Robert F Kennedy launches independent bid for president against Biden, Trump
The erstwhile scion of the Democratic Party has ditched the party for an independent bid for the presidency, throwing a curve ball into Republican and Democratic calculations.
Robert F Kennedy, nephew of the assassinated former president John F Kennedy, has severed ties with the Democratic Party so deeply tied with his family name, announcing an independent bid for the presidency in 2024 which will complicate Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s efforts to seek second terms.
After months of running as a Democratic candidate against Mr Biden, attracting between 10 and 20 per cent of Democrat support according to polls, Mr Kennedy, 69, launched his solo bid in Philadelphia on Monday (Tuesday AEST), on the grassy square of Independence Mall, two blocks from the city’s famous Liberty Bell.
Steering clear of specific policy announcements, Mr Kennedy delivered a near hour long speech peppered with his usual rhetorical flourishes and references to the US constitution, dwelling in particular on cronyism, which he said had “turned government officials into indentured servants”.
“I‘m here to declare myself an independent candidate, independence from Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma Big Ag and the military contractors, independence from the mercenary media that fortify all of the corporate orthodoxy and urge us to hate our neighbours,” he said.
“I‘ve been fighting corporate corruption and suing government agencies for 40 years. I know how to clean them up,” he said, referring to his decades long career as an environmental lawyer.
On a crisp autumn day a crowd of a few thousand gathered to hear the erstwhile scion of the Democratic Party condemn what he called “the entire rigged system of rancour and rage, corruption and lies”, describing the two major parties as a “two headed monster about to push America of a cliff”.
Actress Cheryl Hines, star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, introduced her husband around noon local time after what Australians would have called a ‘welcome to country’ ceremony performed by native Americans and a moment’s silence for the terrorist attacks on Israel, of which Mr Kennedy is a strident supporter.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early October gave Mr Kennedy 14 per cent of the vote as an independent, compared to 33 per cent for Donald Trump, who had recently praised Mr Kennedy as a “very smart person”, and 31 per cent for Mr Biden.
“The Democrats are frightened that I‘m going to spoil the election for President Biden, the Republicans are frightened that I’m going to spoil it for President Trump. The truth is they’re both right,” Mr Kennedy said.
Since Mr Kennedy hinted at his new announcement last week, political strategists have debated from which major party he would draw the most votes. His strident environmentalism, concern for minorities and criticism of large corporations have appeared to at odds with his support for free speech, and opposition to Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
“Neither party has offered any kind of meaningful resistance to the endless wars that have slaughtered our youth, neither is doing anything to reverse the erosion of the American middle class and both of them are powerless to rein in our exploding deficits,” he said.
“I‘m proud to say that my supporters include both pro-lifers and ‘pro-choicers’, climate activist and climate sceptics, they include the vaccinated and unvaccinated,” he added, referring initially to those for and against abortion.
The Republican Party launched an attack on Mr Kennedy on the same day, releasing a “23 reasons not to vote for RFK” document, including that that Mr Kennedy donated to President Obama’s campaign and once called the National Rifle Association a “terror group”.
Four members of his large family, including sister Kerry Kennedy and brother Joe Kennedy II, slammed his candidacy as “dangerous for our country” in a statement released on the same day.
“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” they said.
Anthony Shriver, 58, one of Mr Kennedy’s cousins and the son of Eunice Kennedy, told The Australia after the event that he disagreed with some of his family. “Everybody speaks the way they want, but I just don‘t agree with them,” he said. “I think he has a really good solid message, he’s super smart, really capable, and would do an excellent job”.
Ed Jankauskas, 55, an IT specialist who had voted for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, had come to the rally with his wife from Scranton, Pennsylvania, said Mr Kennedy “had a real chance or I wouldn’t be here”.
“Trump didn’t drain the swamp he brought in Steven Mnuchin and crony capitalism, we need to stop spending like drunken sailors in Ukraine and take care of our country,” he told The Australian, referring to Mr Trump’s former Treasury Secretary.
Rebecca Vallespinosa, 55, a former Republican had flown from Seattle for the announcement, said the US and its constitutional freedoms were being “overrun by greed and corruption”.
“I like that he meets all the people, he’s out there being real, deeply concerned about country’s future, and he’s already wealthy he doesn’t need, for him there’s nothing in it for him other than service,” she told The Australian.
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