No it does not work for every candidate.That logic works for any candidate.
If the goal is to 'not waste' your vote by voting for a loser than you have to pick whoever is going to win.
Once it became clear trump was winning, using valcazar logic, you wasted your vote by voting for Harris.
Personally, I think democracy is better served by voting for who you want to lead.
You are wasting your vote if you are voting for anyone other than Trump or Harris.
In the US, in a 2 party system, you know even before the election that the winner is going to be either the Republican candidate or the Democrat.
Everyone else competes, but they are largely irrelevant.
So any vote you give to someone like Stein, gets you Trump, who is not good for your cause.