It’s a protest vote because you know without any doubt whatsoever that the third party candidate could not possibly win.

That’s not what a protest vote means. “Vote for the person you want to” is the foundation of democracy. You cannot subvert that concept and still claim to be pro-Democracy.

They will surely lose and you will have done nothing to prevent the harm that Trump will certainly bring if elected.

A well-informed voter would be aware of this and will have decided that support of the third party is worth more than that. As a self-descibred savoir of democracy, you have to respect their choice or recognize yourself as a hypocrite.

It is literally the same fucking argument every time with you people.

Ditto. It’s always the same “We love democracy! Unless you don’t support The Party, then your vote doesn’t matter. Vote for us even if you don’t want to because we’ll protect your right to vote (for our party),” coupled with some weird Abrahamic Doomsday scaremongering to keep the rubes in line.