I have a lot of friends voting for Evan McMullin, the independent presidential candidate.

McMullin is a hero to what’s left of the #NeverTrump movement. He is supposedly a conservative, although many conservatives are skeptical. Maybe he’s a fine person. I don’t even care to contest that. I don’t know him.

But McMullin is not a viable candidate for president. He is a spoiler candidate, and he is fully aware of this! That’s why his campaign strategy, as he revealed in a recent interview, is not to win 270 electoral votes, but instead, to swing the election to Hillary Clinton.

Via RealClearPolitics:

QUESTION: How many states are you going to be on the ballot would you say? EVAN MCMULLIN: Right now we’re either on the ballot or registered as a write-in in 34 states. By the time we get to November 8th it will be 40 to 45. And that’s plenty for our strategy which is not a conventional strategy. We’re not trying to win 270 votes. Of course that would be great but it’s just not going to happen, this is a three-month presidential campaign. So, what we’re trying to do is earn enough electoral votes to block Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump if the race between both of them is so close that we are able to do that by winning 1 or 2 states. So, that’s the idea. But if not that then we will be happy to have prevented someone who I believe is a true authoritarian from taking power in the United States and that’s Donald Trump.

If McMullin’s strategy was actually winning one or two states, denying both Trump and Clinton 270 votes and giving himself an opportunity to win if the election is thrown to the House of Representatives, why would he need ballot access in “40 to 45” states? Because, as he admits at the end of the clip, his true strategy, first and foremost, is to deny Donald Trump the White House. He wants to take as many votes away from him as possible, allowing Hillary Clinton to win critical battleground states. Winning a state outright is, in the end, just a pipe dream:

…So, that’s the idea. But if not that then we will be happy to have prevented someone who I believe is a true authoritarian from taking power in the United States and that’s Donald Trump.

McMullin is ultimately just another tool of an establishment hell-bent on stopping a Donald Trump victory because he threatens their power and their livelihoods. Don’t fall for it.

We have a binary choice on November 8th. It’s Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. You have a choice between the pro-abortion, anti-religious freedom candidate, Hillary Clinton, or the guy who sometimes says crude things, Donald Trump, who will stand up for life and protect religious freedom from those who seek to destroy the First Amendment and the Constitution itself.

Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by the media into voting for fake candidates who have no intention of winning. Make your vote count.

UPDATE: I’ve responded to criticism of this article’s headline here.

Jon Schweppe is the Communications Director at American Principles Project.