this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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In his speech on Friday, Mr. Kennedy implied that Mr. Trump had offered him a role in his second administration, dealing with health care and food and drug policy. “We’re going to reform the entire food system,” he said.

It's worth noting that Kennedy's health care policy is to bring back measles, that he eats roadkill, and had part of his brain eaten by a worm as a result.

Additional context about this campaign

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[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 161 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"Oh fuck I'm spoiling the wrong voters"

[–] MajinBlayze@lemmy.world 97 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

The fact the GOP backed him thinking he'd pull voters from Democrats shows just how out of touch the GOP has gotten

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Well, if you go strictly based off his positions on paper, or as posted on his website, he hits all the "progressive" points that would seem very attractive to a progressive independent or some more left democrats. Its a legit honest mistake to think he might be fairly left, based off when I was researching him a bit.

But every time he opens his mouth in front of a camera it's the most asinine right wing brain worm vomit you've ever heard, and I think they figured that out a little too late.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I mean, apparently he was a pretty good dude and an environmentalist for a long time.

Then around the time he got a worm in his brain, he just went bat shit crazy for some weird reason...

[–] bcgm3@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

I'm imagining Ratatouille, only it's an anthropomorphized worm steering RFK Jr around by chomping on different parts of his brain. I want to say the worm would be voiced by David Cross. It's almost making this bizarre timeline a little easier to process.

[–] Hominine@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Ignore the necrotic, segmented, invertebrate behind the curtain...

[–] MajinBlayze@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe, but every time he speaks it's all conspiracy theory shit: anti-vax, etc.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

Yup, that's the point I made. Put some pretty stuff on paper, but it all gets ugly the second he gets in front of a mic.

[–] chakan2@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Uh...no...he was very pro gun. He was liberal on like one or two issues, but most of his policies were straight up Republican.

I wanted to like the guy as a viable alternative to Biden, but he was hard right on too many issues.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just gonna point out damned near every lefty Redneck ive met is violently pro gun, but they all would happily mutilate someone for improper use of a firearm. The NRA and Republicans aint pro gun if they were they wouldnt throw a fit everytime a minority used one.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

^^^^ this man gets it.
I like firearms. I would qualify as "a redneck".
I also think you should need to go through a minimum 2 day safety, maintenance and storage training course to own one. They are a tool that you must prove you are safely capable of handling, maintaining in safe operation (no exploding barrels), and keeping secure.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

This and also lets not restrict weapons cause scarry. I fear a shotgun far more than an assault rifle in untrained hands, mostly cause it takes an afternoon to learn how to use a shotty while it takes a good bit more to use really any rifle.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I'm a little confused why they wouldn't have him endorse Kamala instead if he was supposed to be a spoiler.

[–] MajinBlayze@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure I follow;

If his goal was to pull voters away from Kamala, why would he endorse her?

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Yeah...you're right it doesn't really make sense. I guess my thought was that he was supposed to be posing as an alternative liberal, but if he's out, that's irrelevant.

[–] Bremmy@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago

They aren't bright people

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

He may or may not know he was a spoiler, right now his most important task is to try and grab a hold of a cabinet position in whoever wins. He knows Kamala isn't stupid enough to give his brain worm any power, but Trump is absolutely corrupt and stupid enough to do so.

[–] GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I have a feeling that it was Trump's idea, as he grew up in the decades when the Kennedy name meant something in politics, especially Democratic politics, so he figured the name would draw Democrat voters, not realizing that the Kennedy name hasn't had any sway in Democrat politics for the last three decades or so, as the party moved on from the Kennedys long ago. Just showing again that Dastardly Don is old and out of touch.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

With Kennedy out of the race, that frees up more of the oligarch money to bolster the Jill Stein and Cornel West campaigns instead.

[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

So can you straighten this up for me? Because it's not clear right now.

Is Cornel West actually running? As in, does he think he's running for office?

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, Cornel West is campaigning as an independent. Here's his website if you want to learn more about his platform.

Based on his stated policies, he'll attract more leftist voters away from the Harris campaign as a spoiler candidate, whereas Kennedy was the "centrist" option who ended up pulling away more non-MAGA Republicans than he did conservative Democrats.

West's calls to disband NATO and end US involvement in Ukraine also makes him a favorable option for Russia.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

West is also not on the ballot in most states:

In point of fact, he's on the ballot in few enough states that he can't achieve more than be a spoiler in Georgia.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

he can’t achieve more than be a spoiler in Georgia.

Yeah, but that alone is a big fucking problem (I say as a Georgian, and especially one who has been trying to raise the alarm about the MAGA sabotage being perpetrated in my state). Having a spoiler candidate on the ballot only makes it even more likely that the MAGAs find some excuse to refuse to certify.

[–] gdog05@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

It doesn't seem to matter. Russia is running on behalf of he and Stein.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

He was running with People's Party, then tried to run with Green Party, and is now running as an independent.