Evan McMullin, whom I affectionately dubbed Ivan McMuffin years ago, rides again. As you might remember, McMullin is the dunce who ran for president in 2016 to “save America from Trump” and ended up getting a whopping 732,273 votes nationally—roughly one half of one percent of the vote.
But have no fear! After face-planting into the brick wall of reality six years ago, McMullin is back, this time running for the U.S. Senate seat in Utah as an independent against Republican incumbent Mike Lee. The good people of the Beehive State should know McMullin has no business running for that office, or even dogcatcher for that matter.
Let’s start with the self-dealing behind McMullin’s past races and political activism that provide numerous examples of unethical behavior.
Indeed, McMullin’s entire career as a NeverTrumper leaves many with the impression that it was nothing but a get rich quick scheme. According to documents obtained by ProPublica, McMullin paid himself a $45,000 salary as president of his “nonprofit” Stand Up Ideas and then, indirectly, sent himself consulting fees of $222,305 in 2017 and $1.5 million in 2018, which went to his for-profit consulting business.
What makes the situation even more appalling is that McMullin still has hundreds of thousands of dollars left in outstanding invoices that he’s refused to pay from his 2016 presidential election debacle. It stands to reason that after he loses this race for Senate he will monetize his fundraising list into some other grift. These transactions may not be illegal per se, but they should raise red flags with voters. Perhaps McMullin isn’t in this race because he cares deeply about the people of Utah but because he is thinking about the cash he can make on the back end when he loses.