RFK jr campaign admits their goal is keep Biden from getting 270 EC votes, so GOP House can install Trump.

[emulatorloo]

I remember that Steve Bannon and Roger Stone encouraged RFK jr. to run.

Rita Palma, NYS director for RFK Jr’s campaign, gives away the playbook for the campaign’s mission — it’s shady AF!

@ritamollerpalma openly admits the plan is take electoral votes from Biden in blue states, in order to force a contingent election so that the Republican controlled House elects our next president — Donald Trump.

RFK Jr’s campaign director in NY checks to make sure there are no Biden supporters in the audience.

Then she admits their goal is to keep Biden from getting 270 votes, so the House can throw the election to Trump.

This only works if the GOP keeps the House.

Vote. Them. Out.

Link to tweet

[Think. Again.]

1. It's kind of shocking they're willing to admit that so publicly...

...the Democratic Party is absolutely right to focus a committee on taking down rfk.

[elleng]

38. What's shocking is their goal!

[Think. Again.]

41. I'm never really shocked by the goals of rightwingers...

...they're very predictable in wanting to achieve horrendous, hurtful, and completely unethical things, but they also usually try to gaslight or just plain lie about those goals.

[B.See]

65. Nor am I. There is no low too low for them.

The only revelation being their increasing GALL in openly admitting, even BRAGGING about their conspiracy to end democracy in America by backdooring a fkng dictator into the White House.

They clearly have no fear of even considering it.

[viva la]

104. Well, it sounds like everyone who works for that campaign is getting paid by Trumpers

So they have to do their bidding.

[All Mixed Up]

2. Republicans can lose the House and still almost certainly have the votes to install Trump.

When neither candidate gets 270 votes, and it's thrown to the House, it's not every House member who gets to decide. It's every state and every state has the same amount of votes. That's determined by which party controls the majority of each states delegation.

More states have a majority Republican delegation than Democratic and that's very unlikely to change, even if Democrats win back the House in November.

Regardless, Kennedy isn't going to throw the election to the House. He's a much bigger threat at just taking enough votes away from Biden that Trump wins outright.

[TwilightZone]

5. Right.

The person who posted the tweet apparently has no idea how it works.

[swimboy]

20. Came here to say this

And you stated it really clearly.

[LiberalFighter]

47. Decision to deny electoral slate from a state

Requires vote from both House and Senate. Democrats need control of just one chamber to prevent it.

[prodigitalson]

3. it might work even if they don't keep the house....the whole house won't vote

[FBaggins]

4. It does not "only work if the GOP keeps the House"

We would have to win pretty overwhelmingly for them not to control the selection of nobody gets to 270.

[The Wizard]

6. The GQP will control the House

until January 2024.

[FBaggins]

8. The vote wouldn't occur until the new Congress is seated

But it isn’t likely since Kennedy can be a spoiler - but almost certainly can’t win a state (which would be required in order for neither opponent to reach 270)

[Fiendish Thingy]

23. Kennedy's potential damage won't be in forcing a contingent election

But in peeling off enough votes in swing states to flip the state to Trump, giving him 270.

It’s really Trump’s only feasible (legal) path to victory (not including chicanery by state legislatures or election boards).

[NanaCat]

99. This isn't quite correct

The new Congress gets sworn in on 3 January.

The electoral count takes place on the 6th.

[The Wizard]

7. The GQP will control the House

Last edited Mon Apr 8, 2024, 08:47 AM - Edit history (1)

until January 2025.

[Silent3]

10. Which is long enough to install Trump

The new Congress will not be seated until after the 2024 Presidential election is decided.

[All Mixed Up]

11. Even with the new congress, it's extremely unlikely Democrats will have the votes.

If neither candidate gets 270, and it goes to the House, the vote is based in state delegation, not specific House members. So, California will have the same amount of votes as Wyoming.

And unless we see a massive House landslide in November, it's highly unlikely Democrats will control a majority of the state delegations.

[bottomofthehill]

17. Correct it is a race to 26 votes. Each state gets 1 vote.

Massachusetts with 9 members gets the same as Wyoming with 1. Each state gets 1 vote. No matter the delegation size, no matter the population one vote.

[bottomofthehill]

31. Yep, all them little population states add up

[All Mixed Up]

39. Yup. I think 2010 was the last time the Democrats had a majority of the state delegations.

But even that might be wrong.

[Fiendish Thingy]

25. False and irrelevant

New congress sworn in January 3, electoral votes certified January 6.

But it doesn’t matter in the unlikely case of a contingent election in the house.

[Silent3]

42. It's good to know the new House will be seated first

Not so much for the under-270 EV situation, which yes, is highly unlikely, but because I'm more worried about a Republican-controlled House simply refusing to certify Biden as the winner, regardless of how blatantly unfounded and political that would be.

I expect, no matter how the Presidential election goes, Democrats will gain control of the House.

Then again, I don't know if Democratic gains in the House will translate to 26+ state delegation under Democratic control, which is important if the weirdness of the House deciding an election ever occurs.

[Fiendish Thingy]

46. There are new rules for the electoral certification

Previously, it only took one rep and one senator to object to a state’s slate of EV’s to trigger debate and a vote on whether to certify. Now, it’s something like a 20 or more have to object.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

36. We've already passed the date January 2024. That was several months ago. Did you mean Jan. 2025? nt

[The Wizard]

86. Thank you noticing my brain fart

I just made an edit.

[soldierant]

43. Exactly. The only way we might have the House up to Jan.20

would be for enough GQP reps to resign between now and then, all in states which require a special election if there's time, and late enough that there won't be time.

I don't consider that impossible, but I do think it's unlikely.

[thesquanderer]

63. The next congress is seated on Jan 3, not Jan 20. n/t

[NanaCat]

100. The new Congress gets sworn in on 3 January

The electoral vote count happens on 6 January.

So it's not a matter of who controls the majority, but how many states have a majority R delegation. That probably won't change, so that's where the danger is.

[stopdiggin]

9. which states (and electoral votes) are we projecting

that RFKjr wins? In order that neither Trump or Biden come away with 270 - the other votes are going ... ?

[unblock]

12. More generally, republicans will find a way to throw the election into the house.

They will cry foul no matter what. Republican secretaries of state will refuse to certify Biden victories based on some pretext, and then the house will install Donnie.

*they will try to steal it*

There's just no way Donnie is already talking about dictatorship, making allegations of electoral fraud, etc., months ahead of the election, and he will only amp it up by november, and then *not* try to steal it after he loses. There's just no way.

Rfk Jr's campaign is just one of several potential pretexts for them to refuse to certify or otherwise throw the election to the house.

[Fiendish Thingy]

27. Which state SOS's would refuse to certify a Biden win?

GA did, AZ did, WI did, NV did.

IIRC, PA, MI both have Dem SOS’s, as does AZ now.

So which state that matters would refuse to certify a Biden win?

[All Mixed Up]

40. PA's SoS Al Schmidt, is a Republican but he was appointed by Shapiro.

So, I am assuming Shapiro trusts him.

Plus, Al Schmidt refused to cooperate with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and was even slammed by Trump ( he was the city commission of Philadelphia at the time).

[unblock]

58. I think there are a few - nv, nh, va, ga, and fl?

But to clarify, states refusing to certify I just one of the ways they can provide cover for the house not counting the real electoral votes.

My expectation is that they are going to do several things and make a number of accusations of foul play (all completely made up, of course) to justify the house deciding it.

In the end they'll just blame overall "electoral chaos".

[Fiendish Thingy]

79. I have no doubt there will be chicanery

But I don’t think it will involve secretaries of state refusing to certify election results.

The new electoral count act provides loopholes for candidate challenges which, if not resolved between the executive and state legislatures, gets sent to a panel of unelected judges who have unreviewable authority to make the final determination as to the winner.

[Danmel]

13. I have the misfortune of knowing Rita Palma

I work for a Democratic elected official in NYS. She is a rabid antivaxxer and has called our office and had her followers call our office hundreds of times. She has brought bus loads of people to Albany to scream at Assembly and Senate members.
Her rhetoric borders on threatening. She is a raving lunatic, perfect for RFK, Jr.

[ShazzieB]

32. Rita Palma + RFK Jr. a match made in hell!

[617Blue]

98. She is vile.

[TheRickles]

14. She admits NY is very blue, but thinks siphoning off some disaffected D's will swing the election to Trump

by taking blue electoral votes from Biden.

But I think RFK Jr's team really thinks they can win it all (NY, per this scenario - and the other blue states she mentioned), and are not aiming to be spoilers for Trump. So the conclusion here that RFK Jr. is a stalking horse to get Trump elected seems like a leap, especially as he disagrees with Trump on too many key issues (corporate corruption, wealth inequality, etc.) to be wanting to help put Trump in the White House. True, he does see Biden as an enemy, but Trump is only his enemy's enemy, not his true ally. Unfortunately, this speaker's comments are cut off before she can say how she hopes the divided Electoral College votes. Her final sentence "We're rid of Biden" isn't the same as saying "Yay Trump". She could have followed that with "And that's how we get Bobby to 270".

Unless you can find a place where Kennedy or his team unequivocally says they'd prefer Trump over Biden, I'm seeing this commentary as over- and mis-interpretation.

[oldsoftie]

28. How can any sane person think Kennedy has a chance to win ANY state?

No polls show him anywhere near high enough.

[GreenWave]

102. Ca-ching! The thread winner!

[dutch777]

15. So RFK's reaction to this is what? "Gee, I am just being a stooge for Trump". As whacky as he is, hard to believe he..

...wants this. If he really cares about the environment and other portions of his platform, Trump is the worst possible outcome. Not to mention his name will be cursed for perpetuity within his own family and the whole Dem establishment. Does not surprise me that his org such as it is is deeply infiltrated by Trumpians or anyone else with an ulterior motive.

[kcr]

90. I 100% absolutely believe

he wants this.

[Freethinker65]

16. Is this edited? Or did she really say this?

Obviously if she is RFK Jr's NYS campaign director and she said this as posted, she is a plant for Trump and RFK Jr needs to disavow her and fire her.

If she keeps her job, RFK should lose lots of those "protest" votes.

[TwilightZone]

26. I don't think it's obvious at all that she's a plant.

It's highly unlikely that she would make a statement of this magnitude without the knowledge of the candidate. This could very well be the intent of the campaign. Many of his recent comments have been hard-right, like his claim that no one was armed on January 6th.

[VeryProgressive]

18. Remove RFIK Jr From Ballot

If a 3rd party candidate is not able to get on the ballot in a sufficient number of states to win the electoral votes, they should be allowed to be only states ballot. This is one of many reasons why there should only be a popular vote winner, as it eliminates this kind of mischief. It's complete bullshit.

[red dog 1]

53. +1

Welcome to DU!

[Celerity]

80. That is unconstitutional. NT

[Lovie777]

19. RFK, jr. takes votes away from shithole........................

[reACTIONary]

71. My thought also.

[Mme. Defarge]

21. It would seem to me

Last edited Mon Apr 8, 2024, 12:04 AM - Edit history (1)

that Kennedy is much more likely to take votes away from the Orange Menace than from Joe.

[PortTack]

22. The gqp will not be in charge of the house when electoral votes are counted '25

[All Mixed Up]

30. That's not how it works.

Even if Democrats win back the House in November, if neither Trump or Biden win a majority electoral votes, and the election is thrown to the House, they decide based on state delegation - not total members.

So, California has the same amount of votes as Wyoming.

And it's highly unlikely Democrats will win a majority of the state delegations in November. That would take a massive landslide and revert the electoral college map back to pre-2010 levels where Democrats were still controlling seats in the South and places like Idaho.

It's not going to happen.

With that said, what she's proposing isn't going to happen, either. No blue state will be won by Kennedy.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. Call him Bob and not RFK

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[ShazzieB]

33. I never call him RFK without adding the "Jr."

That should leave no reason for confusion. I feel no obligation to call him Bob.

[Cha]

66. Okay.. Rat Fucker Bob.

[DaBronx]

68. That is the only appropriate title

I’m disgusted with people who think he “sounds pretty good” or “not too bad.”

A&$)holes!

So upset by his campaign. I cannot imagine what his family must think.

[Cha]

72. If they're dems.. Now you can tell them RF Bob plans to

Screw Pres Biden out of Votes so TSF can be a Dic for life and turn America over to Russia.

I read the Kennedy Family is going to start having a Higher Profile out there Against Bob the Rf.. what a GD legacy for Bob.

Cheryl Hines okay with this Shit Storm:

[DaBronx]

75. I thought the same thing

About Cheryl Hines. Unreal. I think she was blinded by the Kennedy name and accoutrements.

[GopherGal]

76. Or Rat-Fucking Kid.

nfm

[Cha]

78. Not bad.. The Rat Fucking kid. As opposed to all

the other Kennedy Kids.

[GreenWave]

103. How about Mr. Stinky Feet?

Show him airing out his feet on commercial liners.

[hlthe2b]

29. THat video needs to go EVERYWHERE 24/7 and hang this around RFK JR's neck

What a GD POS.

[karynnj]

34. This shows they are really over confident. That happens only if no one gets 270

I know that there is a possible 269 to 269, but it is most likely someone gets 270. How they help Trump is if they take enough votes from Biden in close states so Trump not Biden gets 270.

[no_hypocrisy]

35. Wasn't this the premise and motivation in 2020 when Jared Kushner

enlisted Kanye West to run for President? Remember him and "the Birthday Party"?

It was TSF & Co's fervent hope that West (and his wife) could get young voters (African-Americans, Hispanics, etc.) not to vote for Biden but for West.

Obviously it didn't work as West lacked the organization and consistent interest to follow through.

[calimary]

37. O.M.G. The ULTIMATE dirty trick.

SCOUNDREL!!! His dad and his uncle must be rolling in their graves.

I hope the fact that we’re wise to it and talking about it - NOW - is a good omen. We’re talking about it in early April. It’s still a long time til November. And if we’re making noise about it NOW, that might mean stronger probabilities that more well-informed voters will be going to the polls by the time we need ‘em to.

[LudwigPastorius]

44. I guess it's a waste of time to try and discern...

why the Bob camp prefers Trump over Biden if Junior can’t win (and he can’t).

When you are batshit crazy, there is no line of reasoning involved at all.

[Rebl2]

45. Who's

batshit crazy? Bob or tfg or both. I think Bob’s family should have him committed.

[LudwigPastorius]

49. Both.

Maybe that's his attraction to Trump.

[karin_sj]

48. This turns my stomach and makes my blood boil

They know that they can't win fairly so they cheat by disenfranchising voters, redistricting, lying about everything, propping up spoiler candidates, and generally rat f*cking the Democrats in any way they can. The real JFK and RFK must be turning in their graves right now.

[GiqueCee]

50. Sweet Jesus!

How can a Kennedy be so fucking evil?!!?

[TexasBushwhacker]

51. So we have TWO malignant narcissists running! N/t

[kimbutgar]

52. This needs to broadcasted far and wide in TV, radio and print ads

The Biden Campaign needs to highlight that Bobby jr is rooting for the orange monster to be elected and he is a Bannon controller puppet spoiler.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

54. So he thinks he's going to win a state that Biden would otherwise?

That's fucking hilarious. He's so delusional it's kind of sad.

[totodeinhere]

61. No. He wants to siphon a few votes away from Biden in a few swing states

so that Trump could narrowly win those states and win in the Electoral College even though he will lose the popular vote by a wide margin.

[onenote]

64. If that's his goal then the House won't play a role in deciding the outcome

If Kennedy doesn’t win any states — and there is zero chance of him winning any — but keeps Biden from winning them, Trump wins the electoral vote outright.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

69. That's not the scenario in the OP that has the House voting to install Trump.

[totodeinhere]

73. I know. I am just saying what I think Kennedy's

real strategy is.

[red dog 1]

55. RFKJr is MAGA

(Would be nice to get that trending on X)

#RFKJrIsMAGA

[Mountainguy]

56. This plan would

rely on there being enough MAGA voters with the capability of voting strategically. That's unlikely and even if so would still be a very long shot.

[totodeinhere]

57. If that happened it would be the party that controls the majority of state delegations

that would get to select the winner. It wouldn't necessarily be the party that has the majority of House members. Under that scenario the Republicans would have a big advantage since they control a lot of small conservative states and those states would each get one vote as would the big states like California and New York also get only one vote.

[dsc]

59. Actually the vote in the House is by state not by member

so the GOP could lose the House and still be able to win the Presidency this way. In 2021, we had a majority in the House but the GOP had a plurality of the state delegations. https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/house

[LuvLoogie]

60. Can we call him Bobert Kennedy The Jagoff?

What a heinous wench, that Palma.

[Cha]

62. Did the MFs happen to say WHY they wanted

TSF to Ruin America and give it over to Russia?!

RatFucking Jr is a Sadistic Demon.

I hope he gets what's Really coming to him someday.

[Cha]

67. Cheryl Hines okay with this SHIT Storm?

[JoseBalow]

70. RatFucK Jr.

[MFM008]

74. Mere useful idiot

Everything he's doing goes against his family heritage. I'm afraid things are going to have to get nasty for this guy as far as the campaign goes no respecting the name he's no Democrat and he's not acting like a Kennedy.

[dalton99a]

77. Stupid, nasty piece of shit.

[Blue Owl]

82. A fucking goddamned piece of shit culled from deep within tRump's rancid pantload

[intheflow]

81. They are all so incredibly smug.

“Any Biden voters in the house? I wouldn’t want this getting out in an era where everyone has a personal recording device in their pockets.”

How stupid do you have to be to make this speech to a roomful of strangers? Your have to be Rita Palma stupid.

[mwb970]

83. I hate this ahole just as much as trump.

[NNadir]

84. If he siphons votes, it will be from his fellow right wing ignoramus Trump.

[Pharlo]

85. The Biden Campaign

needs to brand little Bob as the Q-conspiracy candidate before T-Rump has an opportunity to establish Little Bob as a progressive.

[lark]

87. Damn, this Biden hate and trump love is right out front here.

This Kennedy is part of the krazy klown kaucus and is probably getting paid by tsf as one of his many many plans to steal the presidency and turn us into a Russian satellite. He wants WW111 and wants to be on the side of Russia and China and to convert us to a dictatorship of the rich.

[WmChris]

88. RFK

Looks like shorthand for Rat FucK. I wonder who is actually bankrolling that operation?

[Tickle]

89. Watch Nebraska

I haven't read all the comments, so apologies if this point has been mentioned previously. It's worth noting that Nebraska doesn't adhere to a winner-takes-all system for electoral votes. If a candidate, such as Kennedy, secures at least one electoral vote, then neither Trump nor Biden may reach the 270-vote threshold required to win the presidency. In such a scenario, the responsibility of selecting the president falls to Congress, with each state casting one vote

[stopdiggin]

94. No. math is not correct.

removing one vote does not prevent a majority. And 2) the 'odd' vote in NE could only possibly be Democratic. (with the issue probably being dead there for this cycle anyway)

There might (possibly) be some odd combination of both Maine and Nebraska together throwing up some kind of spoiler. (although I'm not entirely sure how that would manifest ..) But NE alone could not do it.

[jmowreader]

91. There's one tiny problem with their plan

It would require Mr. Kennedy to win states.

I have the suspicion that Mr. Kennedy’s voter base is antivaxers, which is also an important part of Trump’s base. What’s more likely to happen is that in states where Trump won by only a few percent in 2020, Kennedy will split the Trump vote and allow Biden to win.

[Elessar Zappa]

92. He's dreaming if he thinks he's going to win a state.

And I’m not convinced he’d hurt Biden more than Trump. Just my anecdotal observations from Twitter and Facebook seem to me to be 75% of his supporters seem like right wingers and the rest the loony left.

[themaguffin]

93. Also in that Twitter thread, they post pics of Rita's older comments claiming that 2020 was stolen.

[617Blue]

95. What a cynical disgusting woman. And stupid.

[Evolve Dammit]

96. What an insane individual. No wonder the Kennedy family doesn't have much to do with him.

[Texin]

97. What the actual hell? This cretin is a psychopath. No wonder the entire Kennedy family are speaking out against him.

Was he dropped on his head at birth?

[RandomNumbers]

105. Drug abuse, following his father's assassination, which followed his uncle's.

I know your question was rhetorical, but I think it bears mentioning from whence the insanity comes.

It's a tragic story. I am really utterly SICK of people playing along with this sad person's fantasy of - whatever he thinks he might be accomplishing here. He had some good intentions at one time in the past, when he was focused on the environment. But apparently the brain damage from post-trauma drug abuse twisted his thinking and got him to buy into some really bogus crap, and in chasing that, he has become an awful person.

I am posting here to kick this thread, because no one should forget what is the true aim - and only realistic "successful" outcome - of his campaign. (For any lurkers who would be happy with that outcome: sorry, I don't think it will be "successful" even in that sense. All it will really do is further tarnish this sick man and his extended family, who have already been dealt more than enough political tragedy.)

[SomedayKindaLove]

101. Maybe we can trick MAGA

Into voting for Bob because that would be bad for Biden.