Last week, in the wake of their brother’s endorsement of Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s siblings penned a letter calling his actions a betrayal of Kennedy family values. I’d be shocked if a family that seems to have more members than an army battalion had a uniform set of values, but I’ll take their word for it.
What I can say with absolute certainty is that RFK’s endorsement and the actions that surrounded it were a betrayal of the values held by many independents, including significant swaths of voters who previously supported Kennedy.
While political independents often have divergent policy views, the one thing that galvanizes them is a belief that our system of government is broken and corrupt and in desperate need of revival. In polling completed earlier this year by Schoen Cooperman Research, almost 90% of independents said they believed that political leaders were more interested in protecting their power and privilege than in doing what’s right for the American people.
What was so troubling about the RFK Jr. endorsement was how blatantly transactional it was. Public reporting of the endorsement included the former president suggesting that he’d “certainly” consider RFK for a role in his administration if he endorsed Trump. Given Trump’s history of rewarding loyalty versus competence, the statement seemed to constitute an offer letter. One can only imagine what was said in private.
It was more evident that the endorsement was made in the service of Kennedy himself when the former candidate openly whined about Kamala Harris refusing to meet with him. He all but said, “I gave her a chance to make me a better offer, and she declined” – as if shopping his endorsement made the whole situation less mercenary.
Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump drips with the very self-interest that disgusts so many independents. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with independents endorsing partisan candidates. While I’ve never done it myself, I understand others have strongly held beliefs about the remaining choices and express those publicly.
The only strongly held beliefs Kennedy expressed about Trump prior to the endorsement auction that he tried to manufacture sounded deeply negative. According to Kennedy, Trump was a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.” He was critical of the former president’s time in office, suggesting he “torpedoed the Constitution” and “filled his administration with swamp creatures.” And on Kennedy’s signature issue of vaccine skepticism, he suggested in 2018 that many Americans were feeling “enormous betrayal and disappointment” with President Trump.
RFK’s endorsement reinforced the worst beliefs that independents have about politicians; as a result, it likely won’t have much effect on the race. Most people who support third-party and independent candidates narrow their choices to the duopoly’s candidates when the election approaches. These voters likely already know who their second choice is, regardless of RFK’s musings. Gary Johnson’s results in 2016 demonstrate this phenomenon – having received 3.3% of the vote despite polling at almost 5% up until Election Day and almost twice that percentage on Labor Day.
Those who would have otherwise voted for RFK on election day won’t be persuaded by self-interested politicians engaged in transactional politics. They are core independents and are motivated by a desire to reform our system and won’t be coerced into supporting one of the major party candidates.
In June, I wrote that if RFK inspired you, feel free to vote for him without falling prey to the “wasted vote” argument. If he confirmed for you, as he did for me, that he’s part of the problem, not a pathway to a solution, then feel free to discard his endorsement the same way you would the liner of a birdcage.
