"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that ‘some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest’ of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called ‘social fascists.’
After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."
The only time in my lifetime someone other than the top two candidates got even a single electoral college vote, it was by accident in 2004.
So, yes, this single vote, cast in error, has a larger count than 50+ years of 3rd parties combined.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_presidential_election_in_Minnesota
"The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. Nine were pledged for Kerry/Edwards, but one made a mistake and ended up voting for Ewards/Edwards[10] and thus became a faithless elector. Minnesota’s electors cast secret ballots, so unless one of the electors claims responsibility, it is unlikely that the identity of the faithless elector will ever be known. As a result of this incident, Minnesota Statutes were amended to provide for public balloting of the electors’ votes and invalidation of a vote cast for someone other than the candidate to whom the elector is pledged.[11]
Sonja Berg
Vi Grooms-Alban
Matthew Little
Michael Meuers
Tim O’Brien
Lil Ortendahl
Everett Pettiford
Jean Schiebel
Frank Simon
Chandler Harrison Stevens"