There are many things that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does not know. How to do a push-up correctly. The average cost of a gallon of milk (probably). How does Prozac work. When just shut up.
But none of that really matters to Republicans who seem happy to use his conspiracy-fueled campaign to damage Joe Biden’s bid for a second term. In fact, RFK, Jr.’s strategy of dashing his party’s White House hopes by regurgitating baseless vaccine misinformation and fake outrage over COVID-19 mandates is so popular among the GOP that even Donald Trump is a fan.
In a New York Times report outlining RFK, Jr.’s presidential bid, many right-wing supporters have defended the man who hails from a political dynasty that should represent everything they hate in the DC swamp. RFK, Jr. is one percent, a coastal elite whose fathers, aunts and uncles helped shape Democratic ideals that Republicans seem to loathe like civil rights. But as soon as he vomits fascist buzzwords like “censorship,” “mainstream media,” and “government conspiracy,” RFK, Jr. turns into a political puppet for the MAGA cult. And Trump seems more than happy to use his little hands to pull the guy’s strings.
During an appearance on The Howie Carr Show On Monday, Trump encouraged RFK, Jr..
“Hang on,” he said. “He’s been very nice to me, I’ve had a very good relationship with him over the years. He’s a very smart guy and a good guy.
Trump continued to campaign primarily for RFK, Jr., whom he envisioned for a role in his White House as vaccine czar before the pandemic hit. “He’s a common-sense guy and so am I,” Trump said. “So whether you are conservative or liberal, common sense is common sense. Much of what I run is common sense. He is doing very well, I saw a poll, he is 22 years old. It’s rather good ! It’s pretty good, it works very well.
And in case you doubted this could be an effective strategy…
Roger Stone, a longtime GOP operative whom Trump pardoned after being found guilty in 2019 of obstructing a congressional investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, remarked on a podcast in April this year that “incumbent presidents who run for re-election but are challenged in the primaries by a significant challenger, even if they survive, in almost every case they are defeated. Stone quoted this which happened to Jimmy Carter when Ted Kennedy challenged him for the nomination in 1980.
(Via the NYT)