Why Does Anyone Pay Attention to Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s Insane Rants?

Robert F Kennedy Jr. made headlines last week by theorizing that the Covid-19 virus was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Given the bizarre post-factual world we now live in, you might be tempted to just LOL and get on with planning your summer vacation, but several recent surveys of Democratic voters found that he's polling in the teens in his campaign against President Joe Biden. So, you can't just laugh him off as the reincarnation of Lyndon LaRouche, or the Democratic Party's version of Tucker Carlson.

In interviews, Kennedy comes off as a rather nice and congenial person, but inside he's a boiling cauldron of wacky conspiracy theories that he can't contain. This is how New Yorker writer David Remnick described his recent interview with Kennedy.

The New Yorker: "The experience of interviewing him and listening to his previous interviews, I found, was like settling in for a long train ride with a seemingly amiable stranger in the next seat. You ask a straightforward question and, an hour later, as you race by Thirtieth Street Station, in Philadelphia, he is still going on about the fraud of covid vaccines and how he was unfairly “deplatformed” for spouting conspiracy theories. By the time you’ve pulled into Wilmington, he might be talking about how drugs known as poppers helped cause the aids epidemic, or how “toxic chemicals” might contribute to “sexual dysphoria” in children. As you head south, he is talking about being “censored” by Instagram, the F.B.I., and the Biden White House. New technologies like 5G towers and digital currencies are totalitarian instruments that could “control our behavior.” Wi-Fi causes “leaky brain.” After a while, you begin to wonder why you bought a ticket. But it’s too late. You’re pinned into the window seat."

Forbes recently ran a story cataloging many of Kennedy's cringiest conspiracy theories and it's a painful read. You can almost imagine the photo accompanying the article to feature him donning a tinfoil hat, swim goggles, and snow boots. Kennedy's relatives condemned his most recent rant about Covid being “ethnically targeted” and I suspect that they understand that he is in serious need of an intervention. Yet, he perseveres and a not-insignificant number of Democrats appear to support him. But, why?

Kennedy's polling numbers are a reflection of name recognition and a lack of enthusiasm about Biden among members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party who aren't yet aware that most of Kennedy's campaign cash is coming from Republicans who want to embarrass Biden in the primaries. And, yes, there are some conspiracy theorists within the Democratic Party. Every now and then you run into a Democrat that still believes that JFK was assassinated by the mob, the CIA, Fidel Castro, or some combination of the three.

However, in the end, Kennedy will fade back into obscurity and Democrat voters will get serious and overwhelmingly back Biden's reelection. It might get a bit messy in a few early-voting states, but the stakes are too high in 2024. Biden may not have the charisma of JFK or Bobby Kennedy, but he has accomplished more in 2 1/2 years than many Democratic Presidents did in four or eight.

By: Don Lam & Curated Content

#politics #culture