Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce Monday that he will drop his Democratic bid for president and run as an independent or third-party candidate, adding a new wrinkle to a 2024 race currently heading toward a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy’s campaign has teased the announcement in the days leading up to a Monday afternoon speech in Philadelphia. In a recent video, Kennedy said there is corruption “in the leadership of both political parties” and said he wants to “rewrite the assumptions and change the habits of American politics.”
The video came shortly after Mediaite reported he planned to launch an independent bid.
You’d think that if you’re gonna position yourself as a third party alternative, you’d drop the wild antivaxx shit since the crazy people already are going to vote republican.
It’d be interesting to see who is paying him to run.
Yeah. My eyes got WIDE open about the “function” of third-party candidates in the US after I saw in hindsight (because isn’t hindsight always clearer?) Jill Stein’s role in a prior election. They’re basically there to shave off just enough votes from one of the major parties to tilt things one way or another. Easy for 3rd parties–no matter of they’re crazies OR if they actually have legit policy stances that really should be considered, such as climate issues–to be turned into agents of chaos. People working the USA’s political system from the outside work BOTH sides–the right and the left, pretending to be either one to sow discord as it suits their goals. The more division the better, for them.
I really want various ballot initiatives to succeed in changing how voting is done in the US, so you can safely vote for the candidate you actually want without handing the election to the worst candidate. Voting would be much invigorated if you could vote for someone with pride and enthusiasm instead of, “At least they’re not XYZ” which is what has to happen now working within the rules our system has for us.
Here and there, a few states have implemented better systems with various flavors of ranked choice and such for their state elections, so they’re not stuck in a two-party horror show for local elections at least, but there’s a lot of hard work that has to be done before that gains enough momentum across many states and towns and smaller localities in the US that it might be feasible to change the way voting is done on a federal level.
Yeah if third party candidates were actually serious they would work to get ranked choice voting passed then run
That is exactly what the Forward party is doing. Their top political policy position is promoting ranked choice voting.
I have deep, intense skepticism of anything Andrew Yang touches or endorses
EDIT: Also look at the fucking wikipedia article for the “Forward Party”. It’s literally bankers and Republicans, if I wanted to ruin the country this sounds like a great idea
Okay, I have deep, intense skepticism of any current politician.
No, its not literally bankers and Republicans. All you have to do is look at the Notable member chart to see that. It does have some republicans who have joined which isn’t exactly a surprise since they are 33% of the country. As far as bankers, there was no mention of the word banker in the article so not sure where you’re getting that.
Why are you cursing about an wikipedia article? Is it because you are angry at it?
Why?
And the entities who encourage US 3rd parties as spoilers for the left are not limited to the GOP
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The only third party I give any credence to is the Working Families Party. They’ll run in local races while supporting candidates from other parties when they know they can’t win.
I can certainly get that it feels like most third parties are there to siphon votes from major political parties and sow discord.
Funnily enough their is a third party for that. One of the Forward’s main policy is Ranked Choice Voting.
They plan to start focusing on local and state elections as those positions make the election laws.
Indeed, there is lots of work to be done. You can volunteer with your state’s local group if you think it is important. They have groups organized in 43/50 states.
Not sure if the article is paywalled, but it’s not really interesting who is paying him. What would be interesting is if normal people were supporting him, but only the kooks are looking for RFK Jr to make any waves.
The reason I disagree is that he claims to be a dem but seems to be courting some of the dumber aspects of “centrists.” He doesn’t have shot. He knows that.
So, why is he running? I believe the answer will be found if we follow the money.
I suppose I wasn’t clear. I agree that I think he is being paid just to be a spoiler. The only difference between RFK Jr and Kanye running is that RFK knows he’s being used and reaping huge personal benefits from a renewed interest in his brand.
The money is obviously from nefarious super PACs and mega donors, NOT any kind of grass roots movement of people who think he’s a viable alternative candidate. The article I posted is just one that shows that we already know where his backing is coming from
Archive link: https://archive.ph/WLmcQ
He probably pulls more votes from older voters based on the name recognition of his father, and unfortunately with how closely associated his father was with the Democratic party I’d imagine that pulls votes from Biden. Could be wrong though, maybe he’ll corner the market on crazy street.
You would think, but it’s ok as he’ll divide the ant-science vote.
The danger is if he pulls some D votes because he’s a Kennedy. He’s been working pretty closely together with roger stone and steve bannon if that tells you anything about the messaging he’s been putting out.