Conspiracy theorist. Anti-vaxxer. Dangerous. Spoiler.
Since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. entered the 2024 presidential race in April 2023, critics have described him in many ways.
In the early stages of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign, he was mostly ignored by President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee. Former President Donald Trump praised him and called him a “a very smart guy, and a good guy.”
Rhetoric from Democrats and Republicans shifted when Mr. Kennedy opted to leave the Democratic primary last October and run as an independent candidate.
Now, less than six months before Election Day, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is gaining momentum and causing concern for the camps of both Presidents Biden and Trump. He is a distant third in national polls, but he is drawing support from conservatives, independents, moderate Democrats, and libertarians.
And with that, officials from the two major parties and the two opposing campaigns are escalating their attacks.
In an early April video on Truth Social, President Trump called Mr. Kennedy “the most radical left candidate in the race” before adding, “he’s got some nice things about him, I happen to like him.”
The former president remarked that Mr. Kennedy will take votes away from President Biden “because he’s much better than Biden.”
“If I were a Democrat, I’d vote for RFK Jr. every single time over Biden, because he’s frankly more in line with Democrats,” President Trump said, adding that RFK’s candidacy is “great for MAGA” and “he’s a better man than Joe Biden.”
Later the same month, President Trump posted another video on Truth Social delivering harsher remarks, calling Mr. Kennedy “a Democrat plant” and “a radical left liberal” who is in the race to help President Biden get re-elected.
“A Vote for Junior would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him. Junior’ is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet,” President Trump wrote.
Supporters take a selfie together during a rally for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Austin, Texas on May 13, 2024. (Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images)
After a voter rally in New York last month, The Epoch Times asked Mr. Kennedy why he thought President Trump’s attacks had increased.
“I’m a threat to his presidency,” he said. “This is a three-man race, and I intend to win.”
Democrats claim Mr. Kennedy is a “stalking horse” for President Trump and is financed by MAGA donors to prevent President Biden from winning a second term. Republicans paint him as a “radical, far-left liberal” who is only in the race to keep President Trump from returning to the White House.
The Democratic National Committee and pro-Biden groups have directed significant resources to derail Mr. Kennedy’s bid to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Earlier this year, the DNC announced the creation of a team to counter third-party and independent presidential candidates.
It hired Lis Smith, a veteran Democrat strategist who managed Pete Buttigieg’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, to spearhead an aggressive communication plan to combat Mr. Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
This year, the DNC has twice filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission against American Values 2024, claiming the pro-Kennedy super PAC violated federal campaign finance law.
The FEC complaints illustrate the DNC’s attempts to destabilize Mr. Kennedy’s campaign as President Biden faces plummeting job approval ratings and mounting questions about his mental fitness.
The DNC and the president’s supporters are accusing Mr. Kennedy of being boosted by the Trump movement. They highlight policy stances in which Mr. Kennedy and President Trump share similarities, including on border security, funding for Ukraine, and vaccine mandates.
“It’s clear that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being propped up and funded by Donald Trump and his allies because they believe that he is a useful stalking horse who could throw the election Trump’s way. We need to sound that alarm every day between now and the election,” Ms. Smith said.
Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (R), addresses the New Hampshire Senate at the State House in Concord, N.H., on June 1, 2023. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
At a recent voter rally in West Des Moines, Iowa, where his campaign reported that it qualified for the state’s general election ballot, Mr. Kennedy said Democrats are demonstrating hypocrisy in their efforts to keep him off the ballot.
“The Democratic Party is supposed to be about exemplifying democracy and being a template for democracy around the world. If you ask high-level Democratic officials why they are doing this they say, ‘We have to do this because Trump poses a huge threat to democracy.’ They are essentially arguing we have to subvert democracy in order to save it.”
Though President Biden hasn’t publicly discussed Mr. Kennedy’s campaign, he enthusiastically accepted the endorsement of around 15 members of the Kennedy family last month.
Several members of Mr. Kennedy’s family have expressed concern that their relative will prevent President Biden from winning a second term and instead lead to a Trump White House.
Mr. Kennedy noted that several family members are also working for his campaign, including his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, who manages his campaign, and his cousin Anthony Shriver.
President Trump rarely mentioned Mr. Kennedy until recent weeks when polls began showing the challenger’s backing among conservatives and independents.
Among independents, President Biden has the advantage with 29 percent. Mr. Kennedy is second at 23 percent, followed by 22 percent for President Trump.
Multiple polls have shown that at least half of American voters don’t want to cast their ballots for President Biden or President Trump, Mr. Kennedy has noted.
“Almost 100 percent of people planning to vote for President Biden will say they are doing so because they’re scared that President Trump will be elected and it will be the end of the Republic,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Many President Trump supporters are voting for the former president because they believe that President Biden will “get us into a war” or “just deteriorate in office,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Source link
Your Trusted Source for Accurate and Timely Updates!
