Trump learns the truth about RFK Jr. the hard way

[marmar]

Trump learns the truth about RFK Jr. the hard way
Robert Kennedy Jr.'s campaign is backfiring on MAGA

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED MAY 20, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) For many months former president Donald Trump's henchmen pushed the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as an agent of chaos and a boon to Trump's latest bid for the presidency. Salon's Amanda Marcotte presciently called out their strategy in a piece last May titled "Of course Steve Bannon and Alex Jones love RFK Jr. — he's a great weapon for their war on reality." At that time Kennedy was running in the Democratic primary and it was easy to dismiss the right-wing "support" from the likes of Bannon and Jones as well as from former Trump admirer and QANON adherent Michael Flynn, Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk and Trump henchman Roger Stone as partisan mischief. But it was more than that.

....(snip)....

When Kennedy dropped out of the Democratic primary to run as an independent, many political pundits assumed that it was yet another disaster for the Biden campaign. Kennedy had been garnering around 15 to 20 percent in the primary polls and the glittering Kennedy name was considered a massive draw among Democratic voters. If he could hold that 15 percent in a general election, Trump could win. So maybe that bizarre Trump-Kennedy ticket wasn't going to happen but Bannon looked like a hero in that moment for drawing Kennedy into the race anyway.

But then a funny thing happened. Right after he announced his independent bid, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist conducted a poll that found Biden beating Trump by 49 to 46%, but when Kennedy entered the mix, Biden's lead over Trump jumped to 7 points (Biden lost 5 points, but Trump lost 10). It turns out that the "common sense guy" who pushes a raft of conspiracy theories is more appealing to the right than the left. Who could have guessed?

....(snip)....

That polling has not changed in the intervening months. A recent NBC poll showed that Trump leads Biden by two points but with Kennedy in the race, Biden leads by the same number. Trump's favorite pollster, John McLaughlin, showed an even more alarming result among Independents. In the head-to-head, they preferred Biden by 4 points. But with Kennedy on the ballot, it's Biden 29 percent, Kennedy 23 percent and Trump at 22 percent. All of this explains why Donald Trump has suddenly gone on the offensive against Kennedy in a big way. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/05/20/learns-the-truth-about-rfk-jr-the-hard-way/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. "A true anit-vaxxer" appeals to the Q-Anon Right? Who could guess?

[Sky Jewels]

3. He's also a Putin booster and parrots the bullshit Russian propaganda about Ukraine.

He is despicable.

[Lovie777]

2. Interesting isn't it.......................................

Sooooooooooooo, if we are to believe this, then the polling system is completely off.

[tanyev]

4. Blowback.