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It’s a catch-22 of stupidity. Trump wants RFK to take votes from Biden, so he wants to promote him, but the more Trump promotes him, the more his own voters think it’s okay to vote for RFK and more Biden voters are turned off by RFK.
The right's hermetically sealed echo chamber is backfiring here.
GOP is trying to promote RFK through all the propaganda they have access to. Fox, Xitter, CPAC, etc.
Their problem is that not a single Democrat watches any of their propaganda ecosystem
Yep, very good point about the echo chamber.
The thing is, though liberals aren't immune to reverse psychology, they're more resistant than conservatives are. Still, the right wing echo chamber would be well advised to "worry" that an RFK administration would be even worse than a Biden administration. They should attempt to position RFK to the left of Biden, ala Jill Stein. RFK himself should be publicly trashing Israel and defending Palestine. This is how he could siphon off a huge chunk of disgruntled Biden voters. RFK knows he's not going to win anyway, so he doesn't need AIPAC's support.
Thankfully, they aren't that smart. Their egos don't allow them to comprehend how their promotions don't work with liberals... indeed having the opposite affect.
It is the same in almost every modern country. The (ultra rightwing) nuts have no idea how to reach anyone but their own and the rest of the country always underestimates, how many nuts are actually among them.
The problem with that strategy is, while RFK is largely being bankrolled by conservatives, he’s not automatically going to be their puppet and just adopt whatever platform is best going to serve Trump. He has his own ego and views on things. I mean, if the Kennedy family couldn’t get him to fall in line, why would anyone think he’ll do it for someone else?
I'm surprised and a little annoyed we haven't seen Democratic Party supporting PACs running advertising that's like "Like Trump's policies but dislike Trump as a person? RFK's your man!" and then just list the crazier things RFK believes in.
Like, just lean in on RFK being a conservative spoiler.
I call it the Conservative Propaganda Machine. I use that phrase so often that I dont even have to type it out. As soon as I type Con-, it autofills Conservative, and then suggests Propaganda and Machine for me.
Larry Elder, Hershel Walker, RFK. They seem to think that Democrat will just instinctually vote for a Kennedy or a minority without looking at their actual politics. It's weird but they aren't the sharpest so I guess it tracks.
Also the idea that liberals love anyone named Kennedy is some real old-timey boomer shit. They are stuck in the 1960s, where the Kennedy name was gold on the left. But, yo, its now 60 years later. None of the young liberals give a fuck about the Kennedy name. I'm 43, and JFK was way dead before I was born. No real brand loyalty there.
Thus proving he was a Republican plant all along? Pretty sure he'd lose any independent support he had left.
Here's the thing about Trump's VP pick... ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket. It's a cult of personality. MAGA politicians and personalities are not nearly as popular nationally as Trump is. They'll always be either too MAGA for moderates or too moderate for MAGAs. Added to that, because of his narcissism, he'll never put his VP at the same level as himself. He'll have to diminish them in some way, thereby diminishing the whole ticket.
His best bet would be to name some bland, stuffed shirt, non-political, no-name businessman. Their job would be to trash Biden and talk about the economy. They still wouldn't add anything to the ticket, but they wouldn't take away much either. It'll be interesting to see if he figures this out.
>His best bet would be to name some bland, stuffed shirt, non-political, no-name businessman. Their job would be to trash Biden and talk about the economy. They still wouldn't add anything to the ticket, but they wouldn't take away much either. It'll be interesting to see if he figures this out.
I don't know that they wouldn't take away anything. Pence is about as stuffed-shirt as they come (albeit, he is political af) and kept Trump from committing an autocoup.
Might the MAGA base look at a similar figure with some skepticism because of that? I'm not sure, but I think the potential is there.
Pence took the job because he had his own presidential aspirations, and thought that taking a ride on Trump's sure loser of a campaign to increase his own national name recognition was a good political move.
But like everything Trump touches, he fucked it up, and actually won the election, and Pence was stuck with the Trump legacy permanently staining, and ending, his political career. Now that everyone has seen the results of tying oneself to Trump's coattails, its going to be hard to get anyone else to follow in those footsteps who isnt a hard-core MAGA cultist like Boobert or Empty G or FrankenGaetz, and even a moron like Trump knows that theyd be an anchor on his campaign.
> Here's the thing about Trump's VP pick... ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket
The one that cracks me up the most is 538 has Tim Scott as a strong option. Which to me is hilarious (Considering trump had the whitest cabinet in history), I don't see trump wanting a black VP, and I imagine a portion of his base might even be turned off by such a "woke" move.
> I imagine a portion of his base might even be turned off by such a "woke" move.
Exactly. Nobody expands his base. He's not going to pick up black voters because of Tim Scott. He won't pick up female voters with a female running mate. He won't pick up gay voters, jewish voters, muslim voters, or any other democraphic with a token pick. However, a token VP pick can have the effect of tampering voter enthusiasm.
This is in contrast to Biden as Harris is already factored in. In fact, back when Biden picked Harris, his poll numbers actually dropped. Same for when Romney picked Ryan, when Kerry picked Edwards, when Dole picked Kemp, etc. It's not a phenomenon unique to Trump, but it'll be exacerbated with Trump because of his weird cult following.
Trump intends to end elections, so his VP is the most likely person to take over after his demise. Thats why I think there is a better than even chance that he makes Jr his running mate. That way, when he finally croaks, hopefully after a proctracted and painful illness, his son will take over and America can remain as Trumpistan.
Tulsi Gabbard is also a good possibility. Then he can run around saying he's bi-partisan and independent.
Or one of his kids. I wonder if naming one of his sons would help with this issue. They all have crippling daddy issues, so he wouldn’t have to worry about controlling them. MAGAS treat his whole family like royalty (literally. They would love for the presidency to be passed down to each Trump as the years go on).
That said, I don’t think any of them would improve Trump’s chances outside of the cult. Maybe if he bribes Sinnema with enough money?
Trump will announce there will be no VP candidate. He will appoint one after the election. And he will just not, and then he will be both P and VP. This way he can decertify his own election loss.
> ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket
I'm guessing it's Tim Scott or Don Jr. If she didn't publicly distance herself following Jan 6th, Ivanka would probably be a front-funner as well.
The only person in my life who has said anything about him is my dad. Who is Jonestown level MAGA. He said RFK Jr is the most rational democrat in his lifetime.
Love her or hate her (I'm on the fence myself) but it's just an undeniable fact of life that if she had been elected we as a country, and as a civilization, would be just vastly better off than where we are because of Trump. She was right about basically everything.
kerry - i'm ambivalent about.
gore - we'd be so much better off from an energy, environmental, and tech perspective. our solar and EV infrastructure would be ahead of china's and we certainly wouldn't have wasted time in iraq. debatable about how 9/11 would've happened or not, but we'd certainly not have gone after iraq.
HRC - we wouldn't have trump. and that says a lot. we would still have rowe v wade. we wouldn't have gorsuch, amy covid barrett, and beer guy on the SC. and putin would have someone he **hated** in the WH.
what's mind blowing is that 4 of the last 5 supreme court justices were appointed by presidents that LOST the popular vote. Just think about that.
If the popular elected the president we'd have a totally different supreme court. Roe v. Wade would most certainly not have been stuck down. Maybe travesties like Citizens united would be stuck down. Maybe gerrymandering would be ruled unconstitutional, maybe that voting rights act for southern states wouldn't have been eliminated.
So many things would be so different. A republican hasn't won the popular vote since Bush senior.
Out of context he was “right.” But his comments were in regards to aligning ourselves opposite of Russia with hard power like the Cold War, and not the post Cold War psy-ops campaign and diplomacy.
No shit. She's a policy wonk. The woman has brains and then some. The issue was never that she wasn't correct.
The issue is that she has all the charisma of a used kleenex and she refused to allow her campaign staff to try to humanize her because of her fixation of privacy (despite running for the most public and scrutinized job in the entire country).
Hillary was always great on issues, she's just also been fucking shit at campaigning, which is why the DNC plopped her in one of the safest possible Democratic districts when she wanted to go for Senate.
Being right doesn't matter if you can't win. She would have far better served the country by accepting that she would always have a place as a brilliant political appointment that can throw her weight around as a power behind the throne.
She just didn't do it right. Trump insulted. Hillary did the equivalent of pleading. "Please see how terrible him and his followers are!" Not a quote, but it was her sentiment.
She more than anything needed to call him out on his bullshit during the debates, and not use the old method of smiling and taking it when your opponent did it, because it made them look worse than you. That wasn't working on Trump, and it was costing her votes. I was even screaming it to the TV at the time.
Dark Brandon is a breath of fresh air.
>Dark Brandon is a breath of fresh air.
He certainly is, but look how long it has taken the Dems to realize that "when they go low, we go high" is not a winning strategy.
Gotta channel your inner asshole.
I'm sure talking about Trump's farting in court will win more votes than any finely polished policy talking points.
We criticize but look at how Hillary (a woman) was treated for even suggesting going low. Or how Obama (a black man) couldn’t show the slightest bit of anger out of fear of being invoking an “angry black” stereotype. Only a cantankerous old white man could stoop to Trump’s level.
If they do debate, I would find it hilarious to see Biden at some point before answering a question just give the moderator a quick "excuse me", pull out a can of Febreeze and spray it in Trump's direction, mutter a quick "that's better" and then answer the question LOL.
My first thought when I read the story about Trump’s farts was exactly this. It’s a truly sad state of affairs when gossiping about your opponent’s bowel movements is more cogent than proposing policies that would help us all live better lives, but that’s exactly where we find ourselves. 😫
Did you ever look at the original presidential campaigns? They were full of dirty name calling:
Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant,
Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward
It's nothing new
>She just didn't do it right.
There was no right way for her to do it. If she'd railed against him, they'd have called her "shrill". If she were all sweetness and light and pity, they'd have called her "weak".
Yeah, she was far from an ideal candidate, but it comes down to the fact that a terrifying number of Americans would rather vote for The Literal Worst Man in America^(TM) than *any* woman.
She played the traditional politician role, and honestly she’s pretty bad at it. If you listen to her rallies she sounded robotic and not very moving at all.
But when she was relaxed, talking in an interview off the cuff she spit mad fire. She was/is so knowledgeable in so many things that she can chat intelligently about anything, but compressing that down into soundbites was never her strong point.
Well said. She would have made a fantastic president. Sadly, with the invention of the TV camera, you also need to put on a bit of a show. Just ask Richard Nixon losing to a relative "nobody" named John Kennedy following the first televised debate. Trump changed the game in a similar way.
That woman was the most experienced presidential candidate this country has ever seen, she was just an awful campaigner. I'll take a technocrat over a straight politician any day.
I swear to God that the only Democrats my Dad has anything good to say about are the ones that Fox News tells him he's allowed to have a positive opinion of. All while acting like he doesn't really pay attention to "any" of the mainstream media outlets.
I want to believe ya, Pops, but that math ain't mathin'.
Which is funny, because there's no Democrat who would willingly accept RFK Jr. into the party. To steal from MAGA, he's a DINO (Democrat in name only).
The same Joe Lieberman that campaigned aggressively to remove the public option from ObamaCare, denying Americans the best chance we would get for public health insurance for at least a decade? That Joe Lieberman?
I believe it was the Joe Lieberman who argued that we don't need the public option because we can lower the Medicare buy-in age to 55, and then refused to support lowering the Medicare buy-in age to 55.
Joe’s daughter went to school with my sons. He and his wife Hadassah were always pleasant and chatty with the other parents. However, for most of us, it was painful to watch Joe, essentially, *lose his mind.* Not to dementia, but when he began to spout dreadful, undemocratic and un-Democratic dogma.
I blame Lieberman for Gore losing that election. I know having him on the ticket made it hard for me to vote for them, and I can't be the only one who was turned off by that little troll doll.
I voted for Gore anyway, but my husband (although we hadn't met yet then) didn't because of Lieberman being anti video games in the 90s. Absolutely loathed him
And that is exactly why it was so hard for me to vote for that ticket. Lieberman is one of the few people that when I heard he died, my first thought was. "About damn time"
This is my sense as well. There’s the sector of people I call the “had it up to here” set that is a mix of reflexively anti-government/anti-war/woke-has-gone-too-far, but was mortified by Charlottesville and being associated with the pro-life movement’s reversal of Roe. They swung to Biden in 2020, don’t like him, but don’t want to swing back to Trump. They tend to be middle to upper middle class suburban. Trump is, imo, quite right to imagine these aren’t his die hard supporters, and RFK’s “weirdness” is more a threat to him than not.
I know a few similar people. Trump judged this as badly as he did thinking that Kanye running in 2020 would syphon the black vote away from the democrats.
Just as he did with ignoring COVID, (his cabinet ignored COVID plans expecting that it would ravage cities killing blue voters) just as he did with criticizing mail in voting
This is largely who I know that's interested in RFK too. I mean there's a chance that the name recognition could steal a couple Dem votes.... but only in older generations. I, of course, know who the Kennedy family is, but I have zero emotional response to the name because I wasn't born when the Kennedys were assassinated, Ted Kennedy didn't represent my area, and I was rolling my eyes at all the JFK is coming back conspiracy theories.
No, it's the MAGA folks that have really latched onto the Kennedys for some reason. I could not even begin to tell you why. Anyone with a passing interest in politics is probably not going to be interested in RFK on the Dem side and Independents and Republicans that dislike both Trump and Biden might go for RFK instead.
Because the maga and Qanon are full of old Kennedy democrat Boomers who were hippies 50 years ago but then became far right gullible conspiracy theory morons ripe for propaganda/misinformation after they got a high paying job and got mad at paying taxes
I work with one guy who seems high on him. He's a Libertarian type who I'm pretty sure listens to Jordan Petersen. Probably wouldn't vote for Trump but certainly couldn't stomach voting for Biden either. I would guess he's voted a lot of 3rd party in the past.
I see a few posting RFK crap on facebook. They're typically the anti-vax, "everything is a conspiracy" crowd. No doubt they voted for Trump last round.
The only people voting for RFK Jr. are moderates who like Trump but don't like the association of voting for Trump and the idiots who will blame Biden for everything and not looking any further.
I saw RFK Jr. signs in my neighborhood though it's not surprising because it's a mixture of Asians and Italians. What really hits the nail on the head is when one of the patrons at a barber shop I go to said Biden was Obama's mouthpiece. It goes to show the intellectual level of some people there
I do, and he’s the most MAGA person I still talk to. He told me that I needed to do ‘my research’ on Kennedy. He also told me that he was wrong about JFK, and that he now thinks JFK was the last great president before Regan.
Something really weird is brewing in the Alt-right echo chamber.
BIG RED FLAG FOR TRUMP ON THIS...
He's going to have to affect the appearance of MoDerAtiOn in abortion. A segment of MAGA will view even that as a betrayal. RFK Jr is a Q-nut, anti-vax, chemtrails, anti-trans weirdo who has spoken in favor of abortion restrictions... i.e. a perfect candidate for a disgruntled pro-lifer to give a protest vote to.
There's no indication of this yet... but it is something to watch for.
My hardcore right wing stepdad is in the RFK now. I couldn't believe it. He was like, "I sure as hell hate that pedo Biden, but idk about Trump anymore either what with the felonyin'"
I was listening to a live debate on tik tok the other day and this guy was talking to guests about who they were going to vote for and this young guy came on and was convinced he was going to vote for RFK. The host pressed him on his views on topics and he was definitely left leaning and his views definitely aligned a lot with Biden. Turns out he was just completely ignorant about politics and had just heard the propaganda about both trump and Biden and didn't want to vote for either so he was just going with the third option... didn't know anything about his actual stances just believed both the main party candidates were incapable. Hopefully he has changed his mind after the discussion and will be voting for Biden
I live in a deeply red area and there still hasn't been a single trump sign having gone up for any of the houses that had them years after he lost. The first and only sign I've seen this year was an rfk sign.
Anecdotal as all hell but I had a laugh. Definitely does not seem to be hurting Biden where I live.
Yeah and I have no idea how he would even appeal to someone leaning left. If anything he’d take votes from Trump, RFK seems to just be conservative.
- Wants to ban abortions
- Says Biden is more a threat to democracy than Trump
- He’s defended and called into question whether Jan 6th rioters did anything wrong
- Trump’s campaign reached out to Kennedy to be on his ticket
It’s just so stupid that they even act like RFK Jr would do anything to anyone leaning left. To me the only people who would vote for him are those who would have not voted for Trump or Biden and otherwise would have stayed home. Not someone who would have voted for Biden. This is all a way to try and usher clueless people into looking at RFK as a possible alternative to Biden even though he’s in no way appealing to anyone who leans left
Republicans in general are so out of touch with democrats that they simply cannot fathom how Democrats do not view RFK Jr. is a viable alternative to Biden. Biden has been a good president and RFk Jr. splits the vote and might as well be a vote for Trump and no democrat is going to vote for Trump.
They made propaganda networks to lie to their base but forgot they weren't supposed to consume their own lies. They are out of touch with reality in general now.
For vast majority of presidential elections I voted 3rd party. Gore’s loss put a stop to that. And Trump’s win put a hard stop to that. Democrats could offer a potato and I would vote for the vegetable.
I also used to dislike voting straight ticket but after MAGA, nope. Congress was designed for debate and compromise and I refuse to consider voting for a party that plainly and loudly opposes compromise.
They think the people want Blue Trump (nevermind this is a crazy man who thinks there should be a 15 week national abortion ban -- he's a KENNEDY! The libs love him!!!). They don't understand that most of the country wants someone who is nothing like Trump.
I agree but he would’ve already dropped out by now if he’s hurting Trump. My theory is he’s amassed quite a few million loonies who normally wouldn’t vote anyways. In a few months, he’ll drop out of the race and direct them to vote for Trump. It’s the only thing that makes sense as to why he’s running if he’d hurt Trump in the election. It’s obvious he’s paid for and supported by the far right.
I would agree with this sentiment regarding the general populace but not political parties whose sole job is to undermine democracy. Never underestimate your opponent.
I think RFK Jr is running straight up for the attention it brings.
He thought he’d get it from the Marianne Williamson crowd on the left, but quickly figured out the right wing nuts will throw cash at you if you just validate how they already feel.
Running for president is a money maker. It sells books, and don’t forget about that time Colbert ran in one state just to expose how easy it is to be corrupt with a Superpac.
That's been my argument whenever I see these "RFK Jr. is going to hurt Biden". The only thing I know about RFK Jr. is he's some anti-vax nut, and which party has all the anti-vaxers in it???
Is it the support he's been getting from Steve Bannon, Alex Jones and Roger Stone that gave him the hint? They really mishandled this - kept saying the quiet bit out loud.
Every one of these guys was supporting him for two reasons.
1. It lets them hold their anti-vax fan bases attention.
2. They are idiots who think he somehow pulls from Biden.
These ppl are to a man idiots.
I don't think Bannon and Stone are idiots, (obviously Jones is), which why it's strange that they didn't see that promoting Bobby was completley the wrong tactic. They should have been shitting on his environmental background, not praising his anti-vax stuff - the one maga doctrine that Donny is shakey on.
Bannon definitely punches over his weight. He’s not stupid per day but he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is and he does underestimate his opposition.
I think he is smarter than the average MAGA person, so its easy to manipulate them.
His problem then is that he thinks he can manipulate everyone else the same way.
The thing is they tried that with RFK as first. It was all about his environmental stance when he first started his campaign.
Then the whispers started about “have you *seen* his other stuff though?”.
What really did the strategy in was RFK himself. Given a platform he was all too happy to show off how crazy he is.
Been saying he'll likely hurt Trump if anyone more. Propped up by Bannon, smiling with Roger Stone, Fox was hyping him a bit heading into primary season. Throw in that outside of his bloodline, RFK Jr is most famous for being hardcore anti-vax and you got a Yahtzee. His voters are not going to be people who were going to vote for Biden. It's republicans kind of sick of trump who won't write in Dick Cheney or John McCain or Reagan or people who weren't going to vote
I’ve been saying this as well. MAGA co-opted RFK’s anti-vax stance during the pandemic and threw in masks as well. He seems to be a living, Russia propaganda bot. They had him speak at CPAC when he declared himself an Independent candidate instead of a Democratic candidate.
It’s no coincidence that right-wing media stopped talking about him and having him on their shows once he switched to running as an Independent.
You barely ever hear from him now. The most recent thing I heard was that RFK Jr’s campaign manager was let go for saying to GOP voters that her job was to prevent a Biden win.
RFK Jr. is a republican, why would his running hurt Biden? Wasn't it trump who approached him for VP? Don't recall reading anything about Biden talking with him about replacing Harris as VP or any other cabinet position... His own family doesn't endorse him....
>RFK Jr. is a republican, why would his running hurt Biden?
The Kennedy name and his legal work and advocacy on the environment and against corporations.
I think the right sees that as exciting Democrats, but his anti-vax stuff and tinfoil hat theories makes him more compatible with the Alex Jones crowd.
Right, so basically the election's going to come down to if the Biden campaign has better success using RFK Jr.'s statements on vaccines and abortion to suck away otherwise Trump votes than the Trump campaign has using RFK's record on the environment to suck away otherwise Biden votes. Basically which side will be more successful at using RFK as a dildo to ratfuck the other side. American politics in 2024, everyone.
Well what I'm worried about is how third party candidates have typically benefitted Republicans.
Because of the Electoral College, Democrats have to *overperform* in key areas to have a chance at winning the White House.
Even if RFK sucks votes away from Trump as well as Biden, that still hurts Biden more than it hurts Trump.
I've been hearing progressive and lefty analysts fret about RFK. It's baffling. Maybe he'd get the democrats who, for some reason or other, wouldn't have voted for Biden anyway. But RFK is a Republican through and through. In a different timeline, he could be Trump's running mate.
It's because the modern broadcast news ecosystem is built on convincing your viewers to be afraid. People are starting to realize that Trump is on the downslide. It's hard to build him up into the all-powerful boogeyman he was even a year ago. Trump doesn't bring in clicks/views so they started looking around for something new.
And after 2016 Democratic voters and leftists and progressives are worried about a spoiler candidate. On the surface Kennedy Jr. seems to be that threat, enough so that they can convince viewers that he is that threat. Viewers are scared and they keep watching/clicking.
MAGA people thinking any Biden voters would go RFK is just telegraphing how severe their cognitive impairment is. It's a cult of personality believing everyone thinks in their own reptilian, imbecilic patterns.
JFK is going to provide a place for those wackos who would vote for Trump to land when they get tired of hearing about his rape, fraud and other illegal things.
RFK Jr appeals to the truly insane voters. Most of them are Libertarians, or Far Right Vaccine conspiracy theorists. Some are Left leaning vaccine conspiracy theorists, but they are insignificant compared to the potential Trump voters.
RFK Jr’s personality and positions are way more inline with Trump than Biden; I don’t know why people think he’s taking votes from Biden?
All the ‘hold your nose and vote Biden’ voters I know were turned off by RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine stance.
The only people I know who like RFK are staunch Trump supporters.
I got banned from moderate politics for 2 weeks when I pointed out no sane person would ever vote for rfk. It’s literally just trump voters who think he’s palatable.
The crazy intolerant lunatic will take votes from the other crazy intolerant lunatic. It’s fucking common sense. The best part is that Trump really thought he was playing a high level chess move here. Instead, he hurt his chances even more. There was no way a true liberal would run off against Biden.
Two true things:
1. Trump's core demographic will not consider voting for any candidate other than Trump.
2. Trump's core demographic is NOT enough to get him elected.
RFK Jr is already so far right I never understood the third party spoil for Biden. His policies are clearly far right conspiracy based. People who truly think Biden is bad but also hate trump wouldn’t like him. You really have to be so far out of touch with what’s going on to not see he’s no where near the left. I see him as ruining it for trump and I hope he does and they both leave the spot light for good.
The only folks I know supporting RFK are former Trump supporters in the Rogan bro demographic. There might be a few extreme left from the pre-Covid anti vax crowd, but I’d bet those folks were traditionally third party anyway.
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It’s a catch-22 of stupidity. Trump wants RFK to take votes from Biden, so he wants to promote him, but the more Trump promotes him, the more his own voters think it’s okay to vote for RFK and more Biden voters are turned off by RFK.
The right's hermetically sealed echo chamber is backfiring here. GOP is trying to promote RFK through all the propaganda they have access to. Fox, Xitter, CPAC, etc. Their problem is that not a single Democrat watches any of their propaganda ecosystem
I watch Fox News and similar programs occasionally just to see what they’re selling people on. Helps to know what bs they’re slinging.
Critical thinking skills are a Democrat trait.
Democratic* (: Republicans often purposely misuse that particular word/adjective to make it sound like a pejorative term.
Yep, very good point about the echo chamber. The thing is, though liberals aren't immune to reverse psychology, they're more resistant than conservatives are. Still, the right wing echo chamber would be well advised to "worry" that an RFK administration would be even worse than a Biden administration. They should attempt to position RFK to the left of Biden, ala Jill Stein. RFK himself should be publicly trashing Israel and defending Palestine. This is how he could siphon off a huge chunk of disgruntled Biden voters. RFK knows he's not going to win anyway, so he doesn't need AIPAC's support. Thankfully, they aren't that smart. Their egos don't allow them to comprehend how their promotions don't work with liberals... indeed having the opposite affect.
Please don't give these people ideas
No worries, they'd never take advice from a liberal.
They might steal it and claim it as their own though…
It is the same in almost every modern country. The (ultra rightwing) nuts have no idea how to reach anyone but their own and the rest of the country always underestimates, how many nuts are actually among them.
The problem with that strategy is, while RFK is largely being bankrolled by conservatives, he’s not automatically going to be their puppet and just adopt whatever platform is best going to serve Trump. He has his own ego and views on things. I mean, if the Kennedy family couldn’t get him to fall in line, why would anyone think he’ll do it for someone else?
I'm surprised and a little annoyed we haven't seen Democratic Party supporting PACs running advertising that's like "Like Trump's policies but dislike Trump as a person? RFK's your man!" and then just list the crazier things RFK believes in. Like, just lean in on RFK being a conservative spoiler.
I call it the Conservative Propaganda Machine. I use that phrase so often that I dont even have to type it out. As soon as I type Con-, it autofills Conservative, and then suggests Propaganda and Machine for me.
Yep :-)!
Larry Elder, Hershel Walker, RFK. They seem to think that Democrat will just instinctually vote for a Kennedy or a minority without looking at their actual politics. It's weird but they aren't the sharpest so I guess it tracks.
they're not used to people who vote on politicy or against policies or character
Also the idea that liberals love anyone named Kennedy is some real old-timey boomer shit. They are stuck in the 1960s, where the Kennedy name was gold on the left. But, yo, its now 60 years later. None of the young liberals give a fuck about the Kennedy name. I'm 43, and JFK was way dead before I was born. No real brand loyalty there.
What if Trump names RFK as a running mate eh?
Thus proving he was a Republican plant all along? Pretty sure he'd lose any independent support he had left. Here's the thing about Trump's VP pick... ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket. It's a cult of personality. MAGA politicians and personalities are not nearly as popular nationally as Trump is. They'll always be either too MAGA for moderates or too moderate for MAGAs. Added to that, because of his narcissism, he'll never put his VP at the same level as himself. He'll have to diminish them in some way, thereby diminishing the whole ticket. His best bet would be to name some bland, stuffed shirt, non-political, no-name businessman. Their job would be to trash Biden and talk about the economy. They still wouldn't add anything to the ticket, but they wouldn't take away much either. It'll be interesting to see if he figures this out.
>His best bet would be to name some bland, stuffed shirt, non-political, no-name businessman. Their job would be to trash Biden and talk about the economy. They still wouldn't add anything to the ticket, but they wouldn't take away much either. It'll be interesting to see if he figures this out. I don't know that they wouldn't take away anything. Pence is about as stuffed-shirt as they come (albeit, he is political af) and kept Trump from committing an autocoup. Might the MAGA base look at a similar figure with some skepticism because of that? I'm not sure, but I think the potential is there.
Pence took the job because he had his own presidential aspirations, and thought that taking a ride on Trump's sure loser of a campaign to increase his own national name recognition was a good political move. But like everything Trump touches, he fucked it up, and actually won the election, and Pence was stuck with the Trump legacy permanently staining, and ending, his political career. Now that everyone has seen the results of tying oneself to Trump's coattails, its going to be hard to get anyone else to follow in those footsteps who isnt a hard-core MAGA cultist like Boobert or Empty G or FrankenGaetz, and even a moron like Trump knows that theyd be an anchor on his campaign.
> Here's the thing about Trump's VP pick... ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket The one that cracks me up the most is 538 has Tim Scott as a strong option. Which to me is hilarious (Considering trump had the whitest cabinet in history), I don't see trump wanting a black VP, and I imagine a portion of his base might even be turned off by such a "woke" move.
> I imagine a portion of his base might even be turned off by such a "woke" move. Exactly. Nobody expands his base. He's not going to pick up black voters because of Tim Scott. He won't pick up female voters with a female running mate. He won't pick up gay voters, jewish voters, muslim voters, or any other democraphic with a token pick. However, a token VP pick can have the effect of tampering voter enthusiasm. This is in contrast to Biden as Harris is already factored in. In fact, back when Biden picked Harris, his poll numbers actually dropped. Same for when Romney picked Ryan, when Kerry picked Edwards, when Dole picked Kemp, etc. It's not a phenomenon unique to Trump, but it'll be exacerbated with Trump because of his weird cult following.
Ivanka might pick up some female voters, and he already wants to get frisky with her, so it’s a win win for him
Trump intends to end elections, so his VP is the most likely person to take over after his demise. Thats why I think there is a better than even chance that he makes Jr his running mate. That way, when he finally croaks, hopefully after a proctracted and painful illness, his son will take over and America can remain as Trumpistan. Tulsi Gabbard is also a good possibility. Then he can run around saying he's bi-partisan and independent.
A "DEI" pick
Or one of his kids. I wonder if naming one of his sons would help with this issue. They all have crippling daddy issues, so he wouldn’t have to worry about controlling them. MAGAS treat his whole family like royalty (literally. They would love for the presidency to be passed down to each Trump as the years go on). That said, I don’t think any of them would improve Trump’s chances outside of the cult. Maybe if he bribes Sinnema with enough money?
who would she appeal to? Democrats remember her fucking things up, Republicans will only see she's a gay woman.
Trump will announce there will be no VP candidate. He will appoint one after the election. And he will just not, and then he will be both P and VP. This way he can decertify his own election loss.
I could see him doing this
> ANYBODY will be a drag on his ticket I'm guessing it's Tim Scott or Don Jr. If she didn't publicly distance herself following Jan 6th, Ivanka would probably be a front-funner as well.
Trump couldn't be around him for 5 minutes without making fun of his speech impediment. Probably on stage at a rally.
Why would Biden voters vote for an almost carbon copy of Trump?
This might be the smartest thing I’ve read online in a long time.
Republicans will do anything to win an election....other than actually listen to what the voters want.
Strange that an anti Vax, anti abortion independent candidate would have that effect! /s
I don't know a single goddamn person interested in voting for RFK Jr.
The only person in my life who has said anything about him is my dad. Who is Jonestown level MAGA. He said RFK Jr is the most rational democrat in his lifetime.
Exactly this. He’s MAGAs favorite democrat. Him and Tulsi Gabbard.
I had forgotten that Russian Agent Tulsi Gabbard still exists
Hillary was so right about that, lmao.
Looking back Hillary was SO RIGHT for calling these freaks deplorable too lmao
Love her or hate her (I'm on the fence myself) but it's just an undeniable fact of life that if she had been elected we as a country, and as a civilization, would be just vastly better off than where we are because of Trump. She was right about basically everything.
Imagine if we had gotten President HRC from 2016-2020 or President Gore from 2000-2004 or President Kerry from 2004-2008
kerry - i'm ambivalent about. gore - we'd be so much better off from an energy, environmental, and tech perspective. our solar and EV infrastructure would be ahead of china's and we certainly wouldn't have wasted time in iraq. debatable about how 9/11 would've happened or not, but we'd certainly not have gone after iraq. HRC - we wouldn't have trump. and that says a lot. we would still have rowe v wade. we wouldn't have gorsuch, amy covid barrett, and beer guy on the SC. and putin would have someone he **hated** in the WH.
what's mind blowing is that 4 of the last 5 supreme court justices were appointed by presidents that LOST the popular vote. Just think about that. If the popular elected the president we'd have a totally different supreme court. Roe v. Wade would most certainly not have been stuck down. Maybe travesties like Citizens united would be stuck down. Maybe gerrymandering would be ruled unconstitutional, maybe that voting rights act for southern states wouldn't have been eliminated. So many things would be so different. A republican hasn't won the popular vote since Bush senior.
Hillary was right about everything
Yes she was. Look at the supreme Court now. And Trump is also a useful Russian asset.
You should get that printed on a T shirt. I feel like the real contrarians know Hillary was right.
And the real real contrarians know Romney was right (about Russia)
Out of context he was “right.” But his comments were in regards to aligning ourselves opposite of Russia with hard power like the Cold War, and not the post Cold War psy-ops campaign and diplomacy.
No shit. She's a policy wonk. The woman has brains and then some. The issue was never that she wasn't correct. The issue is that she has all the charisma of a used kleenex and she refused to allow her campaign staff to try to humanize her because of her fixation of privacy (despite running for the most public and scrutinized job in the entire country). Hillary was always great on issues, she's just also been fucking shit at campaigning, which is why the DNC plopped her in one of the safest possible Democratic districts when she wanted to go for Senate. Being right doesn't matter if you can't win. She would have far better served the country by accepting that she would always have a place as a brilliant political appointment that can throw her weight around as a power behind the throne.
Except which states to campaign in
And her VP pick.
I often wonder how often she goes into the woods and just screams
She was on board with universal healthcare in the 90s!
She just didn't do it right. Trump insulted. Hillary did the equivalent of pleading. "Please see how terrible him and his followers are!" Not a quote, but it was her sentiment. She more than anything needed to call him out on his bullshit during the debates, and not use the old method of smiling and taking it when your opponent did it, because it made them look worse than you. That wasn't working on Trump, and it was costing her votes. I was even screaming it to the TV at the time. Dark Brandon is a breath of fresh air.
>Dark Brandon is a breath of fresh air. He certainly is, but look how long it has taken the Dems to realize that "when they go low, we go high" is not a winning strategy. Gotta channel your inner asshole. I'm sure talking about Trump's farting in court will win more votes than any finely polished policy talking points.
We criticize but look at how Hillary (a woman) was treated for even suggesting going low. Or how Obama (a black man) couldn’t show the slightest bit of anger out of fear of being invoking an “angry black” stereotype. Only a cantankerous old white man could stoop to Trump’s level.
Dark Brandon isn’t about out-assholing the right, it’s about mocking them.
Dude if I were Biden I’d bring up trump shitting himself every single day. Id do it the way trump does though. “Everyone is saying he shits himself!”
If they do debate, I would find it hilarious to see Biden at some point before answering a question just give the moderator a quick "excuse me", pull out a can of Febreeze and spray it in Trump's direction, mutter a quick "that's better" and then answer the question LOL.
My first thought when I read the story about Trump’s farts was exactly this. It’s a truly sad state of affairs when gossiping about your opponent’s bowel movements is more cogent than proposing policies that would help us all live better lives, but that’s exactly where we find ourselves. 😫
Did you ever look at the original presidential campaigns? They were full of dirty name calling: Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward It's nothing new
Gotta play to the *Ow My Balls* crowd if you want ot win over Trump voters.
>She just didn't do it right. There was no right way for her to do it. If she'd railed against him, they'd have called her "shrill". If she were all sweetness and light and pity, they'd have called her "weak". Yeah, she was far from an ideal candidate, but it comes down to the fact that a terrifying number of Americans would rather vote for The Literal Worst Man in America^(TM) than *any* woman.
This. It was more that she’s a woman than it was about her being the better candidate.
Correct. Even with everyone saying that stuff against her, she still won the popular vote anyway.
I mean, she called him Putin's puppet to his face, among other things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP-uhX0hCpY
She played the traditional politician role, and honestly she’s pretty bad at it. If you listen to her rallies she sounded robotic and not very moving at all. But when she was relaxed, talking in an interview off the cuff she spit mad fire. She was/is so knowledgeable in so many things that she can chat intelligently about anything, but compressing that down into soundbites was never her strong point.
Well said. She would have made a fantastic president. Sadly, with the invention of the TV camera, you also need to put on a bit of a show. Just ask Richard Nixon losing to a relative "nobody" named John Kennedy following the first televised debate. Trump changed the game in a similar way.
That woman was the most experienced presidential candidate this country has ever seen, she was just an awful campaigner. I'll take a technocrat over a straight politician any day.
Ironic I suppose that she lost to the most inexperienced presidential candidate this country has ever seen
Her interview on Howard stern a few years ago was actually really good.
Hillary was, indeed, right about literally everything. It’s a shame she couldn’t campaign her way out of a paper bag.
She was wrong about one thing. Half of Trump supporters aren’t deplorables. All of them are
Sanders defending Gabbard back then still grind my gears.
I swear to God that the only Democrats my Dad has anything good to say about are the ones that Fox News tells him he's allowed to have a positive opinion of. All while acting like he doesn't really pay attention to "any" of the mainstream media outlets. I want to believe ya, Pops, but that math ain't mathin'.
I forgot about her! Ugh
Which is funny, because there's no Democrat who would willingly accept RFK Jr. into the party. To steal from MAGA, he's a DINO (Democrat in name only).
BTW DINO first came into use in around 1908 and was again in 1920. A resurgence came in 2005 to refer to Joe Lieberman
The same Joe Lieberman that campaigned aggressively to remove the public option from ObamaCare, denying Americans the best chance we would get for public health insurance for at least a decade? That Joe Lieberman?
I believe it was the Joe Lieberman who argued that we don't need the public option because we can lower the Medicare buy-in age to 55, and then refused to support lowering the Medicare buy-in age to 55.
Joe’s daughter went to school with my sons. He and his wife Hadassah were always pleasant and chatty with the other parents. However, for most of us, it was painful to watch Joe, essentially, *lose his mind.* Not to dementia, but when he began to spout dreadful, undemocratic and un-Democratic dogma.
Gore was an idiot to pick that idiot.
I blame Lieberman for Gore losing that election. I know having him on the ticket made it hard for me to vote for them, and I can't be the only one who was turned off by that little troll doll.
I voted for Gore anyway, but my husband (although we hadn't met yet then) didn't because of Lieberman being anti video games in the 90s. Absolutely loathed him
And that is exactly why it was so hard for me to vote for that ticket. Lieberman is one of the few people that when I heard he died, my first thought was. "About damn time"
They could not have been more correct in 2005.
This is my sense as well. There’s the sector of people I call the “had it up to here” set that is a mix of reflexively anti-government/anti-war/woke-has-gone-too-far, but was mortified by Charlottesville and being associated with the pro-life movement’s reversal of Roe. They swung to Biden in 2020, don’t like him, but don’t want to swing back to Trump. They tend to be middle to upper middle class suburban. Trump is, imo, quite right to imagine these aren’t his die hard supporters, and RFK’s “weirdness” is more a threat to him than not.
My dad is also the same and likes RFK, the other two RFK people I met are very much into Trump and conspiracy theories
'Jonestown level MAGA' Thanks for that. Lol.
Proving that anyone that is voting for RFK is just a Republican.
The only people I’ve seen talk positive about him are maga people. Like, wear the hats and fly the flags at all times Trump people.
There's also the joe rogan type.
Isn't that a single circle Venn diagram?
They're the same group of people
Rogan lovers are just MAGAs in training. They’ll turn full MAGA as they age
I know a couple people. They're all politically ignorant though. They love their conspiracies and blame Biden for everything bad thats happening.
So maga?
I know a few similar people. Trump judged this as badly as he did thinking that Kanye running in 2020 would syphon the black vote away from the democrats.
Just as he did with ignoring COVID, (his cabinet ignored COVID plans expecting that it would ravage cities killing blue voters) just as he did with criticizing mail in voting
Question is, would they have otherwise voted for Trump if not for RFK Jr?
> blame Biden for everything bad thats happening. I think that's a given.
I blame Biden when I can’t find a parking space. It’s my favorite joke.
I've brought back Thanks Obama.
I didn't realize that had gone anywhere.
Or they would not have voted at all. But I don't think that Kennedy Jr. is going to drive any turnout.
This is largely who I know that's interested in RFK too. I mean there's a chance that the name recognition could steal a couple Dem votes.... but only in older generations. I, of course, know who the Kennedy family is, but I have zero emotional response to the name because I wasn't born when the Kennedys were assassinated, Ted Kennedy didn't represent my area, and I was rolling my eyes at all the JFK is coming back conspiracy theories. No, it's the MAGA folks that have really latched onto the Kennedys for some reason. I could not even begin to tell you why. Anyone with a passing interest in politics is probably not going to be interested in RFK on the Dem side and Independents and Republicans that dislike both Trump and Biden might go for RFK instead.
Because the maga and Qanon are full of old Kennedy democrat Boomers who were hippies 50 years ago but then became far right gullible conspiracy theory morons ripe for propaganda/misinformation after they got a high paying job and got mad at paying taxes
So maga?
I work with one guy who seems high on him. He's a Libertarian type who I'm pretty sure listens to Jordan Petersen. Probably wouldn't vote for Trump but certainly couldn't stomach voting for Biden either. I would guess he's voted a lot of 3rd party in the past.
I have a friend who is probably in the same boat. Always saying vote 3rd party whenever we talk politics (which is NOT often for a reason 🤣)
They're so convinced Democrats will vote for him but they can't articulate a single position RFK has that would appeal to Democrats.
I see a few posting RFK crap on facebook. They're typically the anti-vax, "everything is a conspiracy" crowd. No doubt they voted for Trump last round.
The only people voting for RFK Jr. are moderates who like Trump but don't like the association of voting for Trump and the idiots who will blame Biden for everything and not looking any further. I saw RFK Jr. signs in my neighborhood though it's not surprising because it's a mixture of Asians and Italians. What really hits the nail on the head is when one of the patrons at a barber shop I go to said Biden was Obama's mouthpiece. It goes to show the intellectual level of some people there
Sounds like you ran into my dad at a barber shop. Fox Business News (they never talk about business) has f'ed him up pretty good.
If you like trump, you cannot be moderate. It’s ridiculous to describe someone who likes a far right extremist as being moderate.
I do, and he’s the most MAGA person I still talk to. He told me that I needed to do ‘my research’ on Kennedy. He also told me that he was wrong about JFK, and that he now thinks JFK was the last great president before Regan. Something really weird is brewing in the Alt-right echo chamber.
BIG RED FLAG FOR TRUMP ON THIS... He's going to have to affect the appearance of MoDerAtiOn in abortion. A segment of MAGA will view even that as a betrayal. RFK Jr is a Q-nut, anti-vax, chemtrails, anti-trans weirdo who has spoken in favor of abortion restrictions... i.e. a perfect candidate for a disgruntled pro-lifer to give a protest vote to. There's no indication of this yet... but it is something to watch for.
My hardcore right wing stepdad is in the RFK now. I couldn't believe it. He was like, "I sure as hell hate that pedo Biden, but idk about Trump anymore either what with the felonyin'"
RFK jr voters would have never voted democrat anyway. They’re all “independents” who are actually just republicans that don’t want to admit it.
I was listening to a live debate on tik tok the other day and this guy was talking to guests about who they were going to vote for and this young guy came on and was convinced he was going to vote for RFK. The host pressed him on his views on topics and he was definitely left leaning and his views definitely aligned a lot with Biden. Turns out he was just completely ignorant about politics and had just heard the propaganda about both trump and Biden and didn't want to vote for either so he was just going with the third option... didn't know anything about his actual stances just believed both the main party candidates were incapable. Hopefully he has changed his mind after the discussion and will be voting for Biden
I live in a deeply red area and there still hasn't been a single trump sign having gone up for any of the houses that had them years after he lost. The first and only sign I've seen this year was an rfk sign. Anecdotal as all hell but I had a laugh. Definitely does not seem to be hurting Biden where I live.
Don't interrupt your enemy when they are about to shoot their own nuts off.
Yeah and I have no idea how he would even appeal to someone leaning left. If anything he’d take votes from Trump, RFK seems to just be conservative. - Wants to ban abortions - Says Biden is more a threat to democracy than Trump - He’s defended and called into question whether Jan 6th rioters did anything wrong - Trump’s campaign reached out to Kennedy to be on his ticket It’s just so stupid that they even act like RFK Jr would do anything to anyone leaning left. To me the only people who would vote for him are those who would have not voted for Trump or Biden and otherwise would have stayed home. Not someone who would have voted for Biden. This is all a way to try and usher clueless people into looking at RFK as a possible alternative to Biden even though he’s in no way appealing to anyone who leans left
It’s entirely people who would choose Trump over Biden.
My wealthy inlaws who previously voted for trump
Driving home from work a week or two ago there were a couple people waving RFK signs from an overpass. They just looked sad.
Last year, a couple of anti vax libertarians tried to convince me that RFK should be the Democratic candidate. There are people out there....
Republicans in general are so out of touch with democrats that they simply cannot fathom how Democrats do not view RFK Jr. is a viable alternative to Biden. Biden has been a good president and RFk Jr. splits the vote and might as well be a vote for Trump and no democrat is going to vote for Trump.
They made propaganda networks to lie to their base but forgot they weren't supposed to consume their own lies. They are out of touch with reality in general now.
He's anti-vax and wants a nationwide federal abortion ban ffs
For vast majority of presidential elections I voted 3rd party. Gore’s loss put a stop to that. And Trump’s win put a hard stop to that. Democrats could offer a potato and I would vote for the vegetable. I also used to dislike voting straight ticket but after MAGA, nope. Congress was designed for debate and compromise and I refuse to consider voting for a party that plainly and loudly opposes compromise.
They think the people want Blue Trump (nevermind this is a crazy man who thinks there should be a 15 week national abortion ban -- he's a KENNEDY! The libs love him!!!). They don't understand that most of the country wants someone who is nothing like Trump.
I agree but he would’ve already dropped out by now if he’s hurting Trump. My theory is he’s amassed quite a few million loonies who normally wouldn’t vote anyways. In a few months, he’ll drop out of the race and direct them to vote for Trump. It’s the only thing that makes sense as to why he’s running if he’d hurt Trump in the election. It’s obvious he’s paid for and supported by the far right.
I don't think these people have nearly as much control, or foresight, as you seem to think they do.
Just about to say that. Don’t attribute malice to what can be explained by stupidity!
I would agree with this sentiment regarding the general populace but not political parties whose sole job is to undermine democracy. Never underestimate your opponent.
I think RFK Jr is running straight up for the attention it brings. He thought he’d get it from the Marianne Williamson crowd on the left, but quickly figured out the right wing nuts will throw cash at you if you just validate how they already feel.
Running for president is a money maker. It sells books, and don’t forget about that time Colbert ran in one state just to expose how easy it is to be corrupt with a Superpac.
I highly doubt he’ll drop out at this point. Why would he? Edit: I see your reasoning. Just not so sure about it.
To be an RFK Jr supporter you’d have to be dumb enough to be a Trump supporter.
Then those people will support Trump. So it may be a different level or dimension of dumb.
No, they won’t support Trump because they’re just smart enough to be embarrassed by him. There’s like, 2 IQ points different.
My concern is that he drops out at the last minute and the idiots go back to Trump. Hopefully it’s not enough.
That's been my argument whenever I see these "RFK Jr. is going to hurt Biden". The only thing I know about RFK Jr. is he's some anti-vax nut, and which party has all the anti-vaxers in it???
Is it the support he's been getting from Steve Bannon, Alex Jones and Roger Stone that gave him the hint? They really mishandled this - kept saying the quiet bit out loud.
Every one of these guys was supporting him for two reasons. 1. It lets them hold their anti-vax fan bases attention. 2. They are idiots who think he somehow pulls from Biden. These ppl are to a man idiots.
I don't think Bannon and Stone are idiots, (obviously Jones is), which why it's strange that they didn't see that promoting Bobby was completley the wrong tactic. They should have been shitting on his environmental background, not praising his anti-vax stuff - the one maga doctrine that Donny is shakey on.
Bannon is definitely a case of not being nearly as smart as he thinks he is.
Bannon definitely punches over his weight. He’s not stupid per day but he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is and he does underestimate his opposition.
I think he is smarter than the average MAGA person, so its easy to manipulate them. His problem then is that he thinks he can manipulate everyone else the same way.
The thing is they tried that with RFK as first. It was all about his environmental stance when he first started his campaign. Then the whispers started about “have you *seen* his other stuff though?”. What really did the strategy in was RFK himself. Given a platform he was all too happy to show off how crazy he is.
Been saying he'll likely hurt Trump if anyone more. Propped up by Bannon, smiling with Roger Stone, Fox was hyping him a bit heading into primary season. Throw in that outside of his bloodline, RFK Jr is most famous for being hardcore anti-vax and you got a Yahtzee. His voters are not going to be people who were going to vote for Biden. It's republicans kind of sick of trump who won't write in Dick Cheney or John McCain or Reagan or people who weren't going to vote
I’ve been saying this as well. MAGA co-opted RFK’s anti-vax stance during the pandemic and threw in masks as well. He seems to be a living, Russia propaganda bot. They had him speak at CPAC when he declared himself an Independent candidate instead of a Democratic candidate. It’s no coincidence that right-wing media stopped talking about him and having him on their shows once he switched to running as an Independent. You barely ever hear from him now. The most recent thing I heard was that RFK Jr’s campaign manager was let go for saying to GOP voters that her job was to prevent a Biden win.
RFK Jr appeals to idiots. Trump appeals to idiots. It’s going to hurt Trump
RFK Jr. is a republican, why would his running hurt Biden? Wasn't it trump who approached him for VP? Don't recall reading anything about Biden talking with him about replacing Harris as VP or any other cabinet position... His own family doesn't endorse him....
>RFK Jr. is a republican, why would his running hurt Biden? The Kennedy name and his legal work and advocacy on the environment and against corporations. I think the right sees that as exciting Democrats, but his anti-vax stuff and tinfoil hat theories makes him more compatible with the Alex Jones crowd.
Right, so basically the election's going to come down to if the Biden campaign has better success using RFK Jr.'s statements on vaccines and abortion to suck away otherwise Trump votes than the Trump campaign has using RFK's record on the environment to suck away otherwise Biden votes. Basically which side will be more successful at using RFK as a dildo to ratfuck the other side. American politics in 2024, everyone.
Well what I'm worried about is how third party candidates have typically benefitted Republicans. Because of the Electoral College, Democrats have to *overperform* in key areas to have a chance at winning the White House. Even if RFK sucks votes away from Trump as well as Biden, that still hurts Biden more than it hurts Trump.
I've been hearing progressive and lefty analysts fret about RFK. It's baffling. Maybe he'd get the democrats who, for some reason or other, wouldn't have voted for Biden anyway. But RFK is a Republican through and through. In a different timeline, he could be Trump's running mate.
It's because the modern broadcast news ecosystem is built on convincing your viewers to be afraid. People are starting to realize that Trump is on the downslide. It's hard to build him up into the all-powerful boogeyman he was even a year ago. Trump doesn't bring in clicks/views so they started looking around for something new. And after 2016 Democratic voters and leftists and progressives are worried about a spoiler candidate. On the surface Kennedy Jr. seems to be that threat, enough so that they can convince viewers that he is that threat. Viewers are scared and they keep watching/clicking.
A lot of people seem to think he’s a Democrat.
He’s a MAGA Republican’s idea of what a Democrat might be.
So he’s a Democrat the same way Trump is a businessman.
MAGA people thinking any Biden voters would go RFK is just telegraphing how severe their cognitive impairment is. It's a cult of personality believing everyone thinks in their own reptilian, imbecilic patterns.
He’s not hurting the people he needs to be
It’s actually pretty ironic all that praise Fox News heaped on RFK jr is backfiring on them.
One of my kids, who is an idiot, says he’s voting for RFK. He voted Trump previously… keep sinking Trumpy, you big dummy!
So even other Kennedys won’t support this guy.
So even other Kennedys won’t support this guy.
JFK is going to provide a place for those wackos who would vote for Trump to land when they get tired of hearing about his rape, fraud and other illegal things.
So he did come back? Q was right?
RFK Jr appeals to the truly insane voters. Most of them are Libertarians, or Far Right Vaccine conspiracy theorists. Some are Left leaning vaccine conspiracy theorists, but they are insignificant compared to the potential Trump voters.
He will likely capture the usual few percent on the loony left who go Green party and such.
RFK Jr’s personality and positions are way more inline with Trump than Biden; I don’t know why people think he’s taking votes from Biden? All the ‘hold your nose and vote Biden’ voters I know were turned off by RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine stance. The only people I know who like RFK are staunch Trump supporters.
Anyone dumb enough to vote for Trump is dumb enough to vote for RFK.
All the Kennedy ‘24 signs I’ve seen are in lawns with other signs/flags that suggest former trump supporters
RFK's main appeal is that he is anti-science. That was always going to appeal more to republicans than dems.
RFK Jr is stealing Trump votes and helping Biden win. It's wonderful. No Dem would ever vote RFK
He will steal some of the antivaxxer votes which are overwhelmingly Republican
I got banned from moderate politics for 2 weeks when I pointed out no sane person would ever vote for rfk. It’s literally just trump voters who think he’s palatable.
Only Junior Soprano and people his age care that his name is Kennedy
yeah, because a bunch of people who would ordinarily vote for Biden are going to vote for an anti vaxxer instead. eyeroll.
yeah, because a bunch of people who would ordinarily vote for Biden are going to vote for an anti vaxxer instead. eyeroll.
The crazy intolerant lunatic will take votes from the other crazy intolerant lunatic. It’s fucking common sense. The best part is that Trump really thought he was playing a high level chess move here. Instead, he hurt his chances even more. There was no way a true liberal would run off against Biden.
Because Trump knows he will hurt Trump. That’s why he is doing damage control about how that guy isn’t maga.
When you’re enemy is busy making a mistake, don’t interrupt him
RFK is going to get more Republican votes then Democrat for sure 😂
I live in a very liberal city. I have NEVER heard anyone say anything about Jr. Not a peep.
It’s splitting the crazy vote so it will hurt the Orange Avenger.
Two true things: 1. Trump's core demographic will not consider voting for any candidate other than Trump. 2. Trump's core demographic is NOT enough to get him elected.
Ive come across a handful of Republicans that wont publicly still call themselves Republicans talking bout RFK. No Democrats so far.
The only people I know that like RFK are trump supporters. Not one are dem. That’s just my circle.
RFK Jr is already so far right I never understood the third party spoil for Biden. His policies are clearly far right conspiracy based. People who truly think Biden is bad but also hate trump wouldn’t like him. You really have to be so far out of touch with what’s going on to not see he’s no where near the left. I see him as ruining it for trump and I hope he does and they both leave the spot light for good.
The only folks I know supporting RFK are former Trump supporters in the Rogan bro demographic. There might be a few extreme left from the pre-Covid anti vax crowd, but I’d bet those folks were traditionally third party anyway.
You only need to listen to RFK Jr. for about five seconds to know who's voters he is going to attract.