RSS
I wrote an essay for The Unz Review last May about why I supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr for president. I also explained my reasons for backing Kennedy in an interview with Kevin Barrett at the time, and even in a silly song that I wrote. I have prepared this follow-up essay to explain why I still support Kennedy, despite my disappointment with some of his campaign developments.
Although I plan to vote for Kennedy in November, assuming that the fascists who control Illinois even allow him on the ballot, I also support the candidacy of Cornel West, of “Literally Anybody Else,” and of any other challenger to the evil two-party system. That corrupt dysfunctional system needs to be destroyed, though the thoroughly propagandized American population makes that difficult task pretty damn impossible. It might be impossible, but it’s certainly worth the simple effort of going to the voting booth and casting a vote for an independent or third-party candidate. No one should ever vote for any Republican or any Democrat anymore!
Articulate and intelligent
Kennedy has articulated America’s most serious problem—the corrupt fascistic merger of government and corporate power—more clearly and more intelligently than any other political or public figure. I’m not sure what he would be able to do to fix this problem, should he somehow miraculously get elected in the rigged system that we have, but at least he understands the problem. No one else in the political arena seems to.
He has also demonstrated that he clearly understands the serious problem of the military-industrial complex and the endless wars of the American Empire. He has spoken out particularly forcefully against U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war, as well as about the U.S. provoking of that war. I think he would quickly put an end to that horrific war and the terrible waste of U.S. money there, and he would be much more likely than any other potential president to avoid further imperialistic military adventures and foolish attempts at empire building.
Wrong on Gaza
That said, I have been very disappointed by Kennedy’s apparent support for Israel’s colonialist genocide campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. Cornel West, to his credit, is the only candidate who has spoken out against this obvious-for-the-whole-world-to-see genocide.
So, that’s a big problem with Kennedy—and 99 percent of other American politicians. Unfortunately, American politicians consider it necessary to cater to the wealthy and influential Zionists in order to have any hope of getting elected. That is just the disgusting reality of American politics. I myself was not awakened to this problem until the ongoing Gaza situation worsened to the point of finally shaking me out of the propaganda brainwashing in which I had long been lost. Reading Rashid Khalidi’s The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine further educated me.
Kennedy is wrong on Israel and Gaza. But I think he is right on just about everything else. I’m not going to reject a candidate because I disagree—even strongly disagree—with him on one issue. Plus, he’s a smart guy with an open mind, and I have hopes that he will eventually modify his position on Gaza by listening to and learning from people like Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter.
Right about a lot of things
Kennedy is right about a lot of things. He is right about vaccines and the evils of the pharmaceutical industry. He is right about the corruption of medicine and science. He is right about looking into the causes of worsening chronic diseases. He is right about toxins in our environment and the need for better environment and nature protections. He is right about the land and cultural rights of American Indians. He is right about the need to fight the censorship and propaganda of the media and Big Tech. He is right about the declining middle class and the greedy irresponsible actions of Wall Street and the Fed. He is right about trying to inspire and restore some hope among disillusioned young people. He is right about trying to stop all the ugly hatred and anger and trying to bring people together over some common basic decent values.
I am not crazy about his selection of Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. But I really don’t know much about her, other than the smears that the mainstream media and other detractors are now painting her with. I was hoping that he might pick someone else, like Tulsi Gabbard or Rand Paul, but I assume that such high-profile political figures did not want to hitch a ride with a probably losing campaign and spoil their relationship with a potential new Trump presidency.
I like the fact that Shanahan is young, energetic, and obviously intelligent. Those characteristics, as well as her wealth, should be beneficial to Kennedy’s campaign. I like her proven interests in the environment, health, and criminal justice. She would certainly make a better president than Kamala would (or Pence would have). But then, any sentient, reasonably smart person would probably make a better president than most any professional politician these days. So, I wish her luck on the campaign trail. She gave a pretty good speech at the VP announcement, though she needs to control the (understandable considering the circumstances) nervous laughter.
Can Kennedy actually win?
I think Kennedy’s only hope of winning is if he can get on a televised debate stage with Biden and Trump. The marked differences in intelligence, in straightforwardness, and in awareness of important issues would become glaringly obvious to all viewers! But I doubt if either Trump or Biden will want to expose their own weaknesses and mental declines in any debates. Or, if they do have a debate, they probably won’t let Kennedy in.
Without such televised debates, the general media blackout of Kennedy’s campaign will cause most Americans to either remain completely unaware of Kennedy or to believe in the unfavorable media caricatures of him. Of course, even if he does get more media exposure and public opinion polls eventually indicate that he might have a chance at winning, the end result will depend on a free and fair election, which, needless to say, is highly doubtful.
In an interesting essay posted on The Hill after the Shanahan announcement, former Reagan/Bush speechwriter Douglas MacKinnon seems to think that Kennedy might have a shot. MacKinnon writes about the weird “Alice in Wonderland” nature of this year’s presidential race, with voters worried about “Biden’s age, perceived cognitive issues, his son Hunter’s legal and perception problems, growing policy failures, and a country and world going more sideways by the day.” As for Trump, “it’s hard for some voters to unsee the FBI raid on Trump’s home in Florida, his mug shot, multiple indictments by Democratic prosecutors and district attorneys, trial dates and the greater ‘lawfare’ campaign being purposefully amplified by some in the media.”
MacKinnon notes that Kennedy has “a higher favorability rating than both Biden and Trump. He is also the favorite of voters under 35 years old, as well as independents, and is gaining rapidly among minorities—three constituencies that Kennedy now has a chance to grow substantially thanks to his selection yesterday of Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.”
MacKinnon describes Shanahan as a “game changer,” writing that she “has a remarkable life story. She grew up on welfare, is Asian American, a lawyer, the California-based founder and president of Bia-Echo Foundation—a nonprofit that issues grants for issues including reproductive rights, equality, criminal justice reform and the environment—is a single mother to a daughter with autism and is the former wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin.”
He adds, “Aside from her entrepreneurial background, high energy and intelligence, Shanahan immediately amplifies or outright fills multiple needs of the Kennedy campaign. She can speak directly to female voters, the high-tech community, young voters, minority voters, the working poor, the disenfranchised—and dissatisfied Democrats.”
I think the most interesting part of MacKinnon’s essay is this paragraph:
“The line between ‘long shot’ and ‘the people’s choice’ is much narrower than many believe. It often comes down to reaching a tipping point. In but a few weeks, the conversation can instantly switch from ‘Kennedy can’t possibly win’ to ‘I can’t believe it, but Kennedy now has a real shot.’ Shanahan can very quickly help flip that conversation to Kennedy’s favor.”
Trump and Biden BS
Time will tell. I’m an old guy (64) who has become increasingly cynical, and sometimes even hateful, about my country and about its politics over the past several years. Trump was a disappointment, with his BS about the wall he never built; with his tough-guy-posturing bombast and bluster about Russia, China, and Iran; with his stupid son-in-law and their further fucking up of the Palestinian situation; with his horrible authoritarian phony-science Covid policies; with his endless fighting, insulting, and arguing about every kind of unimportant nonsense… Now he’s in numerous legal messes, many that are at least partly of his own making, he’s still trying to talk tough to the world, and he’s selling Bibles with asshole has-been country singer Lee Greenwood.
I cannot stand Liz Cheney (or her war criminal father), but she did have a great line for Trump about his Bible peddling: “Instead of selling Bibles, you should probably buy one. And read it, including Exodus 20:14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.” That pretty nicely sums up Trump’s BS and hypocrisy.
Trump is bad enough. But Biden has probably been the worst disaster in American history—certainly the most reckless warmonger ever in the White House. But that’s what happens when the elite class rigs an election to get a dementia-ridden sock puppet in office so that they can easily and effortlessly manipulate him to serve the needs of the government-corporate combine and American war machine. The only place Biden belongs is in a nursing home drooling over his ice cream and getting his diaper changed.
Perhaps there is hope?
Trump and Biden are both perfectly representative of the stinking decay and rot of American society and culture at almost every level. The decay and rot are probably irreversible. In my old age, I have mostly given up. It must be a desperately depressing situation for young Americans, who have known only this rot all their lives. I, at least, have memories of better, freer times from the 1960s and 1970s.
But perhaps enough young people will become inspired by the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket to go out and vote. Perhaps their votes will make a difference. Perhaps the election will be free and fair. Perhaps Kennedy and Shanahan will win. Perhaps President Kennedy and Vice President Shanahan will get in office and enact the good, needed, dramatic changes that they are promising.
Yeah, perhaps. But, then again, perhaps I should get my sick, delusional head examined.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Vietnamese
how can you look past this sell out’s position on the palestinians, blaming them resisting the illegal occupation of their country. they have every legal right to resist and a fucking lawyer should be able to figure that out, as well as the fact the israel was never legally ratified in the u.n., and the u.n. would not have the jurisdiction to give their occupied land away to anyone.
there’s only 3 possible explanations:
#1, he is a flat out bigot and jewish supremacist, who see jews as white and palestinians as “sand niggers”, not likely but possible.
#2, he is owned by mossad due to his friend with pedo epstein and his good friend jizdrizel maxwell. this is highly likely with his travels on trans lolita airlines.
#3, bobby is being cagy and plans to use the jews to get into the whitehouse where he will viciously turn on them, like a reincarnated adolf hitler and seek retribution and blood vengeance for the deaths in his clan. if bobby shows up at the white house wearing a kilt with half his face painted blue, i will believe this, any short of this and you’re stuck with #1 and #2.
yeah, i know william wallace was scottish, but remember mel gibson wasn’t scottish either.
“Time will tell. I’m an old guy (64)” “In my old age, I have mostly given up.”
The writer makes reference to his advanced age at 64, I must assume his own personal health isn’t good but if you’re in good health, 64 isn’t old at all. I know of a man in his early 90’s that still is licensed to drive a tractor trailer and does on a regular basis. I also know a man of 85 who rides a mountain bike in rugged mountain trails all the time. Age is what you make of it.
I liked Kennedy at first, due to his opinions on big media, big pharma and covid. I also liked his environmental views. I quickly changed my opinion when he gave his complete support to Israel. His picking of Shanahan as a vice presidential candidate was OK until I heard that she is the ex-wife of Brin. That’s as bad as asking Melinda Gates to run with him. I’ve written him off and all of the presidential candidates. I have now come to the conclusion that there is no political way out of this mess, we need to just prepare for the country winding down and it’s eventual breakup which is happening right before our eyes. Having presidential elections (if they have them) in 2024 is like re- arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
RFK had 37 mistresses, then let his wife kill herself over it. Creep. Douchebag. This alone, would disqualify RFK in a sane country. Reveals his character:
RFK says climate deniers should be locked up:
RFK had to obtain permission from his Jewish master:
RFK says COVID does not affect Chinese or Ashkenazi genetics, only blacks & whites. Since he’s Shabbos Goy, this PsyOp is targetted against Chinese:
Lastly, icing on cake, RFK is such a creep, resort to showing off muscles:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over – and expecting different results. Since Bush Sr, regardless of President or Party, nothing has changed. How many more years before boomers wake the fuck up?
You probably don’t need me, at my Beatles-nostalgic even more advanced age. But I will manage a comment before I lie down for my nap. I was in college at an “elite” New England university when his father was running for president. I liked this father very much and supported him. . If his father had not been murdered, if he had become president, the country might not be in the mess it’s in now. I will admit that it is difficult for me to remove that factor from the equation.
RFK Jr is/was that good in bed –37 mistresses?
Given his age, he’s obviously on anabolic steroids to achieve his physique.
Basically, he’s a Shabbos Goy junkie.
If you’re going to go after Trump, at least get the criticisms right. He had an election stolen from him, and now is being politically prosecuted and lawfared for speaking his mind about it. Rather unprecedented in American history. Your take: he’s in “legal messes” and is to blame for ludicrous Soros prosecutors out of a Tom Wolfe novel bringing cases that would normally be laughed out of court.
Who gives a shit that he might have banged a porn star and is selling bibles when Biden has brought us to the edge of nuclear confrontation? Do you fancy yourself a serious person or not?
The correct criticisms are that Trump is a poor speaker, surrounds himself with lousy people and has the mental focus of a 6-year-old with ADD. The second one is correctable and would mitigate the damage from the other two.
Doesn’t matter anymore, they are a constantly shrinking demographic who has past its prime decades ago.
I wonder if JR. tapped Shmuley’s old lady and if he did was she wearing a bag over her head?
It’s annoying that he got dozens of his followers arrested Jan6 though. Then seemed to skate by.
Dreadfully suspect.
I agree with this article. I will most likely vote for RFK if the final choice is between Trump, Biden, and RFK. Biden is the worst president since GW Bush. Trump might have some good intentions but he is ineffective and can’t appoint people who are effective. Kennedy is far from perfect, but he is a mile better than any republican or democrat.
Kennedy understand the federal bureaucracy or the administrative state better than anyone who has ever run for president. This is tragically ironic because his uncle came to understand the administrative state very quickly in his dispute with Allen Dulles over the mangled Bay of Pigs invasion. JFK is reported to have told Dulles that “I am the president and your boss. You will do as I say.” Dulles is reported to have replied, “We’ll see about that.” Shortly later Dulles was fired. And later Kennedy took a bullet to his head.
The war between democrats and republicans is now very very ugly. It is going to get a lot uglier. The NY judge has imposed a gag order on Trump solely so he can find Trump in contempt of court and then jail him. Just maybe the cat-fight between democrats and republicans will get so ugly that voters will go over to Kennedy. Then the two hegemonic parties will begin their horrifying death orgies. But that will be the best thing that could happen to the US.
Although Kennedy’s entry brings a distraction to the electoral process outside of the typical power duel between Republicans and Democrats, without having the established stale economic connections of the political apparatus it would be like a bit of fresh air……but there is a lot at stake to take risks, hence the little attention paid to it in the media.
Yeah, there is a difference between going down to the polls with optimism and just doing my (mostly useless) civic duty. So if I bother to vote I guess it will be for Kennedy. But by now I’m thinking that I might just skip it altogether. None of them are going to fix this mess. They are all beholden to Jewish power and neutered by it.
The best arguments for Kennedy: Biden and Trump.
Kennedy makes kissy face with the Tribe but his actual program would send the NeoCons/Zionists into a tizzy. Halving the military budget and removing American troops from the Middle East would end the NeoCon war project in its tracks.
You can be for Kennedy if you believe that what he says is for your interests…I prefer to be for my beliefs and I don’t see anyone in power that I can follow or believe they’re genuine, lots of tricks are played by the criminal elite.
What I have noticed is an attempt to split any rising opposition by throwing out… into the domain many issues.
What you have to decide is what issue is your most important… and stay focused…if its Assange then agitate for Assange if Ukraine then ditto.
But whatever issue is yours don’t conflate it with other issues because you will be diffused and tired thinking about it all.
To me the only issue is Palistine because they are in the direst of straits, and it goes to the heart of what ails the West.
A boat taking down a bridge is not an issue if you remember how many ships pass in and out of ports everyday and how many are travelling with mechanical issues, crewed from the cheapest labour etc…etc. But the media are blowing it up due to its graphic pictures and value for leading you astray…don’t play the game…Palistinians are still being murdered and starved while your lead astray.
Stay focused.
A “civic duty” to whom?
Voting does nothing but (i) channel and blow off your dissent and (ii) legitimize and sustain the Establishment that couldn’t care less about you and yours.
Dropping a paper in a box won’t get you any closer or further from destroying the corrupt dysfunctional system. Any discussion of what to write on that paper is the same as a discussing whether the universe is infinite or finite beyond the observable universe.
Kennedy in particular will not win, so talking about what policies he would have if he did is just speculation for fun, nothing more.
was for kennedy when he announced. gave him money. then gaza occurred and kennedy unconscionably refused to support gazans. im a retired human rights lawyer. kennedy’s views on gaza are enough to switch my vote and support to cornel west. i do not see kennedy reforming his gaza views, nor demanding permanent israel reforms. and no matter his VP his odds of winning a usa election are about zero, unless as david stockman wrote recently the election is thrown into the usa house of representatives on the slim chance no one wins an electoral college majority, thus each state usa house delegation gets 1 vote for president. i suppose that is possible. i am old (67) , highly educated (ba,ma,jd) and follow current mid east and russian events daily. russian diplomats recently said russia is at war with nato (read usa). this has not been said since the cuban missile crisis. we are at an existential moment NO usa candidate will discuss. victoria nuland et al brought us this outcome. NO usa candidates discuss that either. ergo the neocons’ mid east strategy – destroy gaza and bait and weaken russia in ukraine – has as its object western hegemony over the mideast and eurasia at once. rfk is not so stupid as to not know this. at least ndirectly his israel support will lead to russia war which means likely nuclear extermination. that said i am not without hope. humanity will not win peace and freedom by supporting israel at all cost. if the american people demand mid east peace (reversal of israel genocides etc) and diplomacy with russia humanity will survive. i do not see RFK as the agent for this outcome today. someone, in my view, will have to be. and we probably do not know who that is – yet.
Video Link
It’s worrisome to me that very few mention the fact that the BLM, Antifa riots in 2020 were under Trump’s watch. How can an effective leader allow that chaos without any real pushback from the federal government?
When I looked at that shirtless picture of RFK, my first thought was that it had to be photoshopped. His pinkish head doesn’t match the toned, sun-tanned hairless torso of a youthful bodybuilder.
Trump’s constant excuses that he wanted to federalize the Guard or send in active-duty troops but couldn’t because he had to first be invited in by blue state governors doesn’t wash. Not when he had the power to invoke the Insurrection Act. Conversely, it was rumored that if he tried to do so, he would be arrested by his disloyal Sec Def Esper and General Milley.
A somewhat better case for Kennedy’s election was in today’s LewRockwell.com. Trump-supporter Helena Glass wrote in, “Robert Kennedy Chooses as VP …,” that, due to his ever-increasing unpopularity, the Dems have been looking for a way to dump Biden. This is where Nicole Shanahan, a favorite of the World Economic Forum, comes in. She’s attractive and will energize the youth vote, which neither of the other two fossilized entrenched parties can.
So, as Kennedy keeps closing in on Trump in the probably faked polls, they’ll stick a shiv into Biden and send him to a nursing home where he can eat all the ice cream he wants. Perhaps Kennedy was the democrat party’s favorite all along, but they first needed to find a way to cast off Genocide Joe, who refused to follow the script and retire after his first term – as he was supposed to. Nicole is the “game-changer.”
Now Trump must counter with another youngish attractive woman to counter Kennedy’s pick. There are plenty of attractive Republican women with political experience out there more qualified than Shanahan. Former Dem Tulsi Gabbard has already volunteered. Picking a woman as VP is now a necessity for Trump. Which one will he choose?
A civic duty to my country to exercise my constitutional right to vote for the next set of so-called leaders. I am a throwback partaker of hopium (credit James Corbett for that word), for the peaceful means of preserving and correcting the course of the USA. Even now, when it is obvious that we have passed the point of no return and cannot realistically expect to bring the country back to a place of strength and morality without a violent struggle.
This interview is rather hard to watch, I have liked RFK every since the start of the covid bs when I found out about him. This is how a lawyer argues for something when he is being paid to, or how you would debate an issue when you are told to take a side. There is literally no balance in it at all, it is a straight legal defense of Israel. So basically he takes the best possible position for Israel in every single event in Israels history. He is very good at it, don’t get me wrong, but this is not how you state your personal beliefs about a topic. He gets pretty much humiliated by the host, but that is to be expected when his position is so bad.
Specifically hard to watch is when he talks about murdering 2 million Germans cause muh Nazis were evil, and that it was worth it to eliminate Nazi ideology. Showing he has no perspective on history other than the official Jewish version. He then proceeds to say that is what they need to do in Gaza to wipe out Hamas. Just shows his level of disconnect and tells me that he is just a weasel like the rest of them. Regardless if he has some good takes on other things, he would not be able to change the system even if he got elected, his uncle tried and the J-s killed him for it, his dad tried to pander his way in there, and they killed him anyways.
If he was legit he would take one for the team and just go full “nuclear” on them and call out Israel, AIPAC, the globalist agenda, all of it. He would get so much support and could really make a difference with a true grassroots movement. Instead he is just a cuck pandering to his Father and Uncle’s killers. You broke a lot of our hearts Bobby, we wanted to love you.
Video Link
Dr Shiva