Hi james,
If you’re a reader of this newsletter, odds are that you plan on voting for President Biden, the only candidate who stands any chance of defeating the rising wave of Donald Trump’s MAGA fascism. Unlike the rabid supporters of that would-be potentate, you’re also probably capable of hearing opposing views, weighing them, and then rejecting them if need be without devolving into a frothing red-faced rant. With that willingness to listen in mind, I sat down for a conversation with presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.)
Much has been made of RFK’s so-called spoiler campaign, with the lions share of the media attention focused on his controversial vaccine rhetoric. I confronted him on the topic and the conversation grew contentious, but I also made sure to focus in on some of the crucial topics that often get overlooked in interviews with him.
I asked him directly about the fact that he’s sitting at 8.5% support nationally with no real path to victory, and dug into his call for Biden to sign a “no spoiler” pledge even though the president has more than five times his number of supporters.
Jail Trump for violating his gag order!
RFK is indicating to voters that he’s an alternative to the bipartisan establishment consensus, but at the same time his super PAC has accepted a staggering $25 million from Timothy Mellon — an anti-immigration radical who has also given $25 million to a Trump-affiliated super PAC. If RFK is really such a break from politics as usual, why are big money right-wingers flocking to him?
Since abortion is shaping up to be the defining issue of this election, I had to ask him about his muddied stance. In the past he’s stated that he would sign a national abortion ban, then he claimed that he opposed all restrictions before flipping again to say that he supports some restrictions. If Americans are going to seriously consider voting for him in November, they deserve to know if he shares the extreme Christian Nationalist policies that many of his supporters and donors so vociferously support. When confronted, RFK trotted out some outright falsehoods about late term abortions that I was quick to dismantle.
Given the number of headlines the claim has attracted, I’d have been remiss if I didn’t at least touch on his claim that a parasite devoured parts of his brain. He has said that it inflicted cognitive damage. If that’s the case, doesn’t that damage impair his ability to serve as president?
By the time the interview concluded, we’d touched on all of the major topics and had more than a few dust-ups. So if you’re looking for some real insight into RFK Jr.’s campaign — even if only to help you convince people to vote for Biden instead — I think this interview is worth your time.
Stay focused, stay energized.
Brian
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