RFK, Jr.'s Independent Run for President Is Already a Disaster

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 9, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 9, 2023 |

I’m not sure why the Maintenance Phase podcast decided to tackle RFK, Jr. and The Rise of the Anti-Vaxx Movement a few weeks ago, but it is illuminating. I didn’t realize how instrumental RFK has been in the rise of the Anti-Vaxx Movement or how the likes of Alex Jones echo many of the things that RFK, Jr. has said over the years (both cite the same debunked study suggesting that chemicals in the water make frogs gay, although RFK attributes gender dysphoria to those chemicals). RFK, Jr. also believes that “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” That’s a quote.

He is not well, although he wasn’t always so conspiracy-minded. The Maintenance Phase armchair psychology attributes the change to addiction and a series of traumas, including the assassinations of his father and uncle and the suicide of his second wife. I don’t know what to attribute it to or whether to feel some sympathy for RFK, Jr., but as a public figure, he is profoundly dangerous. Just read about his political positions on his Wikipedia page; he is unhinged.

As he hinted at last week, RFK, Jr., announced today that he would drop his bid to win the Democratic Primary today and run as an independent. It’s unclear how this might or might not affect next year’s race between what is likely to be President Biden and Donald Trump. One poll shows that the race between Biden and Trump remains a dead heat with RFK, Jr. in the race (with him pulling 14 percent of the vote), but Aaron Blake at the Washington Post makes a convincing argument that this will hurt Trump more than Biden.

Fox News has been elevating RFK, Jr., for months, and he polls better with Republicans than every GOP Primary candidate except Trump and DeSantis. He’s also viewed far more favorably by the right than the left.

My guess is that, by November 2024, he won’t be much of a factor to either side unless Trump taps him as his running mate (don’t rule it out!). In the meantime, he’ll continue to be a very dangerous distraction.

His campaign, however, got off to an embarrassingly rocky start this afternoon. This is real. It is not doctored. Also, Cheryl Hines gave the introduction.

The reason 2024 will be a rerun of 2020 is because no one from either party has made a compelling argument for voting for anyone other than Joe Biden and Donald Trump in their respective parties.