Kennedy Jr. should launch independent candidacy against Biden and Trump

O presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) is expected to launch an independent bid for the White House, after announcing a campaign for the Democratic Party primaries, an internal election that will be easily won by President Joe Biden.

RFK Jr. suggested his candidacy in a speech this Monday, via social media, in which he denounced that there is corruption “in the leadership of both political parties”, announcing that he intends to “rewrite and change North American political habits”.

Kennedy, grandson of the charismatic president John F. Kennedy (assassinated in 1963), is considered a ‘black sheep’ in the Democratic Party. In a party that is much more progressive than the Republican conservatives, RFK Jr. is a known denier of vaccines and Covid-19 treatments, and his links to the North American ultranationalist far-right have also become increasingly public and declared. .

In addition to promoting various conspiracy theories, which led him at one point to defend Alex Jones (the extremist presenter convicted of promoting false theories about the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting), to defend white supremacists and to hold programs on the social network Twitter (now X) with alleged anti-vaccine doctors.

The candidate announced that he would join the race for the White House in April, but with President Joe Biden running for re-election, it is very unlikely that RFK Jr. would even be able to challenge Biden in the primaries. The other Democratic candidate, Marianne Williamson, an author of self-help books, also has little chance against the country’s leader.

Joe Biden’s campaign, and the party leadership itself, have downplayed any news surrounding the candidacy of the extremist Kennedy Jr.. The Associated Press reported that it questioned the Democratic National Committee about an independent candidacy for Kennedy, to which the spokesperson will have responded with an emoji with rolled eyes.

RFK Jr. has also shown himself increasingly unhappy with the Democrats, repeatedly attacking his own party and accusing the leadership of “rigging” the elections against him. “If they squeeze me, I’m looking at other options,” said the candidate, in a speech cited by AP, at an event organized by a former Republican senator.

Kennedy Jr. is also more liked by Republicans than by Democrats, who are ruling him out of the 2024 presidential race altogether.

On the Republican side, there are still 13 conservative candidates, but the cast is led by former president Donald Trump who, if the legal proceedings do not remove him, should be the Republican presidential candidate.

If RFK Jr. decides to run as an independent, he will join a group of candidates that only includes Cornel West, an anti-racist activist and philosophy professor who has been one of the biggest defenders of a stronger and more socialist left than the current Party. Democrat, who is more between the moderate left and the center-right.

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