Yes, there’s a Kennedy running for president. All of a sudden, his name is getting around.
His name, that’s the thing. I was a teenager when Bobby Kennedy was shot, but I still remember the sense of excitement and loss surrounding his candidacy. The Kennedy name evokes a kind of magic in politics — or maybe it’s just general restlessness — but recent polls have shown that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running as a Democrat for president, is polling as high as 20% of the Democratic electorate in a match-up with President Joe Biden.
Who?
What?
His name, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., evokes the magic of another era for a dwindling slice of the electorate. I wonder if it’s that, or just general restlessness, that explains why RFK Jr. is polling at 20% against the president. “He’s making some sense,” you hear some people say. You do, I’ve heard it. People talk about him like a real candidate.
Robert Kennedy for president! If he had a different name, he’d still be banned from social media for disseminating clear disinformation and dismissed as just another nutcase running for president. But 20%, a famous name, a famous legacy — and Elon Musk’s attention.
Robert Kennedy Jr. announced his candidacy in Boston, which is a place his family has been associated with, but one where RFK Jr. has never lived. He is an anti-vaxer and conspiracy theorist, as well as a former heroin addict who has been married three times.
He is not a conventional Democrat, to put it mildly.
In terms of foreign policy, he wants to “try to formulate policies that will seal the border permanently.”
He is reportedly pro-Putin and thinks our government should consider the perspective of the Russians on the war in Ukraine, not the Ukrainians. He is also a strong opponent of transgender rights.
He’s against an assault weapons ban and blames mass shootings in America on pharmaceutical drugs.
For years, he’s blamed vaccines for autism. He’s been a leading proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, claiming that the vaccine has killed more people than it has saved.
In his 2021 book “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” he claimed a massive conspiracy among Big Tech and Big Pharma made the country depend on vaccines to deal with the coronavirus.
In short, this is a candidate who spreads dangerous ideas. There are measles epidemics right now that threaten children who are not vaccinated. And how he could compare Anne Frank to an anti-vaxer is just beyond me (he later apologized, but even so). So, yes, there is a Kennedy running for president, but clearly this is not a Kennedy in any traditional sense, and mistaking him for one would be a terrible mistake. I write about him lest anyone make the mistake of thinking he is somehow a legitimate protest vote against the president in any way shape or form. He is not.
