We are all flawed vessels and there is no perfect candidate. It seems that much of the electorate has come to terms with this reality of late. For instance, there are plenty of people who have serious issues with Trump, and not just stylistically but on some core economic issues like tariffs, who will support him with enthusiasm in November because a continuation of the current Biden trajectory is (at least to them) unacceptable.
RFK Jr. like Trump (and Biden for that matter) has issues. Some of these issues, particularly in his youth were profound. Domestically he has had other troubles. (All three major presidential candidates have had domestic difficulties.) Policy wise he challenges some of his most ardent fans, on both the right and the left.
That RFK Jr. challenges people on both the right and the left on legitimate, meaty policy issues and yet retains their support (collectively) is remarkable. As we have said in the past in this space, we have never seen a presidential candidate do that.
A big part of his weird appeal is that he took on the policymakers during Covid and didn’t let up. RFK Jr. has legitimate anti-establishment, anti-swamp credibility. In a time when many everyday people look at the dominance of Pharma (watch broadcast TV sometime, it’s practically ALL pharma commercials now), and see the state overstepping its authority in so many areas of life, many people want to change things up in a big way. Many Trump voters want to change things up in a big way too of course, but RFK Jr., though he has many of the more appealing traits of Trump also lacks some of the traits Trump has that put a lot of people off.
RFK Jr. on the Libertarian Party ticket is something that might happen. If he ran as a Libertarian he would be able to access the ballot in all fifty states (thanks to the often thankless work of people within the Libertarian Party over decades). Instantly RFK Jr. becomes a legitimate contender. And though the Dems seem to most fear this prospect, we believe RFK Jr. could siphon off a significant part of the Trump vote too.
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