SACRAMENTO – It looks like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 15 minutes of fame. they could have come and gone, like the last one election in New Hampshire it shows with a paltry 9 percent of the vote in the Democratic presidential primary. It barely directs Marianne Williamson, Oprah Winfrey’s former “spiritual advisor” who accredited the “power of the mind” to keep Hurricane Dorian away from the US coast.
Most analysts credit RFK Jr.’s strong early showing. to the identification of his name. Obviously, the Kennedy name is golden in Democratic quarters. But Democrats increasingly understand that he is outside the mainstream of their party. His candidacy is reinforced from MAGA Republicans like Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, who once referred to an imaginary Trump-Kennedy ticket as a dream.
The transparent reason for the latter is to do harm. If a populist Democrat makes waves in the primaries as a potential spoiler, then gives President Joe Biden headaches. However, some thoughtful conservatives have drunk the Kool-Aid and seem to actually like the guy. what gives
The obvious answer is that after drinking years of Trump-inspired conspiracy, the former president’s supporters have rewired their brains to enjoy the mayhem. They are the political equivalent of those Allstates insurance ads where a menacing man named Mayhem destroys everything around him. They are so fed up that they are willing to burn down the system without caring what comes in its place.
Conservative thinker Russell Kirk explained that “the conservative person is simply one who finds permanent things more pleasant than chaos and the old night.” MAGA-style populism is radical and not conservative, which is why the MAGA crowd has pointed to the legitimacy of our institutions. Instead of reasoned criticism, they prefer conspiracies about the Deep State, stolen elections and big pharma.
So, of course, RFK Jr. he speaks their language, even though he is a leftist who once called for a law to to punish politicians who express global warming skepticism. He speaks his mind in a way that gets the applause of those who are perpetually agitated, even if the things he says seem better left unsaid. Like Trump, he exploits grievances, some real, some perceived, and then takes off into fantasy.
The best spin at center right comes from Michael Brendan Dougherty National Review“Just as Donald Trump had reclaimed political themes from the Republican Party’s deep past … so must a Democrat come along and try to revive left-wing skepticism of government and corporate power, to denounce crony capitalism, censorship and the CIA to begin with.”
That sounds good. As a libertarian, I have long expressed skepticism about the power of government and corporations using their power for profit privileges. I’m against censorship, I’ve never trusted the CIA (or any federal agency), and I’m wary of endless wars. But like Trump, Kennedy offers no real principled resistance to these realities. Both men are against big government, except when they are for it.
Also, Kennedy looks like a fool. He’s a staunch anti-vaxxer, and not just related to COVID-19 vaccines. There may be a reason for this poliomyelitis and other long-conquered diseases are making a comeback precisely in those communities where people don’t bother with vaccines. He posits outlandish theories that almost make Trump’s ivermectin notions sound rational.
“Paints a dark, conspiratorial picture of the world, full of debunked theories, misleading claims, and outright falsehoods,” NPR. pointed out. “Wi-Fi causes cancer and ‘leaky brain,'” Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan … Antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, he mused during an appearance with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Chemicals in Water Supply Could Turn Kids Transgender, Told … Podcaster Jordan Peterson.
This analysis is from 2021, but RFK Jr. it has only doubled. During a press dinner this month in New York, he freed himself from these thoughts: “Covid-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 disproportionately attacks certain races. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and blacks. The most immune people are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” Well, there is an argument that the moon is made of green cheese.
In one interview with Reason, he stated, “I’ve always been aligned with the libertarians on most issues.” This makes me laugh. Having been on this libertarian editorial board since the 1990s, I can assure you that many politicians, even those who spent their careers advocating for bigger government, suddenly embrace the libertarian religion during meetings. To the extent that RFK Jr. adopts libertarian views, they are of the childish variety.
In a follow-up, Reason’s Liz Wolfe pointed out that RFK Jr. is “fundamentally a big-government liberal” who “supports Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.” So, as others also wonder, why do some people on the right support him? You’ll have to ask them, but I suspect it has more to do with a love of chaos and a sense of grievance than a high-minded principle.
Steven Greenhut is a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board. Write to him at stevengreenhut@gmail.com.
