Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, posted a cryptic tweet over the weekend promising a third party alternative would soon emerge to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate–an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 29, 2016

Trump, of course, just couldn’t contain his own impulsive Twitter behavior and launched into Kristol with his typical middle-school mannerisms. (Notice the time stamps — these were all posted within ten minutes. Trump is seriously unstable, but I digress.)

Bill Kristol has been wrong for 2yrs-an embarrassed loser, but if the GOP can't control their own, then they are not a party. Be tough, R's!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

The Republican Party has to be smart & strong if it wants to win in November. Can't allow lightweights to set up a spoiler Indie candidate!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an Independent, say good bye to the Supreme Court!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

This is not just a flash-in-the-pan idea concocted by Kristol over the weekend. He’s been working for over a month to find a third party candidate to run against Trump and Clinton.

https://youtu.be/nTDd_bRDb0A

Trump has also been aware of Kristol working behind the scenes to find an independent candidate, as evidenced by his condescending rant during a speech in Anaheim, CA, last week.

https://youtu.be/1hFKtFyUSzM

Notice the tossing of the red meat to the throng — no one’s ever heard of this guy, no one reads his magazine, I’ve been told his magazine is failing, we’re going to make the military so great, yada, yada, yada.

(Right. Failing magazine. Just like he lied about National Review in January after it published a special edition critical of Trump. Again, I digress.)

National Review is a failing publication that has lost it's way. It's circulation is way down w its influence being at an all time low. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2016

So who is the mysterious candidate?

Breitbart is reporting that neither Sens. Ben Sasse of Nebraska nor Ted Cruz of Texas — Cruz being the last man standing against Trump — will run as independent candidates. Add Jeb Bush to that list as well, according to a “high-placed source,” reports Breitbart.

Other names mentioned include Mitt Romney and former GOP Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, but they have dismissed their own candidacy, despite having met with Kristol to discuss possible candidates.

A third party candidate will not win the presidency, let’s be realistic. But could it be a nuclear option to deny both Trump or Clinton from obtaining the necessary 270 electoral college votes to win? The race then would fall to the current House of Representatives to decide. There is historic precedence; in 1824 the House elected John Quincy Adams as president after an inconclusive four-man race between Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay.

Jonathan Chait wrote earlier this month at New York magazine that such a third party run could not steal the Electoral College from either Trump or Clinton. However, Chait did not account for the rise of freshly-nominated Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson, already polling at 10% against both Trump and Clinton. Throw into that mix a potential independent conservative candidate against two candidates with sky-high negatives, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what could happen in this most unpredictable and mercurial presidential season in anyone’s memory.