Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday he is abandoning his bid for the Democratic nomination for the White House in 2024.
“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy announced to a crowd of supporters at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. “We declare independence from the cynical elites who betray our hope and who amplify our divisions. And finally, we declare independence from the two political parties.”
His family name is almost synonymous with the Democratic Party, but Kennedy has determined that its primary nomination process was skewed in favor of President Joe Biden. That history, he said, made the decision personally painful for him.
Some members of the Kennedy family released a joint statement in response calling his announcement “deeply saddening” and “perilous for our country.”
I just don’t understand who he thinks is going to vote for him. The number of centrist conspiracy theorists who will vote for a former Democrat has got to be vanishingly small.
There’s a huge number of people out there who are fed up with both parties and see those parties as equally (or near enough) bad. He’s appealing to those who dislike Trump and Biden. Don’t underestimate his ability to play spoiler to one of them.
“Don’t underestimate his ability to play spoiler to one of them.”
I think we know which one he’d play spoiler to. Moderate Republicans know how to hold their nose because they’re supposed to. Democrats don’t have that strong of identity politics. It’s much easier for them to be convinced to not vote Dem.
This is especially true for the swing states that are going to determine who actually wins the presidency.
