Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is leaving the Democratic Party and its primary to run for president as an independent. The controversial anti-vaccine activist is discovering that some of those who were pushing his candidacy are starting to change.
For months, the Fox News Channel and a few of its stars like Sean Hannity were very friendly to Kennedy and invited him often on the right-leaning network to boost his poll numbers.
Kennedy started to gain a following, however, a large number of his supporters are Republicans. Conservatives and the Donald Trump campaign now believe that a Kennedy bid is going to help President Joe Biden in the general election.
They are no longer propping his candidacy. During an interview with Hannity, the media personality brought up many of the points highlighted by Republicans about Kennedy. The former Democrat appeared slightly surprised by the line of questioning.
You’ll notice that questioning from Hannity seems a bit different now that RFK Jr. is running as an independent pic.twitter.com/V5lL1rNkw6
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 11, 2023
Conservatives are right to be concerned because some polls do show that Kennedy pulls more votes from Trump. Moreover, Kennedy was able to raise more than $11 million in a few hours via the American Values 2024 super PAC.
New: The RNC issues a statement on RFK Jr. ahead of his expected independent switch.
The latest indication that both Democrats and Republicans are getting antsy about Kennedy: no longer ignoring him outright. pic.twitter.com/b9HLSMbTQl
— Hanna Trudo (@HCTrudo) October 9, 2023
That kind of performance will keep Biden and Trump people up at night. The environmental lawyer is also courting some big names that could help his campaign. Tech billionaire Elon Musk is one of the targets.
In making his jump to third-party candidate, Kennedy claimed that he was “declaring his independence” from the “tyranny of corruption that robs us of affordable lives, our belief in the future, and our respect for each other.”
The husband of Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines continued with: “People suspect that the divisions are deliberately orchestrated,” he said. “They’re fed up with being fooled and they’re ready to take back power.”
Despite his desire to unite the country, Kennedy is having trouble getting the backing of his own family. A few Kennedy siblings have put out a statement blasting his candidacy.
They say that it is hurting Biden’s chances for 2024. They also stated: “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision, or judgment. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”
The Biden campaign is also not ignoring the Kennedy campaign. It released the following statement: “This will be a very close election, decided by a small number of voters in a small number of states. And, the stakes couldn’t be higher — between an extremist who wants to take rights away and doesn’t believe in the rule of law, and the President who will fight for the next generation to have more rights, not fewer, and a stronger middle-class. The President’s team has multiple paths to victory and is focused on turning out their voters, persuading their persuadables, and building the coalition that will send Biden back to the White House.”
Experts say third-party candidates rarely gain traction. Moreover, the last one to have a real impact was billionaire Ross Perot in 1992.
Observers expect Kennedy to play a minor role in 2024 because of the extreme polarization of the country.
