Bane of Bobby

Scott Hardie | April 14, 2024
I keep hearing that Robert Kennedy Jr. is a spoiler for Biden, that he'll siphon votes away from Biden and thus he'll help Trump win.

I don't get it.

RFK Jr.'s platform is very Trumpy, a mix of drain-the-swamp anti-institutionalism and radicalism driven by conspiracy theories. He sounds most attractive to people who would vote Trump in 2024 if Trump were not unacceptable for various reasons (advanced age, criminality, self-dealing, take your pick). Kennedy has a few Biden-like positions such as supporting workers' right to unionize, but those are not at all what he's famous for. Other than his family ties to the Democratic party, I simply don't understand why everyone seems to assume that he'll drain votes away from Biden instead of what seems obvious to me, that he'll drain votes away from Trump.

I was already thinking this before reading this recent profile of Kennedy supporters that sure makes them sound like Trump supporters, and now I'm even more convinced.

What am I missing?

Samir Mehta | April 14, 2024
[hidden by request]

Erik Bates | April 15, 2024
I mean, there are going to be the name-recognition voters who are going to equate Jr with his dad or uncle(s), but not nearly enough to sway the vote.

At least I hope not.

Scott Hardie | April 16, 2024
Well, good. Then it's not just me. :-)

It could be deliberate scaremongering of their readers or just projection of their own election worries, but yeah, the liberal press inaccurately freaking out about Kennedy spoiling Biden sounds like the correct explanation to me.

And if that's true, then it's kind of hilarious that Trump is seeking to boost Kennedy because he's so confident that Kennedy will spoil Biden and not himself. He thinks that because Trump believes what the liberal press says about Kennedy, the same liberal press who he constantly and falsely denounces as fake news. The one time that they actually are fake, he makes a critical campaign error based on their reporting. (I know that he knows that they're not fake, but I still find the irony amusing.)