Can RFK Jr. Bring Back the Democratic Party?

We’ve seen this before: The little ant that thinks he can move a rubber tree plant. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., much like his uncle, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, has high hopes that he can take the Democratic Party machine down a peg or two, bring back sanity in America, and be the Uniter-in-Chief promised by the current president, who many say hasn’t delivered. It’s a familiar passion from the scion of the famous family. And he’s attracting centrist Republicans and exhausted Democrats for his more libertarian philosophies and because he is dementia-free, can dismount a bicycle, and avoids the proverbial sandbag.

Will his good looks, physical and cognitive health, and various policies finally release the zip-tied echo chamber of stubborn progressives and Democrats? Maybe.

A recent Quinnipiac poll showed RFK Jr. had a high favorability rate with, of all respondents, Republicans – 40% of whom view him as favorable compared to just 31% of independents and 25% of Democrats. If Kennedy can really take off, we might see a repeat of 2016 – when an outsider gives the establishment a run for its money.

The Kennedy Appeal

In the delusional world of Democratic Party politics, the faithful ignore that the current leader of the free world is not of sound mind or body. Perhaps that’s because allowing the current vice president to ascend to the highest office in the land is, to many, untenable. It’s a risky roll of the dice: Support this administration or allow Kennedy to seep into the national debate.

Kennedy is a peacetime kind of guy, and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is a sticking point with a lot of Americans. While speaking with Reason’s Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller, RFK Jr. called Biden out as “someone who has a career being a spokesperson for the Warhawks and neocons.” Essentially, Kennedy believes the president is being advised by an “intelligence apparatus” of hawks in the federal government.

Kennedy went on to boldly declare that if he can defeat the current regime, he’ll appoint former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as his Secretary of State. “I love Tulsi Gabbard. She understands the importance of disentangling, of unraveling the empire and unraveling the war machine.” The Gabbard name is being bandied about by Trump supporters as well, which tells us independent thinking is as popular today as it was in, say, 1776. Some conservatives, wary of voting for any left-leaning politician, seem to be asking for Trump to embrace RFK Jr. as his running mate. If MAGA folks show a gesture of faith in a ticket that crosses party lines, Democrats, huddled and scheming, should be afraid.

Kennedy appeals to people who refused the COVID-19 vaccination, the environmentalists hoping to clear the air, and even the pro-Second Amendment people. He has repeated time and again on the matter of what Democrats and the media have labeled assault weapons: “I’m not going to take away anybody’s guns.” Though he did say he might sign bi-partisan legislation on the right to bear arms – a position sure to enrage both Second Amendment advocates and those progressives who won't be satisfied with anything less than a ban on guns.

RFK and the Media Madness

It could not be more evident to the interested onlooker that the Democrat activist media is avoiding any coverage whatsoever of the charismatic Kennedy. As Liberty Nation’s Editor-in-Chief, Leesa K. Donner, wrote:

“The leftist media have put the son of Bobby Kennedy on extinction. They ignore him at all costs or make herculean efforts to marginalize him as more than a bit kooky. Try as they might, they are thus far unsuccessful at getting the electorate to snub him. In fact, the more voters hear from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the more they like him.”

The American Broadcasting Company recently admitted to silencing the candidate. After a decent amount of journalism was conducted in an interview on May 5, the channel revealed they had used “editorial judgment” and left out portions of the interview. Mostly Kennedy’s stance on vaccines, of course. Whether that helped or hurt is yet to be seen. Perhaps that is why Kennedy has taken his message to a more accessible medium: The man is basking in the ease of internet campaigning.

He frequently shows up on podcasts with Reason, Joe Rogan, Russell Brand, and Jordan Peterson, appearing casually in a t-shirt and jeans, sometimes a bit unkempt after whatever activity he was up to before the Zoom call. When asked about the grueling life of the presidential candidate, he told Rebecca Traister, a writer for Intelligencer, “You can actually do retail politics without leaving your house because of the podcast.”

Kennedy even got the nod from Tucker Carlson. Before Carlson was fired from Fox News, he opined openly about Kennedy’s fast-tracking campaign: “So, at this point, the question isn’t who in public life is corrupt? Too many to count. The question is, who is telling the truth? There are not many of those. One of them is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

High Hopes

The Kennedys’ campaigns were always long shots. In the 1950s and 60s, no one would entertain the thought of a practicing Catholic as president. Mainline Protestants predominated. But crooner Frank Sinatra was on board with John and revised his High Hopes recording to tell voters not to give up on that little ant. And wouldn’t you know, Kennedy became the first Catholic president.

How does the next-gen Kennedy stand up to his famous uncle and father? Fans will tell you he’s genuine, even if the machine calls him cuckoo.

Why? Because RFK Jr, like his father before him, believes in the USA but knows it’s on the brink of losing its freedom to government control. He speaks his mind rather than repeating a teleprompter script. Here is what Bobby Kennedy said in March 1968 as he announced his intentions, albeit late in the game:

“I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I’m obliged to do all I can.”

Bobby had an uphill battle, but he managed to kick front-runner Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) to the curb and force Lynden B. Johnson, a sitting president, to withdraw from the race in 1968 with his astounding win in Califorinia. The ant had moved the rubber tree plant an inch or two, but the high hopes were dashed that very night by an assassin's bullet.

And what did RFK Jr. say just recently?

“I feel like I am losing my country. I feel like my party has gone off the rails. It’s become the party of war, and the Democratic Party was always skeptical about war. It’s become the party of censorship, which is antithetical to the definition and tradition of liberalism. [We’re] … spending money that we don’t have. We’re like an alcoholic who is behind on his mortgage and has taken the milk money to buy rounds for everybody, strangers at the bar. We don’t have the money.”

The parallels of the family in politics are apparent. The desire to “do something” has driven every Kennedy who ever sought elected office, and no matter where his support comes from, it detracts from both Biden and the presumptive Republican nominee Trump.

Kennedy’s grassroots support is exploding. His coffers are filling, and campaign groups have popped up in every state. It’s another Kennedy uphill battle – but if you listen closely, you may hear the Democratic Party echo chamber snap as the tune plays, “Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant.”