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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the White House worried, and rightly so: Boys who shout “The emperor has no clothes” have an impact.
So far, the Bidenites are relying on their media allies to maul RFK Jr., Politico reports.
Problem is, the reason the challenger’s running at 20% in primary polls has less to do with his last name (even Marianne Williamson’s at 8%) than with President Biden’s incredible weakness.
Biden’s record is beyond atrocious, and at 80, he’s showing signs of serious decline. Voters — most definitely including Democrats — know it.
So even someone as flaky as RFK Jr. starts to look appealing.
Per the latest CNN-SRSS survey, the prez gets only 60% support from Dems, a stunningly poor showing for a sitting president.
And 42% of those say they might ultimately go with someone else.
Add to RFK’s 20% support those who say they’d consider backing him, and he soars to 64%.
Again, this is for a candidate full of kooky views: a longtime vaccine hysteric who suggests Big Pharma’s behind the rise in US mass shootings and urges looking at the Ukraine war from Russia’s point of view.
Then again, Pat Buchanan carried his own far-out baggage when he ran against President George H.W. Bush in the 1992 GOP primary — exposing that incumbent’s weaknesses even as he lost, and presaging Bush’s loss in November to Bill Clinton.
Now, per Gallup, just 18% of Americans, half the historical average, are satisfied with the country’s conditions.
CNN finds 41% think Biden’s re-election would be an outright “disaster”; another 26% call it a “setback.”
Partly, it’s Biden’s old-man woes — his gaffes and physical stumbles.
More of it is the record inflation, soaring gas and energy costs and declining real wages.
Plus the border nightmare, botched Afghan bugout and rising racial, social and political division.
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All problems that Biden’s fed, when he hasn’t directly caused them.
Sure, Biden’s allies may take down RFK by harping on his oddest views, but that won’t stop the challenger from flagging Joe’s disasters.
And plenty of Democrats will flock to a guy who vows to seal the border, whatever else he says.
(Heck, tech titans like Jack Dorsey may even buy RFK’s wilder conspiracy theories.)
Biden’s campaign for now will ignore the challenger, lest it boost his stature.
And the party establishment will quash any chance at open primary debates.
But no one can fix Kennedy’s greatest strength — namely that he’s an alternative to a failed president who’s looking like he may not even make it to Election Day 2024.
Back in 2016, we urged Democrats to find an alternative to Hillary Clinton, the worst major-party presidential candidate in living memory (at least).
They didn’t listen, and look what happened.
RFK’s message now, and Democratic voters’, is that the party needs a better candidate than Biden.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you again.
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