Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

For those of us who grew up in the 1960’s, the Kennedy name was magic.

President John F. Kennedy ushered in a new era in American politics – an era of hope and optimism. His youthful appearance, energy, and soaring rhetoric inspired millions to dream beyond their reach and strive for a better future. His assassination in 1963 was a bitter blow for many, but many found hope in his brothers Robert and Edward who were both seen as his heirs apparent. 

Robert was assassinated in 1968 and Edward went on to become the “Lion of the Senate” and a remarkable advocate for progressive politics until his death. All sought to make the US an inclusive society free of racial or religious bigotry.

This is why I am perplexed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s run for the Democratic presidential candidacy for 2024.

According to the New York Times, Mr. Kennedy’s support among Democrats reached as high as 20 percent in polls in recent months, but a Quinnipiac University poll this month also found Mr. Kennedy’s standing among Republicans to be fairly high: 40 percent viewed him favorably, compared with 31 percent of independents and 25 percent of Democrats.

The Times goes on to report that Mr. Kennedy is now a leading vaccine skeptic and purveyor of conspiracy theories. He has twisted facts about vaccine development by presenting information out of context; embraced unsubstantiated claims that some clouds are chemical agents being spread by the government; and promoted the decades-old theory that the C.I.A. killed his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy. 

“I think the Democratic Party became the party of war,” Mr. Kennedy has said. “I attribute that directly to President Biden.” He added, “He has always been in favor of very bellicose, pugnacious and aggressive foreign policy, and he believes that violence is a legitimate political tool for achieving America’s objectives abroad.”

Recently, Kennedy was videotaped saying “There’s an argument that it is ethnically targeted,” he explained, in remarks captured on video. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” To be sure, Kennedy added, “we don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not.”.

Abraham Foxman, a former head of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, condemned “antisemitic stereotypes going back to the Middle Ages that claimed Jews protected themselves from diseases.”

“It cannot be ignorance because he is not ignorant, so he must believe it,” Mr. Foxman said Saturday night.

“Jewish or Chinese protease consensus sequences are not a thing in biochemistry, but they are in racism and antisemitism,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

Who is supporting him?

Certainly not the Kennedy family nor his own wife, who condemned anti-Semitic comments made by her husband. “My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive,” she wrote on Twitter.

At the top of the list of his potential supporters are disaffected Democrats who oppose President Biden’s domestic and foreign policies along with disaffected Republicans who believe conspiracy theories but are turned off by Donald Trump’s political and ethical baggage. There are also many youths on both the left and right who believe that neither Biden nor Trump challenges the status quo nor offers something different. 

Add to this many members of the hi-tech community who are funding Kennedy’s campaign and who support his libertarian views. They are promoting him on social media, especially on anti-establishment podcasts that are reaching millions beyond the reach of traditional media that oppose his views and proposals.  

According to Robert Reich, in recent weeks, a collection of tech moguls has gotten behind him, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya, and venture capitalist David Sacks. Last month, Elon Musk hosted him for a Twitter Spaces discussion.

Could he win?

I doubt it.

But he could syphon off many Democrat votes that could allow the Republican candidate to squeeze through to a victory, He could divide the Democrats enough to create confusion in their messaging and even produce Kennedy as a third-party candidate.

The truth is that the illiberal extremes on the right and on the left (although some may resist labeling Kennedy as a leftist) are making significant inroads into their respective parties.

And the main loser could well be American democracy.

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Edition: Estefanía Cardeña