The Beginning of the MAHA Coalition

A new chapter for both Independents and MAGA.

Aug 31, 2024

America’s rising Independent movement was reshaped and redirected last week, to both hope and skepticism among its supporters.

*Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorses former President Donald Trump at rally in Glendale, Arizona, August 2024 [Source—Gage Skidmore, License—CC BY-SA 2.0]*

The movement’s potential to reshape and redirect American government remains more profound in 2024 than it has been in decades.

Independent leaders now occupy influential roles in the Trump campaign and down-ballot Independents and Libertarians have unique opportunities to win seats amid a sea of partisan dysfunction.

In short, the Independent movement has only just begun in earnest.

The MAHA Coalition

Last week, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump. He remains an Independent.

Kennedy told his supporters at a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona that he made his decision with a heavy heart, but felt that he would not be able to look himself in the mirror if he declined the opportunity to finally meaningfully address the chronic disease epidemic:

“For 19 years, I prayed every morning that God would put me in a position to end this calamity.
Nobody in power seemed to care or to even notice.”

Kennedy named ending censorship and the war in Ukraine as his two other principal reasons for running that he believes will be achieved by a second Trump administration.

His campaign is not terminated, only suspended. Kennedy plans to keep his name on the ballot in most non-swing states. If he can earn 5 percent of the national vote, as Larry Sharpe explained to Kim Iversen several weeks ago, he can secure matching federal campaign funds for a 2028 presidential campaign for a new political party.

He removed his name from the ballot in Florida, however, where the Reform Party sought to nominate him, and the Alliance Party withdrew their nomination of him in South Carolina.

The swing states of Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are also refusing to remove Kennedy’s name from the ballot, citing state laws that prevent them from doing so despite the candidate’s desire to withdraw.

Kennedy revealed to Tucker Carlson this week that Trump has asked him to serve as an “honorary co-chair” of his transition team with a hand in selecting the personnel who will run Trump’s administration. Trump reportedly admitted to Kennedy that he appointed many people he “should not have appointed” in his first term.

Trump’s appointment of corporate insiders was one of Kennedy’s key criticisms of Trump during the campaign. It is something that Trump has now signaled he wants to correct with his appointment of Kennedy to a place in the transition team that will decide who to appoint to his second administration.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate, made it clear on Dave Smith’s Part of the Problem podcast that she has not yet endorsed Trump herself and remains an Independent.

She admitted, however, that she felt “completely misinformed about what MAGA is” and expressed amazement at the reception Kennedy was given at Trump’s rally and the openness of MAGA supporters. Late this week, she posted a viral video mimicking pharmaceutical drug ads promoting ‘Independence’ as an antidote to ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’

She has been openly supportive of the MAHA coalition to place chronic disease center stage in Trump’s second term and has slammed Vice President Kamala Harris as “the ultimate puppet” of the establishment.

Before Kennedy announced his endorsement of Trump, Shanahan suggested that she was considering a 2026 campaign for California Governor on the Impact Theory podcast.

A few days after Kennedy’s announcement, former Representative Tulsi Gabbard officially endorsed President Trump.

*Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard at The People’s Convention in Detroit, Michigan, June 2024 [Source—Gage Skidmore, License—CC BY-SA 2.0]*

Gabbard was a Democrat throughout her time in Congress. She remained a Democrat as she resigned as Vice Chair of the DNC in 2016 to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders and ran for president against the party establishment in 2020.

In 2022, however, she left the party and registered Independent. Her endorsement of Sanders in 2016 and her endorsement of Trump now were motivated by the same core reason: Tulsi Gabbard is fiercely non-interventionist and opposed to American military adventurism.

She provides a litany of other reasons and nuance in her April 2024 book For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind, but she said in endorsing Trump that witnessing the human cost of war during her 2004-2005 deployment to Iraq made non-interventionism central to her political outlook.

Gabbard has been on a TSA watchlist called Quiet Skies since July 23. She confirmed during an interview this week that she remains on the federal watchlist that severely interferes with her travel.

She has also been named an “honorary co-chair” of Trump’s transition team in the event of his victory, placing her alongside Kennedy in the key role of selecting the personnel to serve in the next administration.

The Future of the Independent Movement

Throughout American history, Independent and third party movements have almost all failed for a similar reason:

They are built around one presidential candidate who inspires the movement for a moment but fails to seize the momentary opportunity to lay the groundwork for a long-term Independent movement or new party.

Ross Perot left a legacy, but his Reform Party infrastructure faltered just a few years after his second presidential campaign.

President Theodore Roosevelt earned second place in the popular and electoral vote with his newly-formed Progressive Party in 1912, dropping the Republican Party to third, but the party floundered after his insurgent campaign.

2024 is the opening of a new momentary opportunity to construct a lasting Independent movement or new party. This movement can either fizzle with the partnership between Kennedy and Trump or it can inspire a groundswell of independent-minded Americans to run for local and state offices as Independents or with new parties in 2026 and 2028.

*Former Representative Dennis Kucinich at Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 2018 [Source—Erik Drost, License—CC BY 2.0]*

The Daily Independent is following three candidates in the 2024 elections who fit that description and we are looking to expand our list.

Dennis Kucinich, Independent candidate for U.S. House from Ohio’s 7th District [Campaign website]

Kucinich served in the U.S. House as a Democrat from 1997 to 2013. Before that, he served as Mayor of Cleveland from 1977 to 1979.

He left the Democratic Party and announced his candidacy for U.S. House as an Independent earlier this year, and he is running against incumbent Republican Representative Max Miller and Democrat Matthew Diemer.

Michael White, Libertarian candidate for Arkansas State House from the 75th District [Campaign website]

White is a telecom entrepreneur and 2022 Libertarian nominee for U.S. House Arkansas District 2 who is now running for state legislature in a head-to-head race against Democratic State Representative Ashley Hudson; no Republican was nominated in the race.

He describes his race as the “most winnable race for Liberty in the country.”

Justin Tjaden, Independent candidate for Ohio State House from the 99th District [Campaign website]

Tjaden is a lawyer and was editor and publisher of his hometown newspaper, the Julestown Advocate. He is running for Ohio’s state legislature against incumbent Republican Representative Sarah Fowler Arthur and Democrat Louis Murphy.

Tjaden’s ballot access petition was denied by the Geauga County Board of Elections earlier this year, but he has challenged the decision all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, where his case is currently being heard.

We are looking into a new candidate for the first time this week: Dan Osborne, Independent candidate for U.S. Senate from Nebraska.

Osborne served four years in the Navy and later became president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 50G, where he led the 2021 Kellogg’s strike at the plant.

He is running only against incumbent Republican Senator Deb Fischer; no Democrat is in the race. Osborn and Fischer appear to be tied in polling, exemplifying how true Independents can be competitive in traditionally safe Democrat or Republican races.

2024 presents Independents with a historically rare opportunity to force American politics away from the two-party system that has become polarizing and destructive to our people.

This November will see a Republican-Independent unity coalition on the ballot, election reform referendums on the ballot in several states, a viable Independent candidate for U.S. Senate, a viable Libertarian for Arkansas state legislature, and slates of local Forward Party candidates in several states.

Will Americans take this opportunity to begin a new declaration of independence from our corrupt duopoly?