Naomi Klein at the Guardian: Beware. We ignore RFK Jr.'s candidacy at our peril.

[pnwmom]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/14/ignoring-robert-f-kennedy-jr-not-an-option

When Robert F Kennedy Jr announced his plan to run for president in the Democratic party primaries this April, the dominant liberal strategy towards the once tough environmental lawyer – now spreader of all manner of dangerous, unsupported theories – seemed to be: ignore him and wait for him to go away. Don’t cover, don’t engage and don’t debate. Jim Kessler, a leader of the pro-Biden think tank Third Way, called him a “gadfly and a laughingstock”; Democratic consultant Sawyer Hackett brushed him off as “a gnat.”

Well, if recent developments in the Kennedy campaign have demonstrated anything, it’s that denial is not a viable political strategy. Kennedy honed his social media skills over years to spread his anti-vaccine message, so he has simply done an end-run around traditional media and party structures: a “Twitter Spaces” tete-a-tete with Elon Musk and a string of video streams, several with hundreds of thousands of views and listens, on every channel from Breaking Points on the left to Jordan Peterson’s podcast on the right (that one quickly broke a million views on YouTube).

He has landed an apparent endorsement from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and this week is being feted at a Bay Area fundraiser filled with heavy hitters. According to a CNN poll released in late May, support for Kennedy was at 20% among respondents who identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning.

It’s time to abandon wishful thinking and figure out what is going on. What are the reasons his campaign is resonating with a consequential slice of US voters? (And voters beyond the US, where he has a large following?) What pain, silence and rage is he tapping into? What important truths and realities is he concealing and eliding? And, given the near impossible odds of him winning the race which he is currently running in, what is his real end-game?

SNIP

[emulatorloo]

1. It is 'resonating' because of name recognition and lack of knowledge about his policies.

He’s also being promoted on twitter by post-left “influencers” who hate Biden and want a repeat of the 2016 election.

P.S. Jack Dorsey? Gross.

[betsuni]

16. Ironic: "establishment status quo" Democratic fundraisers with the wealthy and "heavy hitters"

are usually always obvious solid evidence of beholdening corruption. And endorsing them -- like Planned Parenthood -- results in being insulted as part of the evil establishment. Suddenly it's a positive thing! Magic!

[emulatorloo]

24. Consistency doesn't seemed to valued by folks w an anti-Democratic party agenda.

True of both the right and the self-proclaimed ‘left.’

[kimbutgar]

2. He might have the name recognition but not the charisma of his father

And his voice is annoying ( I know he has a health problem)

And he also looks as old as Biden!

Meow

[emulatorloo]

3. Nor does he have the integrity or solid policies his father had. The Kennedy family is not

supporting his run.

[617Blue]

4. Also, the GOP has their own primary going on

so there won't be widespread GOP voters trying to create mischief.

I'm not saying he isn't a problem but it's not an existential threat-yet.

If he runs 3rd party, which he will, that's not a good thing.

[brooklynite]

26. People need to remember, he CAN'T run third party if he runs in the Democratic Primary.

Last edited Sun Jun 18, 2023, 03:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Setting aside the point that, after losing the Prjmary he’s have no time GJ get ballot access, too many States have “sore loser” laws blocking a second attempt at running.

[617Blue]

33. I'm sure he could get on the ballot in some states

His handlers will target the battlegrounds where he can do damage.

[Deb]

5. Gee, that almost reads as if written by his campaign staff

[LiberalFighter]

6. Naomi apparently doesn't know how elections work especially with Democratic primaries.

[betsuni]

8. She's one of those I Hate the Corporatist Neoliberal Democratic Party people who think the

party needs to be transformed or abandoned. Blamed The Clinton Machine for losing to Trump for being neoliberal and ignoring The People blah blah blah.

Unreliable. Anyone who believes Democratic policy is privatization, deregulation, deregulation, for corporations and against workers -- what's wrong with them? Dreaming of populist revolution, I guess, and need Democrats to be an enemy.

[Cha]

10. Yeah, I rememher that

name.. not in a good way.

[betsuni]

14. She thought the DNC/Clinton Camp, Hillary "untenable status quo" Clinton rigged the primary.

Voters don't count!

I forgot I have her book "No Is Not Enough" (2017). I'll read it and highlight all the Both Sides and wrong things and insults. My pen will be busy! I wonder if she still thinks the populist socialist revolution is going to happen.

It's a shame because a long time ago she did good work.

[JohnSJ]

12. She was also a Hillary hater in 2016.

[Azathoth]

19. You're assuming he intends to confine himself to the Dem primary

The Bannons and Musks funding and promoting him are not engineering a primary candidate. They're engineering an eventual third party candidacy.

After causing a lot of conflict and pitting the left against Biden, and then getting absolutely wrecked by the Dem rank and file, he'll declare that the corporatist neo-liberal big-pharma-controlled DNC rigged the primary against him and thus he has no choice but to run third party.

[Elessar Zappa]

30. He can't run third party if he runs as a Democrat in the primaries.

Most states have sore loser laws that prevent that.

[Azathoth]

34. In practice those don't apply to presidential candidates

Because they're very likely unconstitutional. There have been a couple court cases over the years which have essentially reached that conclusion.

I wouldn't depend on them to keep Kennedy off the ballot if he decided to run third party. And he could run as a write in as a last resort anyway.

[2naSalit]

7. Revenge.

For all the perceived slights any of them have endured while thinking that because they live in the US their wishes must be met or nobody can have anything, apparently.

[stopdiggin]

9. the only statement here that (I feel)

deserves real consideration - is the last one.

Is there a true political pursuit here? Or are we simply seeing another example of fevered narcissism?

[JohnSJ]

11. Naomi Klein went out of her way to bash Hillary telling people not to trust Hillary in 2016 on the

Last edited Sun Jun 18, 2023, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

environment

It was so-called journalists like Kline that pushed young people against Hillary, and helped trump.

That won’t happen in 2024 because the people who listened to the likes of Kline, David Sirota, Briahana Joy Gray, Nina Turner, Cornell West, Jill Stein, etc. realize they were duped by those false prophets, and do not want to go through another trump.

Unless she can explain just how Kennedy would clinch the Democratic nomination, then she is just full of hot air and hyperbole. Kennedy’s own family doesn’t support him, and that so called 20% is nonsense, just like Nina Turner and Cornell West Peoples party is.

If the Democratic presidential party wastes time going after Kennedy instead of republicans, that would be a sure formula for a republican victory.

[pnwmom]

13. The risk isn't that RFK would clinch the nomination. The risk is that he'd gain a platform

through the Democratic primary process, and then take it with him for a run as a third party candidate.

All he has to do as a third party candidate is draw 1 or 2%, to flip the election from Biden to Trump.

[JohnSJ]

15. I question that he will even qualify for any debates, and if he decided to run as a third party

candidate, which I don’t think he will, that would expose him for being a hypocrite and liar.

[pnwmom]

17. One or two percent is all that would have to be duped in order to flip the election.

Or, alternatively, he could just cause 1 or 2 % to stay home out of disgust.

I don't have the confidence that you do.

[emulatorloo]

25. Stay home and/or write in RFKjr. Add that to the votes for West, this year's version of Jill Stein.

Then we’ve got another 2016 on our hands. And there’s also No Labels

We’re going to have to overwhelm these spoilers on Election Day.

[Elessar Zappa]

32. Almost all states have sore loser laws.

That means if he runs as a Democrat in the primary, he can’t get on the ballot afterward as a third party spoiler.

[pnwmom]

37. Which ones don't? Besides, if he spends a whole primary

trying to alienate Democratic voters from Biden, they're that much less likely to end up voting at all.

[Demsrule86]

44. There is too much at stake and he doesn't have the power to influence Democrats. Many

young Democrats don't even know who he is...hell, I am not young and I hardly remember his Dad at all. He is nothing...a walking 'has been' with a famous name'. Nothing more. He doesn't even give a shit about the environment anymore if he ever did.

[pnwmom]

46. He'll be standing on the same stage with Biden, appealing to younger Democrats

who agree with his crusade against vaccines, in addition to his environmentalism.

And you're wrong if you think there aren't Democrats who agree with him on vaccines.

[DonCoquixote]

22. good one

and please throw the folks that did firedog lake on that pyre! As well as Jackpine radical.

[Azathoth]

18. Before the pandemic, every anti-vaxxer I ever met was a West Coast liberal type

Most of the people who thought GMOs and aspartame were genocide weapons were liberals too.

RFK Jr.'s big innovation was to use the enormous good will attached to his name by virtue of his late father to bring these upper middle class white hippie conspiracy theories out of California wine bars and into minority communities, where they have wreaked untold damage.

The fact that Republicans have suddenly become pro-global pandemic and anti-vaxx in order to own the libs doesn't mean these original left-leaning groups disappeared. They're still there, and there's enough of them to make RFK Jr. extremely dangerous in an election where Republicans have openly and preemptively declared that the winners will be determined not by who wins the most votes, but by how many county election boards are controlled by Republican operatives.

[DonCoquixote]

21. ugly but true

The same types that made Gwyneth Paltrow a billionaire by selling "Goop". Just because I am a liberal does not mean I do nto see how some parasites nest deep within the fur of the left. the "upper middle class white hippie" types do damage too, they are just subtle about it.

[DonCoquixote]

20. What pain, silence and rage is he tapping into? (Trigger warning)

the answer is:
The PRIVILEDGE of the majority ethnic group to makes us much of a mess as they want, behave however they want, and inflict whatever pain on whoever they w ant, knowing that blacks and browns do not have the economic muscle to tell them off!

I understand that sounds harsh, but every time I hear some plea that "we have to understand these angry white people" I know that these are the same people who will SHOOT YOU DEAD when you extend a hand. Even when they do take help (like in Florida, when a global warming fed hurricane trashes THEIR houses), it is always wrapped in an arrogance (don't build their houses, build OURS) RFK is just the latest whore working the track for Billionaire pimps like Musk.

[betsuni]

38. +1

[msfiddlestix]

27. Resonating? Really? Has anyone ever LISTENED to him ????!!!!!?????

[Deminpenn]

28. JMHO, a few things

First, there are plenty of Dems concerned about Biden's age. We all have parents, family, loved ones and seen the aging process. We might even see it in or are experiencing it ourselves. Biden is obviously cognitively very competent although his life long battle with stuttering sometimes makes him appear otherwise.

Second, an extremely important issue with younger voters is the environment. RFK, Jr has bona fide credentials as an environmental lawyer and champion of that cause.

Third, the Kennedy name still has a hold on those who remember JFK and RFK. RFK, Jr isn't crazy or stupid. I happened to hear or see him talking about vaccines and autism. It wasn't as I expected the GOP knee jerk anit-vaxx as anti-government/anti-Dem/anti-liberal rant. He did cite research and evidence, even if it's flawed, to support his stance. I even came away thinking he could be persuaded to change his mind.

I can't say I'm really surprised that RFK, Jr is polling at 20%.

[Demsrule86]

40. I barely remember the Kennedy's...the only one I really remember is Teddy. The name means

nothing to me... He has no chance and is a disgrace to his family.

[Demsrule86]

41. No Kennedy will not appeal to younger voters. He has abandoned climate for some time now and

and younger voters overwhelmingly support Biden. The Kennedy name is meaningless to them.

"In the first weeks of his presidential campaign, Kennedy has not rejected climate science but now claims that climate policy is part of an international conspiracy involving Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum. That type of rhetoric fits squarely with the “Great Reset” conspiracy, which holds that governments will exploit the protocols of the Covid-19 era to force “climate lockdowns,” including forcing people to eat bugs instead of meat.

“Climate issues and pollution issues are being exploited by, you know, the World Economic Forum and Bill Gates and all of these big, you know, mega-billionaires, the same way that Covid was exploited, to use it as an excuse to clamp down top-down totalitarian controls on society,” Kennedy recently told radio show host Kim Iversen, who has also trafficked in conspiracy theories around Covid-19 and vaccines.

Some in New York who fought alongside Kennedy for years feel betrayed.'

https://www.eenews.net/articles/rfk-jr-green-hero-turned-anti-vaccine-activist-takes-on-biden/

[newdayneeded]

29. I'll say this again, this time a little louder!

He has zero chance at the nomination or presidency. 90%+ of the people praising have probably never heard him speak. His voice problem will eliminate him the same way a scream, and a tank picture ended other runs. American voters are fickle. No way they listen to his voice and vote for him.

One other thing, this guy looks like someone shit in his Wheaties every single time he makes an appearance. Just a grouchy fucker!

[Kaleva]

31. Why should people listen to Naomi Klein?

She's mentioned here at DU now and then but I don't know why she has a following or if she has a following

[helpisontheway]

35. Wait until they figure out that he is crazy as hell..I don't even think his family

will support him. I’ll wait and see what Maria Shriver and Caroline Kennedy say about him. If they start campaigning for him then I will take notice.

[Demsrule86]

42. His family does not support him in fact.

[liberal_mama]

36. I would never vote for RFK Jr, but I can't figure out why he is running in the Democrat primary

instead of as a 3rd party candidate? I doubt he could win the primary. Bannon, his handler, would have to know that he could do a lot more damage as a 3rd party candidate. Maybe there is something I'm missing here.

[Demsrule86]

39. He seeks Publicity ($) and to help elect Republicans. He hangs with Joe Rogan and Bannon. Fuck him.

He is an anti-vaxing POS and no Democrat.

[Hekate]

43. KnR

[Mr.Bill]

45. Sometimes here I like to say

that less than serious candidates are just running to sell a book, which I think is true.

Google "Books by RFK Jr." This guy has published a fucking library of crackpot books. He will make millions losing primaries.