The Sad Cult of RFK Jr.
[guest post by JVW]
As the hip, articulate, and plugged-in Patterico’s Pontifications crowd knows, Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. has announced that he will no longer be a candidate for the Democrat Party’s Presidential nomination in 2024 and instead plans to run as an independent, thus bypassing an unwinnable primary election in the hopes of qualifying for the Presidential ballot in all fifty-seven (not quite accurate, Mr. Obama) fifty states. Teresa Mull of The Spectator attended yesterday’s RFK Jr. announcement in Philadelphia and delivers a withering account of the pathos of a fading political dynasty from a long-gone era:
Had you blindfolded me yesterday morning, led me to the front lawn of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, removed my blinder and asked me to guess where we were, I would have said, “A James Taylor benefit concert for NPR.”
In the crowd on this sunny fall day was a heavy contingent of the boomer delegation, of various stripes and checks. There were even some traditional tweed, and, with blazers out in full force, on both men and women, paired mostly with denim — though late-season red chinos and season-rushing corduroys were on display, too — and invariably some statement eyewear, leather dress shoes, and baseball caps keeping flowy silver hair tamed and sun-spotted skin safe. It was plain from their collective style that this group was at least self-aware. Their well-thought-out attire was meant to send a message: they are (average age sixty-seven and a half) intentional. Deliberate. Outside thinkers. Borderline intellectuals… but still also down to hang as one of the gang! Sure, their designer jeans cost more than the average American’s monthly car payment, but they’re still jeans! Blue-collar workwear! And yes, Vassar College costs $63,000 a year, but the fact that the Brewer field hockey ball cap is faded offsets that.
I know a lot of our readers hail from or reside in locations such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Colorado, Chicago, New York, and other places where Ms. Mull’s description of the crowd brings an unpleasant familiarity. It won’t surprise any of you to learn that the intellectual substance — such that it was — of the rally was rather shallow:
[. . . ] In a series of DEI round-robin, a forty-something hipster spoke about being “for cool art, living art, creation!” and challenged people, “Vote for Bobby? NO! Listen to Bobby!” He told us we were part of “an acceptance movement, not a resistance” and called us to participate in the “most beautiful ways possible.”
A “visionary artist” named Amanda Sage served up a bigger word salad than Kamala Harris could ever hope to toss together; it concluded with something about “linking your visions so that it will come true.” I was distracted by an interview going on behind me with a woman cooing over “Bobby’s” virtues: Bobby cares about “people and not fighting,” she said with passion. He also has “a vision for kindness and the health of our planet and… animals!”
In fact, Ms. Mull had trouble getting any RFK Jr. supporter to explicitly point to anything their man had to offer by way of public policy:
I took a turn at surveying the Stuff White People Like convention and first spoke to a couple from Boston. “Why do you two support RFK?” “What do we support about him? Honey, you go first.” The wife, an immigrant from the Philippines, said she liked his foreign policy, and the husband backed her up by asserting RFK is willing to “listen to his adversary.”
Another wife, who drove down from the easternmost point of Maine, said she appreciated RFK’s personality, his “tenacity” and “integrity” — while her husband nodded in agreement.
A younger pair, from New Jersey, stuttered and shifted uneasily when I asked what they liked about RFK. “Policy-wise,” I clarified, when they seemed taken aback. Seeming to pull the only policy-related fact they knew out of the air, one of them muttered quickly, “the fact that he actually went to the border. That says it all right there. Thank you.” (with “Please go away now and stop putting us on the spot” implied.)
Meanwhile, a self-identified “young American” voter with bleached hair had taken the stage to attest that his demographic was “fed-up.” A member of the Veterans for Kennedy coalition followed him, and next a rabbi. There was a moment of silence for Israel, and cheers when the rabbi declared that denying RFK Secret Service protection was an “American abomination.” The rabbi referenced Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and RFK’s aim of transforming “hate into love” and “division into tolerance” to bring about “American oneness.” More cheers.
Of course one can’t expressly blame the Kennedy Krewe for their banality when the idea of substituting pithy pronouncements has long since displaced the need to have a proscriptive policy platform. In an era when the two major parties nominate blowhards who promise low taxes, lavish social services, a strong defense, and balanced budgets (eventually, just not yet), it’s sort of hard to ding a — er — dingbat like RFK Jr. for running on a platform of tolerant populism when that concoction of unicorn farts and pixie dust is every bit as plausible as what the Republicans and Democrats are promising. But it still doesn’t make RFK Jr. any more believable than a Biden, Trump, DeSantis, Harris, Sanders, or Gaetz.
The appeal to the pipe dream of constructive and considerate cooperation doesn’t change the fact that RFK Jr. appears to draw nearly all of his support from disaffected Boomers who seem to resent the fact that their half-century hold on what passes for conventional wisdom has drawn to a close:
From what I observed Bobby’s supporters largely consist of people from the left who realized the radical progressive agenda has gone so far that it’s actually started to tarnish their ivory towers. “Humanitarian” border policies and soft-on-crime procedures, for instance, have left their beloved cities unsafe, riddled with drugs and unsanitary homeless encampments. They want to pivot, but need to save face. Joe Biden is no longer an option, and rather than support a Republican and appear intolerant, by supporting Kennedy, they can instead look enlightened. [. . .]
People are tired of fighting, tired of the “surveillance state quashing debate,” tired of low wages. They’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck, of “the corporate party system.” RFK Jr. said these things over and over in dozens of ways, declaring his popularity among both sides of the aisle and promising hope and unity. Rather than ask people, “what side are you?” RFK wants to know, “what do you care about?”
The theme of the Kennedy announcement event was that Americans are tired of the name-calling and venom; they want to declare their independence from the status quo in favor of “something new.”
This concept earned a lot of cheers from the starry-eyed boomers — but one thing missing, other than promising to listen to the people and proclaiming he wasn’t controlled by any of the “Bigs,” Bobby didn’t say how he was planning to unify the polarized country. His supporters were very much not living paycheck to paycheck — and when he proclaimed people can be pro-life and not be considered “women-hating zealots,” the applause was noticeably quieted.
Someone near the front of the crowd held up a sign that said it all: “I want Camelot.” RFK Jr. supporters don’t appear to want anything new. They want to be seen as aware, thoughtful and superior, while continuing to live out a comfortable, consequences-free life, as they did in the glorious Sixties and Seventies of their youths. [. . .]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may get on the ballot in all fifty states. He may end up playing spoiler in some of them, perhaps by siphoning progressive votes from Joe Biden (or whomever the Democrats nominate) or even by appealing to the MAGA crowd should Donald Trump fizzle out this time around and lose the nomination to a younger candidate more palatable to independents. By the same token, RFK Jr’s support may turn out to be a mile deep but only an inch wide, and he could find himself denied a ballot spot in a majority of states in which he could do real damage. But this does truly seem like the last gasp of Baby Boomers, whom I don’t believe are going to go down in history as particularly wise or virtuous leaders. Sic transit gloria Woodstockorum, I suppose.
– JVW
He’s still eons better than his late uncle Teddy, though.
JVW (1ad43e) — 10/10/2023 @ 12:31 pmYou certainly know how to make an old fossil feel good, JVW! I’ll go back into my little corner lest the guests see me….
felipe (9bcc73) — 10/10/2023 @ 12:45 pmBobby will siphon more votes from the Dems than the Repubs, I predict. For evidence, I will look for efforts from the Dems (maybe by proxy) to keep him off the ballots in certain (I’ve no idea) states.
But what do I know? Nothing, that’s what.
felipe (9bcc73) — 10/10/2023 @ 12:53 pmSic transit gloria Woodstockorum, I suppose.
Marilyn Quayle assumed a binary choice…I’m thinking most boomers are neither, but what does my GenX self know anyway…
urbanleftbehind (08dc59) — 10/10/2023 @ 12:56 pmIf these people belong to a church, it’s Unitarian or some New Agey concoction about the Great Cosmic McGuffin.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:14 pmBobby is going to pull more Democrats that GOP due to his litany of past advocacy that’s exemplifies “the good democrat”.
whembly (5f7596) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:14 pmHe’s still eons better than his late uncle Teddy, though.
That’s not fair. Teddy believed in things, and espoused things, too. Not necessarily the same things, but you can’t have everything. RFKJ believes in RFKJ.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:15 pmBobby is going to pull more Democrats that GOP due to his litany of past advocacy that’s exemplifies “the good democrat”.
He will pull in all the anti-vaxxers who were never going to vote for Biden. I expect him to get good reviews on Instapundit. He will pull in all the mental masturbators as well, and those generally vote for whoever talked to them last. Then he will pull in the insipid “don’t be mean” folks who would vote for Biden if Marianne Williamson isn’t available.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:20 pmMost Boomers are centrists, as most voters are centrist. Only the highly indoctrinated victims of the modern public school system seem to bend Left. At least until they see paycheck deductions.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:23 pmRFKJr has lost his usefulness:
Apparently internal polling from the Trump campaign shows RFKJr taking single digits away from Trump, which can be significant in a close race. There are mountains of his writings and speeches that can (and will) be used against him in campaign ads:
As I’ve said, Trump and Kennedy should be running mates. It would be a bipartisan ticket, and the two have much in common: both are conspiracy theorists and wannabe authoritarians.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:24 pmHow about less than 1,000,000 gallons sprinkled in drops over all deep blue suburban mom enclaves in the USA.
(I think RFK jr gets less than 1,000,000 total votes, and will only matter in the razor thin margin swing states)
steveg (9c8a8b) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:25 pmappears to draw nearly all of his support from disaffected Boomers who seem to resent the fact that their half-century hold on what passes for conventional wisdom has drawn to a close
Actually THAT group never had a hold on anything and has been disaffected since 1981 at the latest.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:26 pmRFKJr will be speaking at CPAC later this month, when he will be joined by fellow conspiracy theorists Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Kari Lake.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:27 pmRobert F. Kennedy Jr. may get on the ballot in all fifty states.
He won’t. He’ll get on the ballot in states where the Screaming Yellow Zonker Party can get on the ballot. But in states where there is even an ounce of difficulty, his lack of focus will translate to a lack of results.
It’s actually hard to get on 50 state ballots, and it gets harder every year as the majors throw up unconstitutional roadblocks that have to be knocked down in the courts, whack-a-mole and state by state.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:32 pmThis is a big mistake by RFKJr. He went from being on 50 state ballots to zero. Qualifying as an independent requires a lot of signatures and large fees.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:33 pmQualifying as an independent requires a lot of signatures and large fees.
Indeed. Which is why Perot created a party out of whole cloth. Additionally, “party-building” donations are generally exempt from donation limits while contributions to an independent candidate are not.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:39 pmActually THAT group never had a hold on anything and has been disaffected since 1981 at the latest.
I disagree with you, Kevin M. They may have only been able to elect a Bill Clinton rather than a Jesse Jackson or a Jerry Brown, but they ended up dominating academia and the media through two generations. As you mention in another comment, today’s left draws heavily from “the highly indoctrinated victims of the modern public school system,” and it’s the Baby Boomers who created the environment where public education, higher education, and Big Media would be ideological echo chambers demanding intellectual conformity.
JVW (1ad43e) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:51 pmAnd that assumes he gets on more than a few ballots.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:03 pm51 jurisdictions. Fifty states plus the District of Columbia (3 Electoral votes since 1964)
In 208 there were 57 delegations to the Democratic National Convention.
The six locations on the 2009 quarters:
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/dc-and-us-territories
The District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,
American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Plus Democrats Abroad. The Republicans don’t have that 57th delegation..
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:10 pmfelipe (9bcc73) — 10/10/2023 @ 12:53 pm
Each party thinks they will lose more votes maybe. RFK Jr will get more from the Republicans because he’s best known as anti-vaccer and anti-Ukraine aid,
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:14 pmbut he wont get many votes, period..
RFK jr. will take more votes away from trump then biden. Biden’s problem is dissatisfied left voters not conservative/moderate democrats.
asset (0ea8ce) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:34 pmsteveg (9c8a8b) — 10/10/2023 @ 1:25 pm
Hmmm….! I’ll play. I say RFKJ gets 2,750,000 votes total. Hey, somebody write this stuff down!
felipe (5e2a04) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:41 pmOr anti-vaxxers and anti-semites.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:46 pm@21
The progressive/leftis/communist wing of Democrat voters don’t like the Biden administration and there will be a not insignificant number of them who’d rather vote for RFKjr than Biden again.
whembly (5edaac) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:51 pmRemember, it isn’t that useful to wargame how many votes RFKjr would take from each candidate.
You’d need to analyze it state-by-state.
For one, I think RFKjr would take enough from Biden in Wisconsin and Michigan to throw the state to GOP candidate.
whembly (5edaac) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:52 pmRFK jr. will take more votes away from trump then biden. Biden’s problem is dissatisfied left voters not conservative/moderate democrats.
I think your assumption is that RFK Jr will appeal to “conservative/moderate democrats” is misplace. Instead, I expect him to attract support from elements of the populist kook fringe who have generally left-leaning economic beliefs in terms of supporting high taxes on the wealthy, a generous welfare state, and heavy government regulation of business, but who also believe that arms manufacturers, big pharma, social media executives, energy companies, Israel, the Trilateral Commission, and the like are secretly controlling our country. There are lots of people on the right how have adopted these beliefs too, but when push comes to shove I think that RFK Jr. would be more appealing to people on the left thanks to his aggressive environmentalism and his anti-corporate posturing. He’s going to be more dangerous to President Biden in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Minnesota than he will be to Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, or Nikki Haley in states such as Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.
JVW (1ad43e) — 10/10/2023 @ 2:54 pmAssuming he gets on their ballots.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:10 pmAssuming he gets on their ballots.
Of course. That goes without saying. And since he doesn’t have the backing of the rest of his famous family, it might be just a pipe dream, even if the name still has a little bit of political value.
JVW (1ad43e) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:21 pmBaby Boomers who created the environment where public education
Boomers have voted GOP since 1980, increasingly so as time went on. Take a look at the demographics of the last few elections.
You see the stories about the campus radicals, but they were just the loud people. Once the Vietnam War was over, they got jobs and families and settled down. More voted for Reagan than not.
The environment the Boomers created was mixed — they upset the Ancien Regime with things like Free Speech and pot and sexual permissiveness, but also with things like civil rights and women’s lib, neither of which I’d want to lose.
What happened after that was due to the committed Marxists and their march through the institutions, but that is on the Marxists, not the Boomers.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:54 pmHere in one-party CA where my vote doesn’t really matter I may as well vote for RFK Jr. if he gets on the ballot. He’s at least not-Biden and not-Trump, and the guy’s in great shape — believe the term is “ripped” — maybe he can inspire some of his obese fellow Americans to get back to the gym.
RL formerly in Glendale (7a2d64) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:55 pmDistrict of Columbia (3 Electoral votes since 1964)
Not worth the effort.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:56 pmThe progressive/leftis/communist wing of Democrat voters don’t like the Biden administration and there will be a not insignificant number of them who’d rather vote for RFKjr than Biden again.
They have the Greens for that.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:57 pmAssuming he gets on their ballots.
Something I also doubt. It’s hard and he’s choosing the hardest way to do it.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 3:59 pmMore Boomers:
In 1980 people 30-44 voted 55-38-7 for Reagan and those 22-29 split evenly. In 1992, those 50-64 (all Boomers) voted 43-39 for Clinton, with 18% voting for Perot. That helped Clinton, but it was a center-right vote total.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:07 pmhttps://ropercenter.cornell.edu/data-highlights/elections-and-presidents
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:08 pmBoomers are 1946-1964.
50-64 in 1992 aren’t Boomers: that’s the prior generation (a 50-year old in 1992 was born in 1942).
Only the 30-34 range in 1980 are of the Boomers: 35-44 would be generation prior.
Sam G (8d2ed1) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:17 pm@25 arizona and georgia were even closer. wi. biden +20,000 az+10,000 ga+13,000 and only won by kicking green party off ballot.
asset (124369) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:44 pm@29 Millenials are now larger then boomers. Generation Z votes left the most and only half have turned 18 with every young (and most not so young) latina loving AOC! There role model.
asset (124369) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:49 pm@32 Correct!
asset (124369) — 10/10/2023 @ 4:50 pmMr. former President Donald Trump, now with cash back on every purchase, not to be outdone by JFK’s commitment to a Moon landing, announced to a large crowd that if he is elected, he will send a manned space craft to the surface of the Sun.
When one of the reporters present suggested that the Sun is far too hot and that the craft would burn up, he replied “We will go at night”.
His assembled supporters cheered wildly.
nk (9323f7) — 10/10/2023 @ 5:45 pmSam G is correct with respect to voting habits. Kevin M is ascribing the voting patterns of people born between 1935-50 to the Boomer generation which is really those born between 1946-64.
. . . they upset the Ancien Regime with things like Free Speech and pot and sexual permissiveness, but also with things like civil rights and women’s lib, neither of which I’d want to lose.
I don’t necessarily mean to harsh on Boomers, except for maybe just a little bit I do. But the civil rights push was launched by the Silent Generation and the generation prior to that, and did most of its most important work while Boomers like Bill and Hillary were still engaging in meaningless dorm room B.S. sessions and groovin’ to Peter, Paul, and Mary. When a pre-Boomer like Joe Biden has to lie about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement for street cred, that suggests to me that there aren’t too many boomers deserving of credit in that crusade. Even the radical movements like the Black Panthers were organized and led by people born before the end of World War II.
JVW (1ad43e) — 10/10/2023 @ 6:27 pmBiden is part of the Silent Generation, being born in 1942.
SamG (4e6c22) — 10/10/2023 @ 7:33 pmPer that link, Boomers were even on Carter v Reagan at 44 to 44.
1992 was about 41-38 for Clinton.
Disclaimer: the age groups don’t entirely match up, but that’s the closest.
SamG (4e6c22) — 10/10/2023 @ 7:40 pmRFK Jr.’s batsh-t resonates more with right-wingers than Democrats. You don’t see him appearing so much on CNN or MSNBC.
BTW, Dr. Gorski has a whole library on his debunked bullsh-t.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/10/2023 @ 8:23 pmPer that link, Boomers were even on Carter v Reagan at 44 to 44.
Boomers were ages 15-35 in 1980, so they spanned two report groups. The other group was 55-38
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:13 pm1992 was about 41-38 for Clinton.
You have to include the 18% for Perot among the center-right.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:13 pmKevin M is ascribing the voting patterns of people born between 1935-50
No, I am not. Go back and read. The stats did not line up very well so I listed two groups.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:15 pmAnd in any event, the numbers were similar in both.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:16 pmThe fact is that the baby boomers have been voting center right for some time. Not overwhelmingly, of course, and 1992 had two center-right candidates splitting the vote.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:17 pmThere is a weird wrinkle in Boomer voting, as can be seen in this graph.
In 2012, every age group born before 1970 voted Republican, EXCEPT for those whose first election involved Richard Nixon. The Watergate cohort (born 1950-56) voted Democrat in 2012 by about as much as the rest of the Boomers (and most of Gen X) voted Republcian.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:48 pmIt’s useful to recall Even McMullin’s difficulty in getting on state ballots. Admittedly, he had less name recognition that Kennedy, but there was a considerable movement behind him, so I doubt Kennedy’s name will appear on all ballots. Given my low estimation of both major parties, I’d love to see a viable alternative, and I’m sure there are many others like me. But Kennedy’s looney conspiracy theories and vapid pie-in-the-sky rhetoric hardly constitute a viable alternative.
Roger (2e0d13) — 10/11/2023 @ 5:57 amSorry, “Evan” McMullin.
Roger (2e0d13) — 10/11/2023 @ 5:59 amSteroids.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/11/2023 @ 9:01 amKevin M (ed969f) — 10/10/2023 @ 11:48 pm
It’s not so much Richard Nixon as the Vietnam War and anti-Vietnam War propaganda.
In 1968, those born in 1947 and earlier could vote; in 1972,those born in 1954 and earlier could vote. That is, if their birthday was before November and they registered. Most people don’t register by their first opportunity.,
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/11/2023 @ 2:11 pmA moderately successful third party candidate of any sort means the election goes to the House, where Trump wins easily because each state’s delegation gets one vote.
aphrael (680200) — 10/11/2023 @ 3:06 pm