Who is RFK Jr.?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a Democratic candidate for president of the United States. Part of the Kennedy legacy, Robert is the son of the former Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. RFK Jr. is also the nephew to both the late Ted Kennedy, known as the “the lion of the Senate,” and John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. Both JFK and RFK Sr. were assassinated approximately five years apart.
RFK Jr. is a Harvard grad, resides in California and is an environmental lawyer. He has a notably distinct voice due to a medical condition called spasmatic dysphonia, and the look of a Kennedy. Perhaps more importantly, RFK Jr. has the highest favorability rating of any presidential candidate in the 2024 field.
The moment RFK Jr. filed the paperwork to run for president he immediately became an enemy of the state. The mainstream media, without missing a beat, turned him into a target virtually overnight. The press hates him possibly as much as the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. Although, as of late it may be hard to tell which one they hate more. For example, YouTube has attempted to censor Kennedy, pulling an interview with podcaster Jordan Peterson under the guise it violated the platform’s “vaccine misinformation policy”.
Why do they hate him?
Kennedy’s views are reminiscent of the Democratic Party under his uncle, then-President John F. Kennedy. RFK Jr. appeals to the political middle. He is not progressive enough to excite the activist left, and, fortunately enough for him, is not too liberal for moderate Republican voters who may not want to support Donald Trump. This is one of the reasons he is polling at 31 percent support amongst 2020 Biden voters.
Kennedy has seemed to find support with those who do not feel they have a political home anymore with mainstream Democrats, but are not convinced enough at this point to pull the lever for a Republican.
The issues that have made him a problem
One of Kennedy’s biggest issues is the same as his uncle, John F. Kennedy, the military-industrial complex. Kennedy does not agree with the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, nor the current way the Biden administration is dealing with Ukraine. He is not a gun lover, but has publicly said he is not going to confiscate Americans’ guns.
Kennedy doesn’t like abortion, and characterizes the practice as a tragedy. He does not agree with how Biden is handling the southern border and prefers Trump era border policy.
Kennedy does not agree with how COVID-19 was handled and has been openly skeptical about the lack of testing, lockdown policies and vaccine mandates. Though Kennedy has been labeled anti-vaccine, his policy is what he describes as “pro science, pro safety” – saying vaccines need rigorous trials and all risk and benefit profiles should be publicized so parents can make an informed decision whether to vaccinate their children.
Arguably as problematic for President Joe Biden as the policy issues are how he stacks up against Kennedy physically. There is no nice way to say this part, but RFK Jr. is in excellent physical shape. President Biden on the other hand cannot use the stairs without his staff and secret service pointing him in the right direction and ensuring he doesn’t fall. One is an environmental lawyer who clearly is still firing on all cylinders, while the other cannot make it through a speech without revealing he is using cue cards or awkwardly walking off stage.
The ongoing issues with President Biden’s son Hunter have become increasingly harder to ignore this election cycle. There is no ban on Twitter to censor the stories this time around. The “Durham report” along with Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter guaranteed this was not a topic capable of being suppressed.
In 2020, the Biden laptop story was buried and called “Russian disinformation” which we learned later was all a smoke screen to discredit the story before the election. Since being investigated it has is has been referred to as the “laptop from hell” containing pictures of Hunter smoking crack, and damning emails about bribes with foreign entities complaining that he had to break off 10 percent for “the big guy”.
When you think the Hunter issue couldn’t get any worse, an IRS whistle blower testified the DOJ refused to look at Signal App texts that shows Hunter Biden using his father to extort a Chinese energy company.
The texts read: “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father”.
Then there were more released, worse than the first one. This time Hunter says, “If the Chairman doesn’t value this relationship as being worth 5M, then I am just baffled.” Hunter goes on “I am tired of this .. . . I can make $5M salary at any law firm in America, if you think this is about money it’s not.”
He finishes them off by saying “The Biden’s are the best I know at doing exactly what the Chairman wants from this partnership. Please let’s not quibble over peanuts.”
Looking at the totality of all these circumstances it becomes clearer why RFK Jr. is a problem for Joe Biden. A multitude of issues from the economy, to handling of COVID, to his mental sharpness and Hunter dragging him down with more damming evidence daily, Biden has the worst economic approval rating since Jimmy Carter.
There are a few ways this could go, but here are two scenarios for how the RFK Jr. vs. Joe Biden controversy plays out.
The status quo scenario
In this scenario, Biden remains the Democratic candidate and runs for reelection. If that is the case, there will be no debates and orders will be given for the mainstream media to take out RFK Jr. Then the Democratic convention will be a dog and pony show that the DNC will put on with the forgone conclusion of a Biden reelection victory.
The Democrats will do this with as little dissent as possible. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard can all attest to being on the other side of the DNC. The wagons will get circled, and America will re-live the 2020 election.
The alternate candidate scenario
In the second scenario, where for some reason Biden ends up bowing out like Lyndon Johnson did in 1968, there will be a slugfest between RFK Jr. and California’s governor who has been waiting in the wings — Gavin Newsom. If that happens, they likely face off against Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
RFK Jr. is not going anywhere. The most significant remaining questions are how long it will take the Democratic Party to realize that, and then more importantly, when they do realize it, how they will deal with him.
Edited by: James Sutton
Featured image: Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected for clarification reasons since its original publication
