Last night, my 20-year-old grandniece reached out to me to ask what I thought of RFK, Jr. . . . [View all]

[markpkessinger]

Here was my response:

The problem with RFK, Jr. is the same problem with all third-party or independent presidential candidates. The fact is that structurally, a third party candidate can only function as a spoiler, detracting votes from one of the two major candidates. No doubt there are some things that RFK, Jr. says that are attractive. But there is a long history of third party candidates that shows they invariably hurt one of the major candidates at the expense of the other. Jill Stein, in 2016, hurt Hillary and helped Trump to win. Ralph Nader in 2004 helped Bush and hurt John Kerry. Back in the 1990s, the independent candidacy of Ross Perot hurt Bob Dole and helped Clinton. So it isn't one-sided -- at various points in history, these candidates have helped Democrats as well as Republicans. And in many cases, at least some of what they stand for has been attractive. But you have to consider the reality of their chances, and of which side they will ultimately help.

And one more thing to think about is this: even if a third-party/independent candidate could somehow get elected, that candidate would take office with no natural group of supporters in Congress, so he or she would be able to accomplish next to nothing while in office.

The hard reality of the matter is is that a vote for RFK, Jr. is effectively a vote for Trump.