EDITORIAL: Democrats increasingly desperate over No Labels

A little-watched federal civil trial in Delaware reveals how Democrats professing to be defenders of democracy are working feverishly to pervert the democratic process.

The case involves No Labels, the political organization that may run a “unity ticket” third-party candidate this November challenging President Joe Biden and the likely GOP nominee, Donald Trump. The group alleges that liberal activists are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to undermine No Labels and prevent it from gaining ballot access in various states.

This may sound far-fetched, but the trial — which involves issues of copyright infringement and the No Labels website — has produced some eye-openers. Democrats are panicked that a No Labels candidate could siphon away votes from Mr. Biden and increase Mr. Trump’s chances of returning to the Oval Office. And they’re prepared to go to great lengths to make sure that doesn’t happen, democracy be damned.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that the trial produced testimony revealing political operatives “took over the NoLabels.com domain last year and purchased Google search ads aimed at spreading the misleading claim that the group supported” Trump “and other right-wing causes.”

The goal was to smear the group and dissuade moderate and independent voters from supporting a No Labels candidate. Planning documents released during the trial state, “This is a real opportunity for us to mirror the NL.ORG language while also framing the entire NL project as a right-wing shadow effort by crafting language that looks like it’s coming from NL,” the Post reported.

No Labels discovered the subterfuge after the fake website appeared in November “with Google ads that redirected people searching the group’s name,” according to the paper. The group sued and a federal judge ordered the phony site taken down until the matter is adjudicated. The judge reiterated his decision after hearing testimony last week.

Activists are also attempting to use arcane campaign finance laws to sidetrack efforts by No Labels to field a candidate.

Politics is a rough-and-tumble endeavor and dirty tricks are part of the racket. Notorious Democratic trickster Dick Tuck once donned a conductor’s cap to wave a train out the station while Richard Nixon was giving a whistle-stop speech from its rear platform. All’s fair in love and politics.

But Democrats have aggressively positioned themselves this campaign as the grand supporters of democracy working to save the nation from the authoritarian Mr. Trump. Yet here they are, slogging through the sewer in a desperate attempt to limit choices for American voters in the November election. Democracy? Only if it’s a one-way street, apparently.