“I don’t like [insert politician], but I have to vote for the lesser of two evils.”
The “Lesser of Two Evils” fallacy is the reason the United States is the mess that it currently is. People rarely vote for politicians they like or admire. They simply vote against a politician whom they see as particularly evil. This is no more apparent than in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton.
There were small bases on each side who enthusiastically supported their candidate, but the majority of Americans saw their opponent as akin to the devil, so they voted for “the lesser of two evils.” This is a fallacy because a lesser evil is still evil.
2016 was no anomaly. Every democratic election is a case of voting for the lesser of two evils. You heard the same excuses in the 2020 election of Trump vs. Joe Biden. There was no rabid base of Biden fans—just people who were rabidly voting for ABT (anyone but Trump). The Democrats got their "lesser evil" candidate elected, yet there are still kids in cages at the border. The electorate will continue to get the "lesser evil" if they continue to vote for it.
The only way to stop the GOP and DNC from putting up “lesser evil” candidates is to stop voting for them. Either vote for a third party or don’t vote at all. But voting for the lesser of two evils is never not evil.