed into building the pyramids, and they couldn’t say anything about it, because if they did, they were killed.
Today’s pyramids are the military-industrial complex, the intelligence architecture, and the marriage between government and Big Tech.
We are facing a challenge that is unprecedented in American history, aided by the evolution of our technology. And we haven’t had a similar evolution in our consciousness.”

Kucinich worked as Kennedy’s campaign manager in 2023. He considers Kennedy a longtime friend, but he left the campaign in late 2023 and chose not to make an endorsement in the presidential race, seeking to remain as independent as possible in his congressional campaign.

The We The People Party of North Carolina, launched earlier this year by RFK Jr., announced a partnership with Rescue The Republic, an event in Washington, D.C. on September 29th organized by Dr. Bret Weinstein, Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle, and Matt Tune.

Two We The People candidates will appear on the ballot in North Carolina this November: Jeff Scott, who is running for State Senate in District 40, and Mark Ortiz, who is running for Rowan County Commissioner.

Speakers at Rescue The Republic later this month will include Kennedy, Gabbard, Weinstein, Matt Taibbi, Russell Brand, Rob Schneider, Dr. Robert Malone, Col. Douglas Macgregor (ret.), Dr. Pierre Kory, Jimmy Dore, Zuby and more. The event is an attempt to fuel further momentum for the unity coalition that Weinstein said first began to catalyze with Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump.

In Nebraska last week, Republican Senator Deb Fischer dodged a question from a reporter on whether or not she will debate her Independent opponent Dan Osborn.

Fischer has participated in debates in the past, but last week she said that more Nebraskans want to hear from her “face to face” rather than on a debate stage. No Democrat was nominated in the race, leaving Osborn with an open lane and a serious chance to win a Senate seat as an Independent.

The Reform Party officially endorsed Osborn on Thursday.

The MAHA coalition experienced some splinters following disappointment in Trump’s debate performance, which followed splinters the week before when Kennedy encouraged his supporters in all fifty states to vote for Trump.

*Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump at rally in Glendale, Arizona, August 2024 [Source—Gage Skidmore]*

The coalition remains intact and influential, particularly after a new MAHA PAC was launched to convince Kennedy supporters that a vote for Trump is a vote for Kennedy. Many Independents, however, feel disillusioned by Kennedy’s partnership with Trump and fear that his Independent movement will be consumed by the Republican Party machine just as Bernie Sanders’ populist movement was consumed by the Democratic Party machine.

In this moment, Independents should seize every opportunity to keep the Kennedy/Shanahan coalition intact in pursuit of a broader movement to break through the two-party system in 2026 and 2028.

Victories for down-ballot candidates like Kucinich and Osborn would pour new momentum into the Independent movement as populists across the country recognize that there is a path in today’s political environment for them to win. Growth for alternative parties over the next few years, from Libertarian to Forward and Reform, would fuel the process of decentralizing political power and influence. The rise of independent citizen journalists will also be critical to give voice to the new movement, particularly in local and state politics.

Almost every Independent or third party movement in American history failed because it was centered around one presidential candidate, did not build a local or state foundation for the future, and ultimately faltered after that candidate lost their election.

If the current Independent movement hopes to successfully win elections and hold big pharma accountable, wind down the military-industrial complex, overturn Citizens United, and clean out the corrupt bureaucracy, we must remain united in this moment and focus squarely on building a foundation from which a broader movement can launch in 2026 and 2028.