RFK Jr, Entitled Egotist

His spoiler campaign will likely help Trump. And he knows it

Did you know? RFK Jr shares something in common with Donald Trump: donors. That’s right! The same people supporting Trump are donating large sums to RFKs pac.

What is wrong with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?

Kennedy is a scion of a great American political family that has suffered enormous tragedy. Both his uncle John F. Kennedy and his father, Robert, were killed by assassins. Nevertheless, the family has maintained a high profile, which gives RFK Jr. the name recognition to attract attention as an independent candidate for president.

But why is he running?  He says he wants to disrupt the two-party system, and that he can “fix this country,” because as an activist lawyer, he had sued federal agencies. And also, he thinks American democracy is being threatened.  Mainly by President Joe Biden.        

You heard that right. Kennedy is more worried about Biden, who has spent a lifetime advancing democracy, than Donald Trump, who incited a violent effort to overthrow the election results of 2020, announced he would be a dictator “for one day” and has openly admired many of the world’s autocrats. The group includes Xi of China, Putin of Russia, Erdogan of Turkey, Kim of North Korea, and, most importantly, Viktor Orban of Hungary.  

Prime minister since 2010, Orban is a Trump role model. He has neutered the press, undermined the judiciary, co-opted the legislature, and rigged Hungary’s elections. In other words, he’s the kind of leader Trump hopes to become.  “He’s fantastic,” says Trump. While Trump wants to be just like his strongman buddies, Joe Biden has done nothing to diminish the courts or Congress (despite calls from some in his party to pack the Supreme Court). He has expressed unwavering support for the election system and, though he’s expressed frustration with the media, he has respected its role.

JFK Jr’s problems go beyond his bizarre criticism of Biden and obvious support for Trump. Long an outspoken anti-vaccine extremist, he now denies he ever devoted himself to this cause.  He has also suggested that mass shootings have been caused by antidepressants and video games. Hasn’t he noticed that antidepressants and video games exist in all those countries where mass shootings just don’t happen the way they do here?

This is a man whose campaign has been opposed by his entire family. (Thirty-seven of them recently posed for a picture with Biden.  Recent polls show that Kennedy can’t possibly win, but he will influence the outcome, most likely in Trump’s favor. This would happen as some Democrats look for a way to protest Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas, and as older low-information voters are drawn to his family name. Three recent polls showed that with RFK Jr. on the ballot, he would attract as much as 12 percent of the vote and Trump would win by 5.4 percent.

Although many observers say they are puzzled by Kennedy’s campaign, I think his motivation is obvious. He is dazzled by his own family name and his ego is so out of control that he thinks that it alone is enough to justify his grasp for power. And oh, yes, he is so grandiose that, despite his lack of qualifications, he thinks he is entitled to the presidency.

 We have seen, in Trump, what an unqualified President can do to our country. While Kennedy can’t win, he can return Trump to the Oval Office where he’s bound to do far more damage to our democratic institutions. For this reason alone, Kennedy should drop out. Sadly, I don’t think his ego will let him.