Comments

  1. gijoel says

    The anti-vax to wingnut pipeline has spewed more shit into politics, I see. Definitely not surprised.

  2. drivenb4u says

    All I can think is, wow, what a waste of a priceless birthright. Born in to one of most privileged families imaginable and guaranteed an elite education, the guy could have gone into any number of respectable roles or perhaps even again reached the heights his family formerly achieved. Instead he became a crank and wound up yet another obsequious subject to Trump, who will no doubt toss him out like a dirty sock once he’s extracted whatever tiny bit of usefulness RFK is good for.

  3. chrislawson says

    It would have been better if he had stayed in the race. He was only ever going to draw a small percentage of the vote, but almost all of it would have come out of the Trump base, not the Dems. Likely he was offered a position in a Trump administration in return for withdrawing and throwing his support to Trump. Which would not have happened if the GOP apparatchiks didn’t think it would be to their benefit.

  4. raven says

    Likely he was offered a position in a Trump administration in return for withdrawing and throwing his support to Trump.

    I hope it wasn’t to be the head of NIH, the CDC, or Tony Fauci’s old department in NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

    As an antivaxxer, this would be RFK Jr.’s dream job.
    Cthulhu knows how many lives that would cost us.

  5. HidariMak says

    chrislawson @3
    “Likely he was offered a position in a Trump administration in return for withdrawing and throwing his support to Trump.”

    I can't find the link at the moment, but there was a news story on either August 15 or 16 about RFK Jr. telling Kamala Harris that he would drop out and endorse her in exchange for a job in her administration, a week after he made the same offer to Trump. Like Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, JFK Jr. will be learning the value of a Trump promise, but I can't feel sympathy for a professional liar falling victim to another professional liar. https://is.gd/lMreF4
    Besides, if Trump gets in, the views of JFK Jr. will be the least of America's problems.

  6. tacitus says

    I don’t know how representative the RFK Jr For President subreddit was, though there was a hell of a lot of denial about the news he was going to quit his campaign, but it doesn’t seem there’s much of an appetite for voting for Trump among them. Most seem to want to keep voting for RFK where he will still be on the ballot, and either writing in his name, or voting Green or Libertarian instead, in places he’s not.

    Hilariously, some are falling an offer from Trump voters in blue states where they will vote for RFK in exchange for RFK fans voting for Trump in swing states to help them reach the 5% threshold to qualify for public funding in the next election, as though their “movement” has any legs at all.

    I don’t see Trump getting a significant boost from this. There’s definitely some PUMA-style hate for the DNC, but unless RFK becomes a major part of Trump’s campaign (and can you imagine Trump allowing that?) there isn’t much love for Trump either.

  7. tacitus says

    @HidariMak

    Yeah, I saw references to RFK being rebuffed after approaching the Harris campaign to discuss a deal too.

    RFK fans are feeling betrayed because he promised he was building a movement and wouldn’t be like other politicians. He was also still asking for money after the rumors of him dropping out had been pretty much confirmed, and put out a statement announcing today’s press conference claiming it would change politics forever (or something like that). They were anticipating a bluff — that he wasn’t going to drop out but double-down with some kind of unprecedented move that would sweep him to victory. Totally delusional.

    RFK just did what every politician does — parlay what’s left of his declining political influence in this election campaign for personal gain and influence, e.g. a cushy job in Trump’s administration. I didn’t see the speech, but apparently he kept saying Trump would keep his word. What a joke.

  8. Rich Woods says

    @tacitus #7:

    RFK fans are feeling betrayed

    Given all that he stands for, their plight leaves me quite unmoved.

  9. says

    Both Trump and Putin practice clientelism. Neither treats their clients well in the long term, because it’s purely transactional. If they see a better opportunity, existing clients will be thrown under the bus.

  11. says

    The brainworm in his head had told him that he’d be the new Ralph Nader, but then it turns out that splitting the left doesn’t work when you are such an open right-wing moron.

    And I mean, it’s clear that he only ever ran with that goal in mind.

  12. cheerfulcharlie says

    RFK Jr. is now officially a failed has been. Hopefully the MSM will now ignore him and not bother us with his existence any more.

  13. fishy says

    R.F.K. Jr. is a Democratic plant trying to infiltrate Trump’s inner sanctum.
    Spread the word.

  14. muttpupdad says

    He will worm his way somehow giving him access to the orange menace inner working and disrupt them from there.

  15. says

    RFK said that he is suspending his campaign, not completely quitting. He made the point that he is leaving his name on the ballot in blue states, and asked that people in blue states still vote for him.

    What’s he trying to do? Pull votes from Harris, while not pulling votes from Trump.

    Associated press:

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

    Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers. [JFC. Seeing Trump and Bobby greet each other with open arms is sticking in my brain. It’s not good.]

    Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris […]

    Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

    “These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said at his event in Phoenix.

    However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states […] but election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said it would be too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so.

    Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks. He cast their alliance as “a unity party,” an arrangement that would “allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously.” Kennedy suggested Trump offered him a job if he returns to the White House, but neither he nor Trump offered details.

    […] He spoke for nearly 20 minutes [rambling bunch of garbage for 20 minutes] before he said explicitly that he was endorsing Trump.

    Kennedy later joined Trump onstage at a rally co-hosted by Turning Point Action in Glendale, where Trump’s campaign had teased he would be joined by “a special guest.”

    Kennedy was greeted by thundering applause as he took the stage to the Foo Fighters and a pyrotechnics display after being introduced by Trump as “a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.”

    “We are both in this to do what’s right for the country,” Trump said, later commending Kennedy for having “raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country.”

    With Kennedy standing nearby, Trump invoked his slain uncle and father, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, saying he knows “that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud.” […]

    At Kennedy’s Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman said she trusted Kennedy’s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy endorsed him. […]

    There’s some evidence that Kennedy’s staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).

    Link to Daily Kos presentation of Associated Press coverage

  16. stuffin says

    Not certain the RFK circus is over. He traded his few voters for a position in Trump’s government (should he win). RFK could be that bad penny that keeps coming back.

  17. birgerjohansson says

    Hmm, the expected DNC bump in the polls should take care of any RFK bump in Trump’s polls.
    I am most concerned about Pennsylvania, wake me up if something alsrming happens with Pennsylvania polls otherwise I would prefer to ignore anyrhing involving Trump.

  18. cheerfulcharlie says

    The latest from Real Clear Politics. In Pennsylvania Trump leads by +0.2%. Basically even. Just before Biden dropped out, Trump lead Biden 4.5% So Harris erased Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania. The Hill has Harris up +0.9% in 28 polls. 538 has Harris up +1.8%.Still tight, but Harris is doing much better than Biden was. The next big thing to watch for is September 18 when Trump is scheduled to be sentenced for his 34 felonies. Then September 19, Talk Like A Pirate Day.

  19. HidariMak says

    There’s a certain irony, in the brainworm candidate who claimed to have staged a dead bear with an abandoned bike in Central Park, backing the party whose new slogan appears to be “we’re not weird”. RFK Jr. may not be as damaging to Trump’s campaign as Vance has been, but I certainly don’t see it helping him.

  22. petesh says

    RFKJ is not a has-been, he’s a never-was.
    Harris refused to take his call, for which she rises further in my estimation.