RFK jr. Endorses Trump in Historic Paradigm Shift, Drops Out of Ohio
STATEWIDE - While some have argued the RNC slowed the momentum of the Trump campaign, Robert Kennedy Jr. may have just ignited it again with a surprising, if not logical, endorsement.
Those who watched the Republican National Convention this year may have been checking their dials frequently. The RNC played hose to a number of speakers some might have considered “the opposition," from teamster presidents to pro-abortion feminist icons. The RNC was filled with confusing rhetoric that felt right out of a Democratic Convention from the early 2000s. Additionally, the platform from the party had been widely criticized on the far right for seeking to remove ‘divisive’ language which disparaged LGBTQ issues and the language at the convention sought to conflate terms like “parents choice," a policy position surrounding parent's frustration with sexual impositions on children in schools, with “school choice,” a funding issue for voucher programs, while failing to define the former for aforementioned reasons. Members of the Far Right and even traditional conservatives criticized the convention for being muddled with liberal talking points and attempting to change it's populist brand to reach wider audiences. The question loomed on if this switch helped or hurt the campaign and shrinking poll numbers may imply that it was not particularly favorable. The campaign needed a change up. It needed to return to its antiestablishment roots that resonated with people again, much like it did in 2016. It needed to go back to crusading against the corruption that plagued the nation, rather than trying to accommodate every voice. Some say the campaign has captured that now.
Long thought to be a spoiler candidate for Trump, Robert Kennedy had attempted to run a democratic platform akin to what his father or uncle may have in their days; one of clean air, healthy food free of mystery pharmaceutical compounds and combating the public-private partnerships of the pharmaceutical companies and the regulatory agencies. In short, Kennedy sought to actually conserve something. to preserve a way of life we all sought to return to, where we didn't need to worry about what was in the food we feed our children or whether we could trust medicine would heal instead of kill.
It would seem after being forced out of the convention and brought before several lawfare tribunals by the party, Kennedy has realized what many Americans have over the last decade; the Democratic platform no longer caters to the ideals of the everyman. During the era of the War of Terror, the Democratic party was seen as the party to end foreign wars, today they fight to fund two of the most egregious in history. In the days of JFK it was the party of union workers and factory men, today it fights to open boarders, devaluing labor and driving down wages for American citizens. What was once seen as the party of environmental protection weaponizes the EPA and has helped obfuscate one of the biggest disasters in the heartland in history. While Kennedy’s move to endorse Trump on Friday felt logical given the circumstances of where the two parties align, it represents a clear paradigm shift as the Republican party has slowly morphed since 2012, some have argued, into a populist movement at the grassroots struggling against the party funders at the top. It has become what it never has before, the last bastion of the working class struggling in it's final gasp against globalism, much to the dismay of the old guard.
On Friday, Kennedy took to the stage to announce that he will be suspending his campaign in several battleground states, including Ohio, where his presence would detract from the candidate that he feels is more likely to address key issues he campaigned on, Donald Trump.
“As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with, it had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big AG, and big money,” Kennedy said. “When it abandoned democracy by canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an independent. The mainstream of American politics and journalism derided my decision.”
Kennedy went on to outline some of the core differences in how he viewed the recent conventions of both parties as well.
“My father and my uncle were always conscious of America’s image abroad because of our nation’s role as the template for democracy, a role model for democratic processes and the leader of the free world,” Kennedy said. “Instead of showing us her substance and character, the DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity for Vice President Harris based on nothing. No policies, no interviews, no debates, only smoke and mirrors and balloons in a highly-produced circus. There, in Chicago, a string of Democratic speakers mentioned Donald Trump 147 times, just on the first day. Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate? In contrast, at the RNC convention, President Biden was mentioned only twice in four days.”
While some may say it is reductionist, Kennedy is stating the current political landscape is separated now not on actual policies or issues but on whether one believes Trump is bad or whether you wish to discuss ideas and try and combat corruption. It is an important paradigm shift to consider that just 20 years ago the image of the republican party among younger audiences was that of warhawks that fought scientific advancement in favor of corporate profits. Today it is the only party where people actually read scientific research papers and wish to defund war efforts that operate as grifts for international schemes.
Discussion currently swirls around where Kennedy might land if Trump wins the election. In one endorsement speech at a recent rally, Trump had stated that he would be appointing Kennedy chair of a committee to declassify all remaining documents related to the assassination of his family members, firing a warning shot across the bow of the often maligned "deep state." Kennedy himself may be additionally interested in a position a secretary of Health and Human services to match the years of work he has done with Children’s Health Defense. It is indeed a brave new world when the heir to the Kennedy dynasty has effectively endorsed a Republican candidate for president on a platform that is more populist and liberal than before. The party of the Bush dynasty has passed. What replaces it is still forming.
