RFK's campaign (will run as independent/third-party) (1 Viewer)

[samiam5211]

It looks like he's going to be on the ticket in November. I think he should get his own thread. He's about to become well funded, and it's going to be a professionally run campaign no doubt. I don't think it's out of the question that he get's Perot like numbers, and even if he get's 1/4 of that it could be a disaster for the Biden campaign that is probably looking at a few thousand votes in a few states turning the election anyway.

There is going to be money behind this campaign from all sorts of angles. No matter what anyone thinks about RFK, it would be a terrible mistake to not take this campaign seriously. He might take some from Trump for sure, but he's going to take more of the anti Trump vote from Biden, and Biden can't really spare any votes. Not all people who were going to vote for Biden would disagree with the things RFK has said about vaccines, and he's not going to be spending his time campaigning on just vaccine skepticism.

There are many more people voting for Biden who aren't enthusiastic about Biden than there are on the other side.

MSN

Asuper PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun polling his support as an Independent, one of the strongest indications to date that the long-shot Democrat is set to announce a party affiliation switch.

The poll, conducted by the firm John Zogby Strategies and commissioned by the American Values 2024 PAC, comes amid growing speculation — fueled by Kennedy himself — that he will leave the Democratic Party in the upcoming weeks.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

not sure if this was mentioned before

RFK Jr. is courting Black voters, a group he once targeted with vaccine disinformation

The independent presidential candidate produced a documentary-style film in 2021 that spread vaccine disinformation to the Black community.

www.nbcnews.com

In 2021, he produced a film called “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid” which used the real history of medical racism in the United States to peddle conspiracy theories that Covid vaccines were an effort to harm Black communities.

The documentary-style film features Kennedy, as well as Tony Muhammad, a minister of the Nation of Islam who has claimed that vaccines are “genetically modified” to harm Black children. Kevin Jenkins, CEO of the Urban Global Health Alliance, a New Jersey nonprofit group, who claimed that vaccine campaigns were a plot to “wipe out” Black people, is also in the film.

To add on...

 

[SaintForLife]

 

[samiam5211]

RFK is a kook, but people should relax when someone suggests the US did it.

It is at least as likely as any other explanation.

 

[Optimus Prime]

…….Kennedy’s detractors often divide his career into two phases: a laudable period as a workhorse of the environmental movement and a swerve into the conspiracist worldview that defines his independent bid for the White House.

But a close examination of Kennedy’s early years as a lawyer in the Hudson Valley shows that the same qualities that today inspire his supporters and alarm his critics — obstinacy, an itch to challenge authority, a mastery of scientific minutiae that is paradoxically coupled with a loose allegiance to facts — were causing controversy long before he trained his sights on Bill Gates or Anthony S. Fauci.

No episode was more remarkable than the schism Kennedy precipitated at Riverkeeper, a sprawling melodrama starring a political dynasty’s prodigal son, a secretive circle of master falconers and a network of daring cockatoo egg smugglers whose reach extended from Western Australia to New Paltz, N.Y.

The feud’s details may have seemed outlandish, but the fallout was concrete. Boyle, who literally wrote the book on the Hudson River (title: “The Hudson River”), spent his last years in self-imposed exile — unable, according to his children, to bear looking at a body of water that reminded him of Kennedy.

He died in 2017 in Cooperstown, N.Y., more than 100 miles from the valley where he did his life’s work.

“He felt like somebody who had been the victim of a carjacking,” said his son Alex Boyle, 61. “He felt it was a form of betrayal.”

Kennedy, who retired from Riverkeeper several years ago, said in an interview that he had not done anything improper by hiring a former wildlife smuggler at the group. On the contrary, he said, it would have been wrong to deny someone employment simply because of a criminal record.……

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/02/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rfk-riverkeeper-egg-smuggler/

 

[SaintForLife]

An accurate State of the Union and a great video

 

[superchuck500]

Demonstrating yet again that this is not a serious person.

RFK Jr. is considering Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura as possible running mates

Rodgers is a quarterback for the New York Jets, and Ventura is a former professional wrestler who was also governor of Minnesota.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[MT15]

An accurate State of the Union and a great video

This message is said by a man who has made a career out of fear-mongering about safe and effective childhood vaccines. Vaccines that save many lives. And you cannot see that little bit of hypocrisy.

 

[UriUT]

Demonstrating yet again that this is not a serious person.

RFK Jr. is considering Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura as possible running mates

Rodgers is a quarterback for the New York Jets, and Ventura is a former professional wrestler who was also governor of Minnesota.

www.nbcnews.com

I don't think that he's self aware enough, or has too much hubris to understand that he's a tool for Steve Bannon to siphon votes from Biden. Or that is the ultimate goal in swing states. His candidacy reeks of Bannon and Roger Stone's playbook. There are a few reported "ghost" candidates in southern FL that actually flipped a seat there. This is such a transparent ploy that serious shouldn't ever be considered.

 

[superchuck500]

I don't think that he's self aware enough, or has too much hubris to understand that he's a tool for Steve Bannon to siphon votes from Biden. Or that is the ultimate goal in swing states. His candidacy reeks of Bannon and Roger Stone's playbook. There are a few reported "ghost" candidates in southern FL that actually flipped a seat there. This is such a transparent ploy that serious shouldn't ever be considered.

Why on Earth would they think that an anti-vax, “truther” conspiracy disciple looking at Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura to be his running mate would siphon votes from Biden? Because his name is Kennedy? I think it’s substantially more likely he would siphon votes from Trump.

 

[MT15]

Why on Earth would they think that an anti-vax, “truther” conspiracy disciple looking at Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura to be his running mate would siphon votes from Biden? Because his name is Kennedy? I think it’s substantially more likely he would siphon votes from Trump.

The polls are showing he will draw from both but more from Biden. I don’t really believe them anymore. I agree with you, he will siphon votes mostly from Trump. There will be a few fringe hippie types who are all in on the anti-vax from the left, but not very many, I don’t think.

You can compare here.

Biden vs. Trump vs. RFK Jr. polls - The Hill and Decision Desk HQ

See how President Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and RFK Jr., compare in the polls leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

elections2024.thehill.com

 

[SystemShock]

Why on Earth would they think that an anti-vax, “truther” conspiracy disciple looking at Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura to be his running mate would siphon votes from Biden? Because his name is Kennedy? I think it’s substantially more likely he would siphon votes from Trump.

Personally, I'm more concerned with the pro-Palestine crowd who don't realize you have to fix your house before you fix your neighbor's, than hippie anti-vaxxers.

 

[UriUT]

Why on Earth would they think that an anti-vax, “truther” conspiracy disciple looking at Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura to be his running mate would siphon votes from Biden? Because his name is Kennedy? I think it’s substantially more likely he would siphon votes from Trump.

You think too highly of Bannon and Stone and their respect for voters. Yes, precisely because he's a Democrat and his name is a Kennedy. They don't care if Kennedy reaches .5% of the votes. As long as it takes some away in close swing states. Why would Bannon, who clearly wants Trump to win, promote Kennedy, and encourages him to run? And yes, when Trump declares that he was the reason for the success of the vaccine, Charlie Kirk hyperventilated that he would now lose votes to Kennedy.

And that is the level of deceit in south Florida. Ghost democratic candidates were created to take away votes from the incumbent democratic candidates. One succeeded.

 

[superchuck500]

The polls are showing he will draw from both but more from Biden. I don’t really believe them anymore. I agree with you, he will siphon votes mostly from Trump. There will be a few fringe hippie types who are all in on the anti-vax from the left, but not very many, I don’t think.

You can compare here.

Biden vs. Trump vs. RFK Jr. polls - The Hill and Decision Desk HQ

See how President Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and RFK Jr., compare in the polls leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

elections2024.thehill.com

Yeah, I think polls in late 2023 and early 2024 are likely highly unreliable on the question of what voters will do in November when it comes to choosing a third-party candidate in general, but specifically with this guy who has articulated very little when it comes to actual policy base. But it just strikes me that his whole worldview and the figures with whom he's most comfortable fits elements of Trump's support, not Biden's. It's that whole sort of 'red pilled' conspiracy science-is-a-lie and we're all being controlled business.

 

[samiam5211]

If RFK picks anyone from that list for VP, there is 0 chance he will be taken seriously.

It was already going to be an uphill battle.

 

[UriUT]

Steve Bannon's cheerleading of RFK Jr. has backfired

Bannon elevated Kennedy's campaign when he was challenging Joe Biden. RFK Jr. is now an independent and polling suggests he may take votes from Donald Trump.

www.newsweek.com

Robert Costa, chief election and campaign correspondent for CBS News, posted on social media in April that "per several people familiar" with the situation, Bannon had been encouraging Kennedy to run as a Democrat "for months," believing he could be "both a useful chaos agent in the 2024 race and a big name who could help stoke anti-vax sentiment around the country."

 

[Maxp]

The only people I know who speak about supporting RFK Jr are men who have a predilection for believing conspiracies and would NEVER vote for Biden. They don't like Trump either, but somehow dislike Trump less than Biden.

 

[UriUT]

So that folks don't think I've taken the red pill and made up the whole idea of ghost candidates.

'Ghost' candidate, 2 operatives face charges in Florida

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Two political operatives and an independent candidate who opponents say hardly campaigned and only entered a state Senate race in central Florida in 2020 to siphon off votes from a Democrat were criminally charged on Tuesday.

apnews.com

Brodeur won the election in which Iannotti ran in 2020. Brodeur won the District 9 race with 50.3% of the vote to Democrat Patricia Sigman’s 47.6%. Iannotti took in 2.1% of the vote.

I saw stories like these as early as 2016, which was unsuccessful.

It may sound unreasonable to believe, but there are voters whose votes are based on party affliation and name recognition. Is it perot or Nader level? Most definitely not. Possibly Jill stein level? Maybe...but that's what the goal was. A few drops here or there may make a difference. Bannon, Rogan, stone, etc aren't diabolical geniuses. They don't play 30 moves ahead in chess. They just think "hey, he can draw votes bc rfk Jr is a dem and has the name".

And remember that courting rfk jr was before the primaries, and these "geniuses" want disruption to Biden's primary.

rfk Jr wasn't a serious candidate even before those names circulated. He's a tool. And like Philips, thinks more of themselves than what reality support.

 

[MT15]

Yeah, I think polls in late 2023 and early 2024 are likely highly unreliable on the question of what voters will do in November when it comes to choosing a third-party candidate in general, but specifically with this guy who has articulated very little when it comes to actual policy base. But it just strikes me that his whole worldview and the figures with whom he's most comfortable fits elements of Trump's support, not Biden's. It's that whole sort of 'red pilled' conspiracy science-is-a-lie and we're all being controlled business.

Yeah, I saw a headline today where he has agreed to pardon Jan 6 convicts if elected. He’s appealing to Trump’s base, IMO.