Decryption | The Strange Campaign of Robert Kennedy Jr.

(New York) A Kennedy has already contributed to the ousting of a Democratic president from the White House. Will there be another in 2024?

In 1980, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter, not finding him progressive enough for his liking. And he waited at the Democratic Party convention to end his campaign, trying in vain to convince the president’s delegates to break with him.

“For me, a few hours ago, this campaign ended,” said the sole survivor of the Kennedy brothers, concluding the best speech of his political career before the delegates gathered in Madison Square Garden. “For all those whose concerns were ours, the work continues, the cause endures, the hope remains and the dream will never be extinguished. »

Having emerged weakened from this fratricidal confrontation, President Carter bowed to the Republican Party candidate, Ronald Reagan, three months later.

A name that ensures him the attention of the media

The chances that Robert Francis Kennedy Jr, nephew of Ted Kennedy, will have the chance to address the Democratic Party convention scheduled for August 2024 in Chicago are probably nil. But Democratic strategists are beginning to worry when they realize that the antivax activist and inveterate conspirator could in turn weaken a Democratic president, in this case Joe Biden, with his presidential campaign.

How ? Thanks to its name, first. Regardless of his opinions, 69-year-old Robert Kennedy Jr. has a surname that not only secures him media attention, but also the support of a relatively large number of voters.

According to the average of the polls of the site Real Clear Politics, he collects 14% of the voting intentions among the Democratic candidates for the presidency. It is of course insufficient to beat President Biden, but it is enough to arouse and justify the interest.

Especially since the son of the former United States Attorney General and New York senator could win the first two ballots in the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2024 presidential election, those of Iowa and of New Hampshire. Scenario for which Joe Biden would have only himself to blame if it happened.

At his request, the Democratic National Committee has revised the party’s primary calendar for the 2024 presidential election. According to the new calendar, South Carolina must hold the first Democratic primary on February 3, a question of giving the chance to a State that is not all white, or almost, to decide first.

A windfall for the right

However, if the Democrats of Iowa and New Hampshire insist on maintaining their precedence and decide to organize their polls before February 3, Joe Biden has already indicated that he will not participate. RFK Jr could therefore have the free way and emerge victorious from these two States.

The 46^e President would likely survive such verdicts by winning subsequent primaries. But RFK Jr’s victories in Iowa or New Hampshire are sure to generate plenty of reports and commentary on the “weakness” and “vulnerability” of the occupant of the White House. Reports and comments that the media and conservative commentators would be particularly fond of.

It must be said that the right and the extreme right have a weakness for RFK Jr.

Among those who have promoted his candidacy are members of Donald Trump’s entourage, including Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, as well as media figures, such as Alex Jones, Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson.

“At this point, the question is not who in public life is corrupt. There are too many to count,” the former Fox News host said last April.

This popularity is partly due to RFK Jr’s all-out campaign against vaccines, including those against COVID-19, and the D^r Anthony Fauci, whom he accused of a “coup against Western democracy”. Like several extremist Republicans, John Kennedy’s nephew also denounced the Biden administration’s policy towards Russia by taking up certain themes or arguments dear to the Kremlin.

They wanted war [en Ukraine] as part of their strategy to destroy any country such as Russia that resists US imperialist expansionism,” he tweeted last May.

Popular with Republican donors

RFK Jr is also popular with some Republican donors, who seek to harm Joe Biden, and Silicon Valley billionaires, including Elon Musk, David Sacks and Jack Dorsey. The latter gave him his support by welcoming his promotion of bitcoin, this cryptocurrency that the founder of Twitter described as an “exercise in democracy”.

Of course, some of RFK Jr’s positions resonate with parts of the Democratic left, including his promise to cut the Pentagon budget, his criticism of corporate influence on government, and his advocacy of the environment that dates back to his years in office. environmental lawyer.

But the whole of his presidential campaign is strange, as is the lengthy three-hour interview he recently gave to Joe Rogan, host of one of the most popular podcasts. At one point, RFK Jr became concerned about WiFi radiation.

“WiFi radiation opens up the blood-brain barrier, so any toxins in your body can now enter your brain,” he said.

— How does WiFi open the blood-brain barrier? asked Joe Rogan, dumbfounded.

“There, you exceed my skills,” replied Robert Kennedy Jr.

In other words, he had not finished his research.