Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign bankrolled by Republican mega-donor ( www.theguardian.com )

A few notable quotes from the article follow:

“A Super Pac affiliated with Robert F Kennedy Jr, the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist running for president as a Democrat, owes half its cash to a longtime Republican mega-donor and Trump backer, according to campaign finance reports filed on Monday.”

… and further…

“Kennedy’s campaign attracted a considerable amount of support from Republican donors in the weeks since he announced his run in April. A political watchdog found that Kennedy has a “long history” of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia.”

Im14abeer ,

I think they should double down. Maybe even go for broke.

Poob ,

He’s an obvious spoiler candidate. How dumb do you have to be not to realize this?

hamandjam ,

You can realize that he’s a spoiler and still love the fact that he’s siphoning money away from GOP candidates because they’re too stupid yo realize he doesn’t stand a chance. The Kennedy name doesn’t carry the weight it used to, and he’s a far cry from Jack and Bobby.

dub ,

NOOOOOO HES A TRUE CLASSICAL LIBERAL!!!1! HIS DAD IS LITERALLY JESUS!!! FREAKING DEMONRATS CAN’T SEE THE TRUTH

Spendrill , (edited )

If you have observed politics here in the UK you will see that the process is that in order to remove the Conservative Party, the Labour Party has to present a small ‘c’ conservative leader to the public. Any attempt to present a genuinely progressive leader will get the media, the legacy press particularly, throwing a tantrum and shit will fly about.

I am firmly convinced that Trump was elected because the Democrats managed to get a black man elected as president.

As historic an event as that was Obama was not a particularly progressive president. His foreign policy was still very conservative and there was some problematic stuff about the way he authorised drone strikes, even against his own citizens.

Unfortunately the very fact of him being a black man caused a very large minority of people to lose their minds. And Trump was able to speak to those people.

If it were not for the fact that he is facing a great number of legal challenges Trump would storm the Republican primaries. In fact he still might. So the Republicans are left with a man who looks like he may end up in prison (he probably won’t but it’s going to trouble floating voters) or DeSantis, who isn’t winning any friends in the centre.

So what’s a Republican mega donor to do?

What if the Democrats swung hard to the right? After all, they used to be affiliated with “a certain society, I don’t believe I gotta mention its name, heh-heh…”

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

Unfortunately the very fact of him being a black man caused a very large minority of people to lose their minds. And Trump was able to speak to those people.

Despite being from the other side of the pond your perception of American politics is very accurate. I would include that AM radio and cable news "primed the pump" for this, as millions of people outside of the cities were subjected to constant propaganda.

You know why the profile picture for most conservative men is them sitting in their truck? Because they spend a lot of time there, either commuting or driving professionally. Because they're in the middle of nowhere they don't get FM radio, so they listen to AM radio which is almost entirely conservative talk radio.

So these Guys in Trucks have heard Rush Limbaugh (rest in piss) and his ilk every day for years, making them powderkegs.

BurnTheRight ,

Whaaaaaat? Ya don't say....

Conservatives think normal people are as gullible as they are.

He's only attracted some conservative interest away from their side. No one on the left is stupid enough to fall for a proud, outspoken conservative dipshit who simply says he's "totally a librul y'all".

DarkGamer , (edited )
@DarkGamer@kbin.social avatar

I wasn't aware this clown was running as a Democrat. His father would be ashamed of what he's become.

The only reason both he and his donor are noteworthy and capable of polluting our political discourse is because of inheritance; name recognition and wealth. Were they not born connected and wealthy we never would have heard about RFK Jr. or his terrible, hateful politics.

hamandjam ,

He’s a Democrat in the same way today’s GOP is " The Party of Lincoln."

Nicenightforawalk ,

They know he will lose the vote against Biden but want those democrats/independents who voted for Kennedy to be disappointed and disillusioned so going into the election they don’t vote at all for Biden cutting the small margins in some states down

chaogomu ,

I've never actually seen a democrat or true independent who supports Kennedy. The only people treating him as anything other than a joke are republicans.

flipht ,

The problem isn't people paying attention, it's the mass number of people who know literally nothing about current political events who then try to figure it out while standing in line at the polls.

It's a small subset of a subset of a subset, but it can be enough to top the balance when all the other electoral shenanigans are factored in as well.

chaogomu ,

The people not really paying attention, but still wanting to vote democratic, will just vote for Biden. The idiots who claim to be left leaning but hate Biden more than Trump are more likely to vote for Trump than Kennedy, but some might support him...

But not when the only news that pretends that Kennedy is a viable candidate is Fox.

downpunxx ,
@downpunxx@kbin.social avatar

you don't say

rebul ,

Dems did the same thing in 2022, nothing new.

ForestOrca ,
@ForestOrca@kbin.social avatar

Are you trolling, or would you care to elaborate?

WalterLatrans ,

npr.org/…/the-democrats-strategy-of-boosting-far-…

The TLDR; Democrats raised money for far right candidates during their primaries in some strategic elections, the idea being that given the choice between a sane moderate democrat and a lunatic maga republican in the general election, people would choose the sane option.

I don’t know that is what’s happening here however, even if they threw a massive amount of money at Robert F. Kennedy Jr it seems unlikely he would ever win the democratic presidential primary.

realcaseyrollins ,

Not entirely shocking, but still quite interesting

TenderfootGungi ,

Trying to split the vote or get a wolf in sheep’s clothing past primaries.

Jaysyn ,
@Jaysyn@kbin.social avatar

Obvious shill is a shill, news at eleven.

Rodsterlings_cig ,

Frankly, I am shocked!

nkat2112 OP ,
@nkat2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

I think this is hardly surprising, but important to be aware of nonetheless.

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