(Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his vice presidential running mate, attorney/philanthropist, Nicole Shanahan).
The dubious disorder known as Trump Derangement Syndrome just became a pandemic. For those unfamiliar with TDS, it is the fictitious malady invented by the DT cult to describe the frothing outrage seen on the faces of those who fear and despise our felonious former Commander-in-Chief. As if it’s somehow indicative of a mental disorder to fear and loathe a magnetic, lying, adulterous, morally bankrupt demagogue, convicted fraudster, environmental disaster, and rapist whose misogyny, narcissism, and sociopathic selfishness are only matched by his flagrant disregard for Constitutional norms, admiration for despots, and disdain for true patriots (infamously calling the dead soldiers of Normandy Beach “losers”).
We can only be grateful that he’s so incompetent at governing - but then, Republicans really don’t believe in governing anyway…they just believe in power.
After Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the first debate, the fear of a Trump resurrection has suddenly assumed levels of terror not seen since “The Exorcist.” The stunning blow of the New York Times Editorial Board calling for Biden to step aside in the wake of the debate threatens to trigger an irreversible hemorrhaging of donor support and public standing. Which leaves everyone asking, “If not Joe, then who?”
Nobody is seriously pitching what would normally be the obvious choice: the vice president. Kamala Harris cannot beat Trump and everyone knows it. She got zero support in her primary run for the White House in 2020 and washed out early, ending up with the second slot on the ticket in a move widely seen as inclusivity-driven. She has been kept largely out of sight by the Biden Administration due to her lackluster political skills. Even if Biden should stay in the race and win, his visible senility will leave many worrying about Harris eventually stepping into his shoes in a 25th Amendment scenario, which could damage the party for years to come.
Various names are now in the air, with few of them grabbing the popular imagination. California Gov. Gavin Newsome is firmly behind Biden but would likely be persuadable in the event of Biden’s abdication. Other Democratic governors such as Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Colorado’s Jared Polis, and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania round out the list, none of them nationally known and all of them lukewarm in the charisma department.
Then there’s Kennedy.
In ordinary circumstances, the bearer of the most legendary name in American politics, an accomplished environmental lawyer who has successfully gone up against the corporate elite for decades on behalf of public health and the preservation of our natural resources, a passionate and eloquent speaker (despite his impaired voice), with a ready-made star female running mate in philanthropist lawyer, Nicole Shanahan, would be the go-to savior in this situation. Positioned far enough to the right to pull support from Trump’s base, but with his environmental record and magical name keeping Democrats in the fold, he would be a shoe-in and would almost certainly trounce Trump decisively in a two-man race.
But there’s this one little problem: he’s used his meticulous, evidence-based, activist legal skills to expose the appalling reality behind Fauci, Big Pharma, the pandemic, and the vaccines, to say nothing of pledging to open the secret files on the deaths of his father and uncle. The obedient corporate media routinely cite the very public opposition of the rest of the Kennedy family to RFK Jr.s’ candidacy as evidence that he’s not a legitimate carrier of the legacy. If memory serves, however, JFK and RFK were assassinated by the same factions (not by lone gunmen, folks - that’s not a “theory,” it’s forensically accepted fact: one too many gunshots killed Bobby for Sirhan to have done it alone, and Congress concluded in 1974 that Oswald had help) which have had Joe Biden in their pockets as a biddable puppet his whole career.
Kennedy’s father dared to take on the Mafia as JFK’s Attorney General, while JFK himself quixotically worked to expose CIA and the Federal Reserve - that’s the kind of guts that RFK Jr. is demonstrating. Most of the evidence points to a Fed/CIA/Mob collaboration as being behind the killing of John F. Kennedy, while his brother’s elimination five years later looks in retrospect as a foregone conclusion for multiple reasons, not least of which was the potential exposure of what really happened in Dallas on November 23, 1963, should Robert F. Kennedy Sr. have become president.
As deeply entrenched supporters of the corporate puppet DNC, RFK Jr.’s political siblings do not dare to be lukewarm in opposing their cousin/uncle/brother in his dangerously effective campaign to expose the corrupt plutocracy behind Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Big Telecomm, all of which have lost big cases to Kennedy’s tenacious efforts.
Up to this point, I have thought that the best RFK Jr. could do this time around is raise awareness on his agenda while positioning himself for 2028. But now, all bets are off. Here are the possible scenarios now unfolding:
Biden Stays In - This is, I believe, the most likely scenario. Biden will give a few energetic speeches at rallies (as he’s already doing), and ultimately the panicked party faithful will look at the dubious alternatives and line up behind Uncle Joe as their best hope. Come the Convention, he can probably be relied on to give a decent Teleprompter-driven speech, with mainstream media puffing him up for the stretch run against the Orange Monster. But then there’s the September 10th second debate. If he falters again, as seems quite possible, that’s a potentially mortal blow just as Americans really tune in to the election (as they historically do mostly after Labor Day). The problem is, Joe Biden has already suffered a potentially fatal credibility blow. As JFK himself observed, power flows from the public perception that you have power. And Biden is now seen as severely damaged. In this scenario, RFK Jr. will be the main beneficiary, as even the corporate media blackout on his already rising poll numbers (roughly between 20-30%) will not be able to obscure the fact that he’s the real deal. Democrats could hold their noses on their “anti-vaxx nut” doubts and vote for Kennedy as the best chance to save America from Trump, while many DT and moderate GOP votes are already leaking his way. If RFK Jr. is on the ballot in enough states, there could be no 270 Electoral vote winner, with an outside chance that he could pull an upset to win the White House.
Joe Folds - Open Democratic Convention - There is the chance that Biden’s condition is actually much worse than has been revealed. A family come-to-Jesus conference is about to be held at Camp David, with the result being anybody’s guess. It may be that his inner circle will persuade him to go, out of concern both for his health and from the fear that Trump could win. If he graciously steps down, he will be seen as a heroic and noble figure who sacrficed personal ambition for the good of the country in the face of the Trump threat to democracy (what there is left of it, which is precious little in our thinly veiled oligarchy). In which case, there will be a pell-mell free-for-all race for the nomination, with Democrats likely doing their usual best at tearing each other apart. Whichever candidate emerges is likely to emerge wounded and dubious, with little time to rally a solid base. Meantime, more and more people will begin to wake up to the fact that this was never just a two-man race. The more people look at who Kennedy is (and who he’s been all his life) the more his support will grow. And in any of these cases, the smart money will begin to cover its bets by sending millions more campaign dollars his way.
The Party Turns to Kennedy - I only mention this because the unthinkable must now be considered. The Democratic Party is, I have learned through years of open-minded investigation, an obedient puppet of the corrupt oligarchy (so is the GOP, of course, but they’ve become a total loose cannon in their enslavement to the Trump cult). Robert Kennedy represents an existential threat to the financial elite whose primary goal is to keep the public focused on the bogus Red/Blue circus and divisive identity politics so we do not see who is killing us (“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, little girl!” cried the Wizard).
As such, the DNC would no sooner turn to Kennedy than they would to Vladimir Putin. Indeed, activist UK comedian Russell Brand candidly asked him why he was undertaking what is quite likely a literal suicide mission, given the fates of his father and uncle when they went up against these same factions. “What the hell,” he answered in effect, “I’m 70 years old and have enough skeletons in my closet for a Halloween party - but I can’t stand by and watch this happen to our country.”
As such, he has my admiration and support. No, he’s not a saint and doesn’t pretend to be. But as a fellow Irish-American on my own quixotic quests, I draw inspiration and, yes, hope from the suddenly real possibility that we are about to witness a second, but bloodless, American Revolution. Once upon a time long ago, as a JFK-idolizing Catholic kid in Oak Park, Illinois, tears flowed when I read Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s eloquent summing up of his reaction to the assassination. “We wouldn’t be Irish if we didn’t know the world would break our hearts someday.”
But it’s also true that we wouldn’t be Irish if we weren’t willing to oppose tyranny against terrible odds. May the road rise to meet you, sir, and may God’s blessing attend your brave work.
blessings,
Michael