I only supported Bobby Kennedy on the basis of his health initiatives. I'd been on the email list for Children's Health Defense for years, so that's really what I knew him from. I never bought into all that Camelot stuff, mainly because I grew up poor & I didn't see any reason to idolize people who happened to have been born rich.
My hope is that he could deal with the incestuous relationship between Big Pharma & the FDA, CDC, & the entire federal "health" bureaucracy.
Exactly, and that’s what he’s positioning himself to do.
He explained all of this very clearly in his concession speech, if that’s what it should be called.
This article was clearly written in bad faith in an attempt to shift some momentum ahead of the election. The answers to all of these “unanswered questions” are spelled out in the speech.
Oh, I'm skeptical of every politician, at this point.
I also know that politicians do strange things in order to gain power, like Kamala shrugging off her previous (very accurate) description of Biden as a racist, & Vance deciding that maybe Trump wasn't so bad, after all. There was also the spectacle of Obama's views on gay marriage "evolving."
One can be pretty damn skeptical, and still make an informed decision. Bottom line is the Dem Party is gone, as is the GOP. This is what we've been waiting for, at least since Perot. Trump is nothing if not flawed. So what? He's got better ppl around him than the sychophantic psychotic on the other ticket...and that fact should sway the election. Then there's 4 yrs of something, followed by something hopefully less volatile and ACTUALLY progressive.
Michael, this was great!!! You helped me understand some things about the Kennedy legacy that had escaped me all these years. I am 73 years old.
I am a longtime independent activist who was engaged by the RFKj campaign by Kurinich from June-Oct. 2023 in Texas. I wrote about it at the Independent Political Report a few months ago after leaving on good terms but couldn't support (I was reviled) by his Israel position. I believe thousands of people, staffers and voters alike, left at that time just after Oct. 7, 2023.
RFK had and has a right to endorse anyone he wants to. That said, your points are all very well taken. The grift of this campaign was ubiquitous, inside and outside.
What is the independent movement to do now? That is an oragnizing question, especially now that independent journalists are paying attention. I think, first and foremost, we need to focus on independent VOTERS themselves, not just put forward new parties or independent candidates.
In essence, a new politic has to arrive but from the lose organization (herding of cats) that independent voters are. Otherwise, we will fall for the great "white hopes," like RFKj, every time.
I hope to hear from your readers in Texas and look forward to your ongoing contribution to the development of independent US politics.
All the best, Linda Curtis, League of Independent Voters of Texas (LIVTX.org), a 501c4 nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
Also, I would even prefer to talk with you Texans. Fill out our contact page (https://www.livtx.org/contact-8) and give us your number and best times to reach you or reach us at 512.213.4511. Thank you.
I recognise the frustration of trying to pry disgusted voters away from the familiar, yet poisoned pill, of voting for the Uniparty. I think a strong argument is that the MSM actively suppresses our voices. Why wouldehe help them by silencing our voices ourselves?
I did not know all this stuff, & am not happy about a lot of it.
I still cannot vote for Kamala. At least with Trump, I have a minuscule hope that things will improve. If Kamala wins, I have no hope that anything will improve.
You could vote, as I did, for one of the anti-genocide, anti-imperialism, pro-justice, pro-worker candidates who actually are running this year, although you might be forgiven for not knowing since the MSM never mentions them.
You could do that, and you would essentially be voting for the candidate that the MSM has been on an unprecedented all out blitz to present as suddenly presidential.
Thank you Michael Tracey for exceptional analysis and reporting on a difficult topic. I was a former "believer" in RFK Jr. after following his Children's Health Defense work. ALL of my friends are followers/believers. The dissonance for me began with his support for the Israel genocide/ethnic cleansing project and, as I came to find, his attacks on the Palistinian victims, in one article referring to them as "whiners". I was taken way far back, after all, his major MISSION in life is to support children - I guess he missed the returning doctors reports about "shredded" Palestinian children and evidence of IDF snipers targeting babies and toddlers with shots to the head and heart.
Then there is the overt and sickening "philandering,". Four public philandering events in the last few months, three of them with CHD women. RFK Jr. is a sex addict not a philanderer. And, he is a pathological liar. I am going to suggest that much of the "dissonance" in his personality can be explained by the fact that he is former heroin addict in recovery, now for many years. And, to his credit, he reports that he attends a 12-Step program for continued recovery, where the goals of "humility" and "rigorous honesty" are foremost, albeit difficult to develop for even the purest of heart. I am 75 years old. I was born between two wars, both of my parents were kids when they entered WW2, and I have lived to see this country find a way to war, war, war throughout most of my life. I am really sick of the constant focus on killing -- and the constant lies that promote the constant killing. This is NOT ALRIGHT. IF I vote, I will likely vote for Jill Stein. Thank God my parents are not alive to see that their losses and suffering as kids in horrific war(s) -- was a complete waste of time, energy and lives.
I was put off by his support of Israel and will be voting for Jill Stein. I don’t consider this a wasted vote if it helps establish a third party in the future. If more people vote in protest, maybe the stranglehold of the two parties might eventually be weakened. Trump and Kamala are living symbols of how far our country has fallen. JFK wasn’t the saint he’s made out to be but he wasn’t vulgar, inarticulate or stupid. One of these shills will be President and we can look forward to more wars, more lies and more excuses why they don’t actually do anything for the people who elected them.
I think you are right about a vote for Jill Stein having the potential to open the way forward to establish a third party! At first, I thought — wasted vote — but as the weeks have passed and all has become ever more dire and scary, I have seen many moving into Jill Stein territory. We can cling to hope!
Thank you — and you too! And, funny, the very first time in my life I requested a mail in ballot — I decided I wanted to “study” the ballot closely so I am going to take my time at the kitchen table with my ballot!
I read that you had criticized RFK Jr a few weeks ago, but I don't have any social media accounts, so I wasn't sure what you had said. Now I understand where you're coming from. I didn't know any of this stuff. I am more upset with the possibility that Trump could expand the war in the Middle East, when I was hoping he might convince Bibi to wind it down. It's hard to know with Trump, because he says a lot of things, just to appear strong to other leaders. I just have a hunch he is less of a war pig than others.
Anyway, great article with tons of info I had never been aware of before.
Michael, your sense of the JFK role in the Bay of Pigs invasion is largely accurate.
A few additional points:
(1) The initial plan for the invasion of Cuba, called operation Pluto, was approved by Eisenhower in March of 1960 and called for the insertion of a small guerrilla force (around 300 Cuban exiles) that would link up local anti-Cuban insurgents and somehow create a revolution.
(2) That plan was then modified to call for a short-air campaign that would supposedly destroy the Cuban Air Force and then be followed by an amphibious landing by a group of U.S.-trained Cuban exiles who would somehow set up a provisional government in the town of Trinidad, Cuba--which would somehow then lead to a mass insurrection against Castro. JFK was supposedly briefed three times on this operation between his election and inauguration day.
(3) JFK's main objection to operation Trinidad was that it was an invasion plan that did not significantly disguise America's role.
(4) The CIA, primarily Assistant Director Richard Bissell, then presented JFK with a new plan called operation Zapata that called for moving the landing spot from Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs and for attacking at night rather than during the day.
Kennedy then approved this operation.
For a wonderful summary of these shenanigans, see John Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato-How States Think (2023). Their footnotes also offer more recent scholarship (material after 1997) on the entire Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Tracey is spreading propaganda, you should go read the “Confessions of Allen Dulles” from the Princeton Library in which he states that he knew the Bay of Pigs would fail, that it was purposely set up to fail. Why? Because according to Dulles’ own words “any action required for success would be authorized rather than permit the enterprise to fail.” In other words, he thought the new inexperienced President Kennedy would surely authorize a full scale overt U.S military intervention against Cuba rather than let the covert action fail. He was wrong, Kennedy didn’t fall for his trap. After the debacle Kennedy forces DCI Allen Dulles, DDP Richard Bissell, and DD/CIA Charles Cabell out of the Agency, and vows to splinter the agency into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. Yes, it’s an accurate quote and it’s a shame Tracey has used the Halpern/Hersh/CIA method of turning the blame on Kennedy.
Kennedy pledged to cut the "defense" budget in half, halt the collusion between corporations and the government agencies that are supposed to oversee them and protect health freedom. This would have put a big dent in the Deep State. Neither party has any interest in doing any of this. Kennedy was shut out of the debates and ignored or ridiculed in the media. He was polling in single digits with no reasonable chance to improve those numbers. He cut a deal with Trump which Kennedy believes will allow him to implement the corporate collusion/health freedom part of his program (I am not so optimistic; Trump made the same noises in 2016 then promptly fell into the arms of Big Pharma). It appears Kennedy calculated that he stood no chance in the general election and took the best deal he thought he could get. It was mainly the Dems and their media allies that obstructed his campaign and the Dems are now the party of Corporate America and they both loathe Kennedy.
The RFKj campaign itself coudn't get out of its own way. It was an internal nightmare. The guy who did the ballot access for Texas was paid $2.7M.
I was their Texas coordinator with deep roots in ballot access. I told them we could run the ballot access drive with his highy dedicated volunteers and a small paid team for $600,000 AND win an independent party line (Texas Independent Party) on the ballot for future elections. Even Ross Perot didn't leave us a party.
Guess which plan the RFKj team, with his approval, chose. Just one example. Sorry to burst more bubbles, but Tracey started this!
Cut it in half? Just half? To anyone with a little historical knowledge that's a bad joke. Kennedy, the Deep State denter, ready to bring military spending down to near same level as Rome in its terminal stage, where the only jobs were in the legion and the elite class was so utterly useless with no skills of their own, they relied on what we call now the "service industry" (i.e the slave class—"service," "servant" being Latinate equivalent of the Greek-derived word "slave" meaning the same thing) and the plunder of foreign countries to keep the economy going.
Such vainglorious and incompetent empire administrators failing to see the causes of the decline, in pursuit of personal power and glory, became the original European medieval dynasties of the early Middle Ages, holding on to whatever tokens of past imperial power and Roman culture they had with them to prove their legitimacy. The Kennedy dynasty is one of many new feudal dynasties of the new technocratic Dark Age we live in; RFK Jr. among the many who have ushered us forth into this terrible era. Never trust a dynast!
Excellent synopsis Ted - it's obvious this writer knew nothing about how RFK Jr. came to be. For the record I am neither Democrat nor Republican and do not vote - I refuse to support and enable the corruption and malfeasance. That being said for the first time in my entire life I truly believed Bobby was the only person capable of possibly saving what little is left of this Country.
Never before had I ever witnessed someone so intelligent and well versed in history. He spent his career suing the Government and winning - there isn't anyone he didn't know in all the alphabet agencies. He named names of those he would terminate. Who knows more about how the game is played and where all the skeletons are buried but the Kennedys?
I truly believe Bobby never had any intention of running for anything until his message began resonating with everyone. It was sheer happenstance. Many of us believed he just enjoyed sharing his plethora of knowledge and educating people.
During Covid he simply explained the pharmaceutical industry and how it had been captured. He did and gave so many interviews seated behind a desk with highly starched denim shirts and his dog in the background. He became a savior to so many of us. He had no qualms (unlike everyone else) exposing Anthony Fauci for the criminal he truly is. He interviewed so many experts and doctors who educated all of us. There was never any ulterior motive.
He really tapped into something - words used to describe his were intelligent, sincere, genuine and honest. What cost him dearly was that it was just a lousy campaign. He began listening to way to many people - had he remained true to himself and continued with what made him so popular and not attempted to appease everyone he may've succeed. Kucinich would've made a stellar VP but it was obvious they had the knives out. No one has ever explained nor mentioned why the Democratic Party moved heaven and earth to destroy him knowing there was no way in hell Biden was ever going to run. Why the hell would you ever run Kama Lama Ding Dong when you had a Kennedy? Notice how that is never ever discussed. Why did they eschew him at all costs?
Bobby could set himself on fire in the middle of Times Square and they still wouldn't give him an ounce of positive attention so attaching himself to Trump was his only last and final option. No one talks about how he stated "you can still vote for me" during his endorsement of Trump. Or the fact he knew how difficult it would be to have his name "removed" from battleground States even though he said he would.
During his Trump endorsement he talked about children's health but then he went out on the campaign trail and talked about processed foods and chem trails but never mentioned Trumps name. During several interviews he responded by saying "When I'm President . . . ." when answering questions about certain issues. This was after he endorsed Trump! But none of this is ever mentioned when people lambaste him for endorsing Trump. All these facts are left out.
No one knows how this will end or if they'll even be an election. But if anything did happen to Trump who do you think the baton would get passed to? Ever since Bobby endorsed Trump he's received fawning attention and is finally being covered by all the major networks - it was a brilliant strategic move. Yes his stance on Israel is truly nauseating to say the least but saying one thing versus actually complying is the way politics is played. Name one candidate who has ever fulfilled campaign promises?
Fascinating. I only peripherally followed the candidacy of RFK jr, and mostly accepted the framing his campaign gave, so it is great to read such a well written and well researched counterpoint.
I think Kennedy might have gone through with his plan to run as an independent alternative to the uniparty (the two cheeks of the same backside), bolstered by his anti-vaccine activism as well as the myths Michael outlines, until the Israeli genocide exploded on the world. Kennedy had much support among younger voters, but they are also significant supporters of Palestine. Kennedy's unrestrained Zionism came to the fore, and the young voters deserted him in droves, ending any dreams of upset glory that he might have had.
> but it should really be emphasized that RFK’s campaign turned out to be based on false pretenses: that he was going to forge some ground-breaking mass Independent movement, only to do the exact opposite
The Kennedy campaign never had any kind of (at least enunciated) plan or policy for broadening subastantive third party or independent participation in elections.
Like many things in politics, the rhetoric is like a "promise truth" (in the sense of a "promise problem" from computer science) -- if we win it will have been true.
If Kennedy hit all the ballots, polled well, and won, he could have laid claim to all of what he had said. In a way. When it was clear the campaign hadnt the steam then the rhetoric is empty. Nearly all of your points don't actually rely on having endorsed Trump for their veracity -- simply dropping out and doing nothing would make them no less true (though it might make spokespersons and leaders of other parties somewhat less emotionally hurt).
The steel man reading is: Kennedy truly believed he had a shot, but success would necessarily rely on aligning most independent and 3rd parties however he could. And if it had worked, and those parties had favors to call in, you would be hearing a lot less whining about failing to comply with bylaws. But since it hasnt, he did what happens so often in politics: use an endorsement to get some position in a potential new administration.
He has policies (on health and environment) that are more important to him than breaking the two party hold. That was always clear to me at least, and i think was the primary draw for most people, which is why you will likely face confused vitriol for your calling it a big grift.
"Like many things in politics, the rhetoric is like a "promise truth" (in the sense of a "promise problem" from computer science) -- if we win it will have been true."
Absolute rubbish. I am a programmer and almost nothing to do with computers is applicable to politics. Promise problems relate to logic and math, i.e to computation; NOT to politics. Human beings are not computers and do not work like computers, nor do complex systems generally; the universe cannot be computed, nor the mind, politics or anything else, and there are excellent papers and books elaborating on this more thoroughly.
This is a primitive cult belief of Silicon Valley types, not applicable to the real world. And anything else you may have had of value to say is severely discredited by this analogy of the technocratic cultists, the true believers in cybernetic government. I advise keeping such cult speak to the inner cult, to your own group at your business, Silicon Valley locale, or Github.
If I were to pick a dazzling metaphor to try to convince people not familiar with any such things (research shows the only people impressed with nonsense math in science are those who don't know any of it) with non-applicable "computer science," how about trinary boolean logic? A statement is either true or false; absent of information to clarify, it is undefined. Kennedy is a big grift, this is known to us based on all the information presented on the article. Ethical subjectivism is epistemological rubbish!
You seem to have not read past "promise problem" - ie the situation where an algorithm will function on the promise class but has no defined properties on instances outside of it. The analogy with statements that are conditionally true, and in which the speaker has an impact on the conditions under which the statement is true, should be clear.
Please do tell how candidates challenging the duopoly should properly proceed from now on.
There is bound to be all kinds of sloppily, uncoordinated, inauthentic, generally disruptive, and indeed grifting campaigns where there is a giant vacuum of trust in the system, until we battle our way out of this. Many will fall into the ditch of history.
I don't pretend to have any grand, comprehensive answer as to how independent candidates should proceed from now on. But if any of them run a campaign on false pretenses, and brazenly bilk their donors/followers, I'll be happy to point it out again.
Michael Tracey, RE: "Independent Candidates" in a SICK SYSTEM. If Candidates aren't using the opportunity to organize locally & seem bent on capturing power from the top-down, we know, they don't get it. The most appropriate livelihood essential services & the roots of world peace are established through individual & collective local relationships. NATIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICE in SECULAR POLITICS from the Bottom-up using the Indigenous First Nation still Sovereign Economic Democracy system, we can arrive at the distributed decentralized system we all need & be stronger for it as a nation & indeed a world. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/9-secular-politics
For 10s of 1000s of years, all humanity's indigenous ancestors, once thrived with the 'Great-good-way-of-kindness', known by different names in every nation on every continent. Worldwide 'indigenous' nations cultivated what the 'Haudenosaunee' (Iroquois 'People-of-the-extended-rafters' aka 'Welcome') refer to as the 'Kaianere'kowa = 'Great-good-way-of-kindness' aka 'Great-Law-of-Peace' aka 'Constitution'. The Great-good-way is based in individual & collective cultural peace. In Central America the Maya refer to Kindness as 'In Lakesh' (I am another you. You are another me.). In the Amazon, Aymara, Jamamadi, Apurina nations refer to Kindness as Maloka = 'Longhouse', Indigenous Celtic-Slavic Europe refer to the 'System of 100s' for their longhouse & other housing economies. In southern Africa, Nguni people refer to 'Ubuntu' meaning 'Human Kindness'. Eastern Europe Serbs & Croatians refer to 'Zadruga' meaning 'economy of friends', India as 'Swadeshi' (below), China's character for 'money' refers to the ancient indigenous 'Bei' or 'Cowrie Shell', Korea as 'Chaebol' & Japan as 'Keiretsu' referring to 'Family Economy'. All these indigenous practices carry the same 3 indigenous-Cultural-Economy practices as below. Peace is established culturally through the Indigenous Circle-of-Life, somewhat related to the Medicine-Wheel in simplifying an inter-disciplinary set of Indigenous factors needed for all of us to become whole again. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/3-indigenous-circle-of-life
'Exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Oligarch (now multi-trillionaire) funded US fake revolution for genocidal control across the once 'indigenous' (L 'self-generating') Turtle-Island continent & other Oligarch commanded & controlled Colonial empires, our concern should be. 1) Honouring & learning from 1st Nation sovereignty. 2) Joining together as families, friends, communities, cities, regions, nations, confederacies, continental & hemispheric councils. Before invasion, genocidal encroachment, Turtle-Island (N. America) held ~110 Nations organized into ~25 Confederacies.
PUTTING HUMAN RELATIONSHIP, EXTENDED-FAMILY & 'Economy' (Greek 'oikos' = 'home' + 'namein' = 'care-&-nurture') back into the centre of our individual planning for a truly resilient sustainable future. Worldwide & on Turtle-Island (North America) all humanity's 'indigenous' ancestors, lived strategically in intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies of scale in the ~100 (50-150) person Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village) for many 10s of 1000s of years on every Continent, in every nation. UNITED WE STAND: TODAY 70% of people live in multihomes with an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 people. Why has this most effective resource efficient relational Complex, been so resilient? Across Tsi Tiohtiake (Montreal Island) are 14,000 Multihomes (eg. Apartment, Townhouse & Village-clusters), living the most energy & resource effective lifestyles, with the strongest extended-family unit interactions, exchanges & meaningful relationships as the core of real 'community' (Latin 'com' = 'together' + 'munus' = 'gift-or-service). Across Turtle-Island (North-America) are some 3 million Multihomes with the same average size today. We make our 'religion' as our everyday act of living, exemplifying love & caring in our everyday lives, where each of us is known & supported. When the stranger or refugee comes, we’re more kind & capable as the united people Multihomes to welcome & economically include.
As well as Multihomes, we also protect our community from possible abuse as well as have the expertise among us to firmly guide & direct, those who may have gone astray, back onto the path of love & participation in the whole. Institutions (of which I've been a part) which spring from Churches don’t have this complementary specialized group capacity. 20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration. Multihome-extended-family contribute trillions of $ of the most individually appropriate goods, services, sharing & caring/year of health-care, food, shelter, clothing, warmth & health as Turtle-Island, N-America's largest essential Economic sector, albeit unrecognized by government, education & institutions. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/1-extending-our-welcome-participatory-multihome-cohousing
Local Multihomes each have Domestic Economies in the Millions of Dollars per year. Multihomes & their neighbourhoods are great launching pads for starting thriving business as most successful families & immigrants know. Circular Economy within these ancient traditional friendships, at price & salary rates chosen by the individual seller, combined with 'Participatory' (L. 'part' = 'share') capital ownership, make us strong communities again. When we are all strong economically from the bottom-up, Oligarchy has no one to parasite. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/2-participatory-accounting
The challenge is to end US taxpayer enslavement to the US military dictatorship, a dictatorship free to ignore elected persons. In Nov. 2010 the Tea Party gave the GOP House a landslide victory of +63 seats which enraged the GOP who spent all their time silencing and getting rid of the people we gave them. In 2011, Trump started speaking to Tea Party groups. Until 1994 the House was controlled by Democrats for 40 straight years and no one complained. The US must be broken up into at least 3 separate countries. It's the only way to separate US taxpayers from the Pentagon.
I really don't care much about these political machinations; or Kennedy's personal life; or the people that wish to tear him down. I don't like political dynasties either. However.
His book, The Real Anthony Fauci, is one of the most important books written this century and qualifies him as a modern day hero.
Where did you stand when they mandated the jab?? Read the book if you really want to be informed rather than simply commenting on politics as usual written by Michael.
TLDR you sure have the conventional wisdom down pat. But RFKJr has something you’ll probably never understand. He actually cares deeply about a topic of interest to many people and has the courage to try to do something about it. All the whining about right wing this and contradiction that doesn’t add up to a thing. When are the very smart and sophisticated people who write for a living going to understand that all possible leaders are flawed human beings and start talking about what really matters, which is what they actually do with the power they have? RFKJr has worked really hard on something that matters to people. It’s no wonder that’s a foreign concept to those who stand on the sidelines and write up the horse race. And there’s no way RFKJr can do more damage than the clowns we already have.
I am sitting here stunned, dumbfounded, and in disbelief. As one of those RFK Jr "sycophants," my entire worldview has just been turned upside down. I also have deep respect for Seymour Hersh, and I've long appreciated your analysis, as well. Now, I don't know what the hell to believe anymore.
I gotta hand it to you, Michael, for being an equal opportunity critic, going after Kackala, Trump, now Kennedy. I hate to ask what you've got on JIll Stein (lol). But seriously, as difficult a pill as this article was to swallow, I very much appreciate the time and effort you put into it, and the courage(?) it took to publish it.
That said, I'm still voting for Bobby, because a) I vowed long ago to never vote Uniparty ever again, and b) to help the Independent party reach the 5% popular vote needed to become an official party. As I see it, that's the only way (short of ranked-choice voting being magically instituted) to break free of the Duopoly's stranglehold.
Sorry to break this to you, but you can't vote for Bobby in most, if not all, states. He removed himself from the ballot. Perhaps he is still on your state ballot? Please clarify. Thanks.
He remained on the ballot in about 40 states to reach the 5% national popular vote needed to make the Independent party official; only withdrawing (or attempting to) in the battleground/swing states.
I donated the max to RFK Jr. just to show he had support from "Republican leaners." If he'd been anti-war it might've been different, but he wasn't even anti-CIA. When he first announced, he said his son had gone to fight in Ukraine and that Mr. Putin was a "war criminal." (I view Mr. Putin as humanity's only hope). Some months later, he replaced Kucinich as his campaign manager with his CIA-alum daughter in law who's written a book singing praises of her ten years in the CIA, "Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA," Roughcut – Deckle Edge, October 15, 2019, by Amaryllis Fox (Author)
Why are you on substack if you can't read? You must really have trouble with books. Maybe go to X, they used to have a 200 character limit or whatever there for people like you.
I read just fine thank you. Perhaps he should write about something people actually care about. And by the way brevity is the soul of wit. He could have summed up that horseshit in three paragraphs. Did you need all of that verbiage for the point to penetrate your tiny brain.
I only supported Bobby Kennedy on the basis of his health initiatives. I'd been on the email list for Children's Health Defense for years, so that's really what I knew him from. I never bought into all that Camelot stuff, mainly because I grew up poor & I didn't see any reason to idolize people who happened to have been born rich.
My hope is that he could deal with the incestuous relationship between Big Pharma & the FDA, CDC, & the entire federal "health" bureaucracy.
Exactly, and that’s what he’s positioning himself to do.
He explained all of this very clearly in his concession speech, if that’s what it should be called.
This article was clearly written in bad faith in an attempt to shift some momentum ahead of the election. The answers to all of these “unanswered questions” are spelled out in the speech.
I am a Michael Tracy lover, not hater, but sometimes he hits me off center. Maybe thats a good thing, maybe we need that instead of an echo chamber.
Or maybe it's because I was born on the SAME DAY as RFKJ, January 17th, 1954, lmao..
I don't blame you for being skeptical of all of those entities. But why no skepticism towards RFK Jr. himself?
https://www.theamericansaga.com/p/parents-with-non-verbal-autistic
Oh, I'm skeptical of every politician, at this point.
I also know that politicians do strange things in order to gain power, like Kamala shrugging off her previous (very accurate) description of Biden as a racist, & Vance deciding that maybe Trump wasn't so bad, after all. There was also the spectacle of Obama's views on gay marriage "evolving."
Interesting article linked. Thanks!
One can be pretty damn skeptical, and still make an informed decision. Bottom line is the Dem Party is gone, as is the GOP. This is what we've been waiting for, at least since Perot. Trump is nothing if not flawed. So what? He's got better ppl around him than the sychophantic psychotic on the other ticket...and that fact should sway the election. Then there's 4 yrs of something, followed by something hopefully less volatile and ACTUALLY progressive.
Michael, this was great!!! You helped me understand some things about the Kennedy legacy that had escaped me all these years. I am 73 years old.
I am a longtime independent activist who was engaged by the RFKj campaign by Kurinich from June-Oct. 2023 in Texas. I wrote about it at the Independent Political Report a few months ago after leaving on good terms but couldn't support (I was reviled) by his Israel position. I believe thousands of people, staffers and voters alike, left at that time just after Oct. 7, 2023.
RFK had and has a right to endorse anyone he wants to. That said, your points are all very well taken. The grift of this campaign was ubiquitous, inside and outside.
What is the independent movement to do now? That is an oragnizing question, especially now that independent journalists are paying attention. I think, first and foremost, we need to focus on independent VOTERS themselves, not just put forward new parties or independent candidates.
In essence, a new politic has to arrive but from the lose organization (herding of cats) that independent voters are. Otherwise, we will fall for the great "white hopes," like RFKj, every time.
I hope to hear from your readers in Texas and look forward to your ongoing contribution to the development of independent US politics.
All the best, Linda Curtis, League of Independent Voters of Texas (LIVTX.org), a 501c4 nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
I like your emphasis on listening to independent voters.
Way to miss the forest for the trees Tracey. Stick to your on the ground reporting. When you go big picture you lose your way.
Hola. On our surveys, not sure why they're not working for you, but you might try again as we may have been able to correct an error.
If not, please send an email to us at contact@livtx.org. (You can also glean what we are doing by going to our news page.)
And, do please send us an email to contact@livtx.org. Thank you for trying. Linda Curtis for LIV
Also, I would even prefer to talk with you Texans. Fill out our contact page (https://www.livtx.org/contact-8) and give us your number and best times to reach you or reach us at 512.213.4511. Thank you.
I recognise the frustration of trying to pry disgusted voters away from the familiar, yet poisoned pill, of voting for the Uniparty. I think a strong argument is that the MSM actively suppresses our voices. Why wouldehe help them by silencing our voices ourselves?
I did not know all this stuff, & am not happy about a lot of it.
I still cannot vote for Kamala. At least with Trump, I have a minuscule hope that things will improve. If Kamala wins, I have no hope that anything will improve.
You could vote, as I did, for one of the anti-genocide, anti-imperialism, pro-justice, pro-worker candidates who actually are running this year, although you might be forgiven for not knowing since the MSM never mentions them.
You could do that, and you would essentially be voting for the candidate that the MSM has been on an unprecedented all out blitz to present as suddenly presidential.
Thank you Michael Tracey for exceptional analysis and reporting on a difficult topic. I was a former "believer" in RFK Jr. after following his Children's Health Defense work. ALL of my friends are followers/believers. The dissonance for me began with his support for the Israel genocide/ethnic cleansing project and, as I came to find, his attacks on the Palistinian victims, in one article referring to them as "whiners". I was taken way far back, after all, his major MISSION in life is to support children - I guess he missed the returning doctors reports about "shredded" Palestinian children and evidence of IDF snipers targeting babies and toddlers with shots to the head and heart.
Then there is the overt and sickening "philandering,". Four public philandering events in the last few months, three of them with CHD women. RFK Jr. is a sex addict not a philanderer. And, he is a pathological liar. I am going to suggest that much of the "dissonance" in his personality can be explained by the fact that he is former heroin addict in recovery, now for many years. And, to his credit, he reports that he attends a 12-Step program for continued recovery, where the goals of "humility" and "rigorous honesty" are foremost, albeit difficult to develop for even the purest of heart. I am 75 years old. I was born between two wars, both of my parents were kids when they entered WW2, and I have lived to see this country find a way to war, war, war throughout most of my life. I am really sick of the constant focus on killing -- and the constant lies that promote the constant killing. This is NOT ALRIGHT. IF I vote, I will likely vote for Jill Stein. Thank God my parents are not alive to see that their losses and suffering as kids in horrific war(s) -- was a complete waste of time, energy and lives.
I was put off by his support of Israel and will be voting for Jill Stein. I don’t consider this a wasted vote if it helps establish a third party in the future. If more people vote in protest, maybe the stranglehold of the two parties might eventually be weakened. Trump and Kamala are living symbols of how far our country has fallen. JFK wasn’t the saint he’s made out to be but he wasn’t vulgar, inarticulate or stupid. One of these shills will be President and we can look forward to more wars, more lies and more excuses why they don’t actually do anything for the people who elected them.
I think you are right about a vote for Jill Stein having the potential to open the way forward to establish a third party! At first, I thought — wasted vote — but as the weeks have passed and all has become ever more dire and scary, I have seen many moving into Jill Stein territory. We can cling to hope!
Good for you! I will be 80 next year, and I mailed in my ballot for Dr. Jill Stein last week.
Thank you — and you too! And, funny, the very first time in my life I requested a mail in ballot — I decided I wanted to “study” the ballot closely so I am going to take my time at the kitchen table with my ballot!
I read that you had criticized RFK Jr a few weeks ago, but I don't have any social media accounts, so I wasn't sure what you had said. Now I understand where you're coming from. I didn't know any of this stuff. I am more upset with the possibility that Trump could expand the war in the Middle East, when I was hoping he might convince Bibi to wind it down. It's hard to know with Trump, because he says a lot of things, just to appear strong to other leaders. I just have a hunch he is less of a war pig than others.
Anyway, great article with tons of info I had never been aware of before.
Michael, your sense of the JFK role in the Bay of Pigs invasion is largely accurate.
A few additional points:
(1) The initial plan for the invasion of Cuba, called operation Pluto, was approved by Eisenhower in March of 1960 and called for the insertion of a small guerrilla force (around 300 Cuban exiles) that would link up local anti-Cuban insurgents and somehow create a revolution.
(2) That plan was then modified to call for a short-air campaign that would supposedly destroy the Cuban Air Force and then be followed by an amphibious landing by a group of U.S.-trained Cuban exiles who would somehow set up a provisional government in the town of Trinidad, Cuba--which would somehow then lead to a mass insurrection against Castro. JFK was supposedly briefed three times on this operation between his election and inauguration day.
(3) JFK's main objection to operation Trinidad was that it was an invasion plan that did not significantly disguise America's role.
(4) The CIA, primarily Assistant Director Richard Bissell, then presented JFK with a new plan called operation Zapata that called for moving the landing spot from Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs and for attacking at night rather than during the day.
Kennedy then approved this operation.
For a wonderful summary of these shenanigans, see John Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato-How States Think (2023). Their footnotes also offer more recent scholarship (material after 1997) on the entire Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Tracey is spreading propaganda, you should go read the “Confessions of Allen Dulles” from the Princeton Library in which he states that he knew the Bay of Pigs would fail, that it was purposely set up to fail. Why? Because according to Dulles’ own words “any action required for success would be authorized rather than permit the enterprise to fail.” In other words, he thought the new inexperienced President Kennedy would surely authorize a full scale overt U.S military intervention against Cuba rather than let the covert action fail. He was wrong, Kennedy didn’t fall for his trap. After the debacle Kennedy forces DCI Allen Dulles, DDP Richard Bissell, and DD/CIA Charles Cabell out of the Agency, and vows to splinter the agency into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. Yes, it’s an accurate quote and it’s a shame Tracey has used the Halpern/Hersh/CIA method of turning the blame on Kennedy.
Kennedy pledged to cut the "defense" budget in half, halt the collusion between corporations and the government agencies that are supposed to oversee them and protect health freedom. This would have put a big dent in the Deep State. Neither party has any interest in doing any of this. Kennedy was shut out of the debates and ignored or ridiculed in the media. He was polling in single digits with no reasonable chance to improve those numbers. He cut a deal with Trump which Kennedy believes will allow him to implement the corporate collusion/health freedom part of his program (I am not so optimistic; Trump made the same noises in 2016 then promptly fell into the arms of Big Pharma). It appears Kennedy calculated that he stood no chance in the general election and took the best deal he thought he could get. It was mainly the Dems and their media allies that obstructed his campaign and the Dems are now the party of Corporate America and they both loathe Kennedy.
The RFKj campaign itself coudn't get out of its own way. It was an internal nightmare. The guy who did the ballot access for Texas was paid $2.7M.
I was their Texas coordinator with deep roots in ballot access. I told them we could run the ballot access drive with his highy dedicated volunteers and a small paid team for $600,000 AND win an independent party line (Texas Independent Party) on the ballot for future elections. Even Ross Perot didn't leave us a party.
Guess which plan the RFKj team, with his approval, chose. Just one example. Sorry to burst more bubbles, but Tracey started this!
$2.7M?!
Wow!
Great post!
Cut it in half? Just half? To anyone with a little historical knowledge that's a bad joke. Kennedy, the Deep State denter, ready to bring military spending down to near same level as Rome in its terminal stage, where the only jobs were in the legion and the elite class was so utterly useless with no skills of their own, they relied on what we call now the "service industry" (i.e the slave class—"service," "servant" being Latinate equivalent of the Greek-derived word "slave" meaning the same thing) and the plunder of foreign countries to keep the economy going.
Such vainglorious and incompetent empire administrators failing to see the causes of the decline, in pursuit of personal power and glory, became the original European medieval dynasties of the early Middle Ages, holding on to whatever tokens of past imperial power and Roman culture they had with them to prove their legitimacy. The Kennedy dynasty is one of many new feudal dynasties of the new technocratic Dark Age we live in; RFK Jr. among the many who have ushered us forth into this terrible era. Never trust a dynast!
Excellent synopsis Ted - it's obvious this writer knew nothing about how RFK Jr. came to be. For the record I am neither Democrat nor Republican and do not vote - I refuse to support and enable the corruption and malfeasance. That being said for the first time in my entire life I truly believed Bobby was the only person capable of possibly saving what little is left of this Country.
Never before had I ever witnessed someone so intelligent and well versed in history. He spent his career suing the Government and winning - there isn't anyone he didn't know in all the alphabet agencies. He named names of those he would terminate. Who knows more about how the game is played and where all the skeletons are buried but the Kennedys?
I truly believe Bobby never had any intention of running for anything until his message began resonating with everyone. It was sheer happenstance. Many of us believed he just enjoyed sharing his plethora of knowledge and educating people.
During Covid he simply explained the pharmaceutical industry and how it had been captured. He did and gave so many interviews seated behind a desk with highly starched denim shirts and his dog in the background. He became a savior to so many of us. He had no qualms (unlike everyone else) exposing Anthony Fauci for the criminal he truly is. He interviewed so many experts and doctors who educated all of us. There was never any ulterior motive.
He really tapped into something - words used to describe his were intelligent, sincere, genuine and honest. What cost him dearly was that it was just a lousy campaign. He began listening to way to many people - had he remained true to himself and continued with what made him so popular and not attempted to appease everyone he may've succeed. Kucinich would've made a stellar VP but it was obvious they had the knives out. No one has ever explained nor mentioned why the Democratic Party moved heaven and earth to destroy him knowing there was no way in hell Biden was ever going to run. Why the hell would you ever run Kama Lama Ding Dong when you had a Kennedy? Notice how that is never ever discussed. Why did they eschew him at all costs?
Bobby could set himself on fire in the middle of Times Square and they still wouldn't give him an ounce of positive attention so attaching himself to Trump was his only last and final option. No one talks about how he stated "you can still vote for me" during his endorsement of Trump. Or the fact he knew how difficult it would be to have his name "removed" from battleground States even though he said he would.
During his Trump endorsement he talked about children's health but then he went out on the campaign trail and talked about processed foods and chem trails but never mentioned Trumps name. During several interviews he responded by saying "When I'm President . . . ." when answering questions about certain issues. This was after he endorsed Trump! But none of this is ever mentioned when people lambaste him for endorsing Trump. All these facts are left out.
No one knows how this will end or if they'll even be an election. But if anything did happen to Trump who do you think the baton would get passed to? Ever since Bobby endorsed Trump he's received fawning attention and is finally being covered by all the major networks - it was a brilliant strategic move. Yes his stance on Israel is truly nauseating to say the least but saying one thing versus actually complying is the way politics is played. Name one candidate who has ever fulfilled campaign promises?
It's Trump or Harris and Harris is the candidate of the warmongers, censors, and health fascists. RFK saw this and had to endorse Trump.
Fascinating. I only peripherally followed the candidacy of RFK jr, and mostly accepted the framing his campaign gave, so it is great to read such a well written and well researched counterpoint.
I think Kennedy might have gone through with his plan to run as an independent alternative to the uniparty (the two cheeks of the same backside), bolstered by his anti-vaccine activism as well as the myths Michael outlines, until the Israeli genocide exploded on the world. Kennedy had much support among younger voters, but they are also significant supporters of Palestine. Kennedy's unrestrained Zionism came to the fore, and the young voters deserted him in droves, ending any dreams of upset glory that he might have had.
> but it should really be emphasized that RFK’s campaign turned out to be based on false pretenses: that he was going to forge some ground-breaking mass Independent movement, only to do the exact opposite
The Kennedy campaign never had any kind of (at least enunciated) plan or policy for broadening subastantive third party or independent participation in elections.
Like many things in politics, the rhetoric is like a "promise truth" (in the sense of a "promise problem" from computer science) -- if we win it will have been true.
If Kennedy hit all the ballots, polled well, and won, he could have laid claim to all of what he had said. In a way. When it was clear the campaign hadnt the steam then the rhetoric is empty. Nearly all of your points don't actually rely on having endorsed Trump for their veracity -- simply dropping out and doing nothing would make them no less true (though it might make spokespersons and leaders of other parties somewhat less emotionally hurt).
The steel man reading is: Kennedy truly believed he had a shot, but success would necessarily rely on aligning most independent and 3rd parties however he could. And if it had worked, and those parties had favors to call in, you would be hearing a lot less whining about failing to comply with bylaws. But since it hasnt, he did what happens so often in politics: use an endorsement to get some position in a potential new administration.
He has policies (on health and environment) that are more important to him than breaking the two party hold. That was always clear to me at least, and i think was the primary draw for most people, which is why you will likely face confused vitriol for your calling it a big grift.
"Like many things in politics, the rhetoric is like a "promise truth" (in the sense of a "promise problem" from computer science) -- if we win it will have been true."
Absolute rubbish. I am a programmer and almost nothing to do with computers is applicable to politics. Promise problems relate to logic and math, i.e to computation; NOT to politics. Human beings are not computers and do not work like computers, nor do complex systems generally; the universe cannot be computed, nor the mind, politics or anything else, and there are excellent papers and books elaborating on this more thoroughly.
This is a primitive cult belief of Silicon Valley types, not applicable to the real world. And anything else you may have had of value to say is severely discredited by this analogy of the technocratic cultists, the true believers in cybernetic government. I advise keeping such cult speak to the inner cult, to your own group at your business, Silicon Valley locale, or Github.
If I were to pick a dazzling metaphor to try to convince people not familiar with any such things (research shows the only people impressed with nonsense math in science are those who don't know any of it) with non-applicable "computer science," how about trinary boolean logic? A statement is either true or false; absent of information to clarify, it is undefined. Kennedy is a big grift, this is known to us based on all the information presented on the article. Ethical subjectivism is epistemological rubbish!
You seem to have not read past "promise problem" - ie the situation where an algorithm will function on the promise class but has no defined properties on instances outside of it. The analogy with statements that are conditionally true, and in which the speaker has an impact on the conditions under which the statement is true, should be clear.
"A statement is either true or false."
Counterexample: "tomorrow will be a nice day."
Please do tell how candidates challenging the duopoly should properly proceed from now on.
There is bound to be all kinds of sloppily, uncoordinated, inauthentic, generally disruptive, and indeed grifting campaigns where there is a giant vacuum of trust in the system, until we battle our way out of this. Many will fall into the ditch of history.
I don't pretend to have any grand, comprehensive answer as to how independent candidates should proceed from now on. But if any of them run a campaign on false pretenses, and brazenly bilk their donors/followers, I'll be happy to point it out again.
Michael Tracey, RE: "Independent Candidates" in a SICK SYSTEM. If Candidates aren't using the opportunity to organize locally & seem bent on capturing power from the top-down, we know, they don't get it. The most appropriate livelihood essential services & the roots of world peace are established through individual & collective local relationships. NATIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICE in SECULAR POLITICS from the Bottom-up using the Indigenous First Nation still Sovereign Economic Democracy system, we can arrive at the distributed decentralized system we all need & be stronger for it as a nation & indeed a world. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/9-secular-politics
For 10s of 1000s of years, all humanity's indigenous ancestors, once thrived with the 'Great-good-way-of-kindness', known by different names in every nation on every continent. Worldwide 'indigenous' nations cultivated what the 'Haudenosaunee' (Iroquois 'People-of-the-extended-rafters' aka 'Welcome') refer to as the 'Kaianere'kowa = 'Great-good-way-of-kindness' aka 'Great-Law-of-Peace' aka 'Constitution'. The Great-good-way is based in individual & collective cultural peace. In Central America the Maya refer to Kindness as 'In Lakesh' (I am another you. You are another me.). In the Amazon, Aymara, Jamamadi, Apurina nations refer to Kindness as Maloka = 'Longhouse', Indigenous Celtic-Slavic Europe refer to the 'System of 100s' for their longhouse & other housing economies. In southern Africa, Nguni people refer to 'Ubuntu' meaning 'Human Kindness'. Eastern Europe Serbs & Croatians refer to 'Zadruga' meaning 'economy of friends', India as 'Swadeshi' (below), China's character for 'money' refers to the ancient indigenous 'Bei' or 'Cowrie Shell', Korea as 'Chaebol' & Japan as 'Keiretsu' referring to 'Family Economy'. All these indigenous practices carry the same 3 indigenous-Cultural-Economy practices as below. Peace is established culturally through the Indigenous Circle-of-Life, somewhat related to the Medicine-Wheel in simplifying an inter-disciplinary set of Indigenous factors needed for all of us to become whole again. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/3-indigenous-circle-of-life
'Exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Oligarch (now multi-trillionaire) funded US fake revolution for genocidal control across the once 'indigenous' (L 'self-generating') Turtle-Island continent & other Oligarch commanded & controlled Colonial empires, our concern should be. 1) Honouring & learning from 1st Nation sovereignty. 2) Joining together as families, friends, communities, cities, regions, nations, confederacies, continental & hemispheric councils. Before invasion, genocidal encroachment, Turtle-Island (N. America) held ~110 Nations organized into ~25 Confederacies.
PUTTING HUMAN RELATIONSHIP, EXTENDED-FAMILY & 'Economy' (Greek 'oikos' = 'home' + 'namein' = 'care-&-nurture') back into the centre of our individual planning for a truly resilient sustainable future. Worldwide & on Turtle-Island (North America) all humanity's 'indigenous' ancestors, lived strategically in intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies of scale in the ~100 (50-150) person Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village) for many 10s of 1000s of years on every Continent, in every nation. UNITED WE STAND: TODAY 70% of people live in multihomes with an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 people. Why has this most effective resource efficient relational Complex, been so resilient? Across Tsi Tiohtiake (Montreal Island) are 14,000 Multihomes (eg. Apartment, Townhouse & Village-clusters), living the most energy & resource effective lifestyles, with the strongest extended-family unit interactions, exchanges & meaningful relationships as the core of real 'community' (Latin 'com' = 'together' + 'munus' = 'gift-or-service). Across Turtle-Island (North-America) are some 3 million Multihomes with the same average size today. We make our 'religion' as our everyday act of living, exemplifying love & caring in our everyday lives, where each of us is known & supported. When the stranger or refugee comes, we’re more kind & capable as the united people Multihomes to welcome & economically include.
As well as Multihomes, we also protect our community from possible abuse as well as have the expertise among us to firmly guide & direct, those who may have gone astray, back onto the path of love & participation in the whole. Institutions (of which I've been a part) which spring from Churches don’t have this complementary specialized group capacity. 20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration. Multihome-extended-family contribute trillions of $ of the most individually appropriate goods, services, sharing & caring/year of health-care, food, shelter, clothing, warmth & health as Turtle-Island, N-America's largest essential Economic sector, albeit unrecognized by government, education & institutions. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/1-extending-our-welcome-participatory-multihome-cohousing
DO-WE-KNOW-WHO-WE-ARE-? (Some tools for making community real.) http://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/9-do-we-know-who-we-are
web-based Community-Circular-Economy software:
A) CATALOGUE intake form for featuring individual & business Talents, Goods, Services & Dreams, where the seller choses her or his market & rates. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/7-membership
B) MAP local proximal collaborative relations for complementary economic concertation. Baseline mapping of 105 Mohawk, Wendat & Algonquian Placenames in the Tiohtiake (greater Montreal archipelago) region https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/5-tiohtiake-mohawk-placenames
C) ACCOUNT for collective contributions, buying, selling & co-investment. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy
D) COMMUNICATE such as formally through COUNCIL PROCESS for creating Constructive Agreements & for Conflict Resolution. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
Local Multihomes each have Domestic Economies in the Millions of Dollars per year. Multihomes & their neighbourhoods are great launching pads for starting thriving business as most successful families & immigrants know. Circular Economy within these ancient traditional friendships, at price & salary rates chosen by the individual seller, combined with 'Participatory' (L. 'part' = 'share') capital ownership, make us strong communities again. When we are all strong economically from the bottom-up, Oligarchy has no one to parasite. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/2-participatory-accounting
"Please do tell how candidates challenging the duopoly should properly proceed from now on."
Without guile, deception, propaganda, and fraud. Easy.
The challenge is to end US taxpayer enslavement to the US military dictatorship, a dictatorship free to ignore elected persons. In Nov. 2010 the Tea Party gave the GOP House a landslide victory of +63 seats which enraged the GOP who spent all their time silencing and getting rid of the people we gave them. In 2011, Trump started speaking to Tea Party groups. Until 1994 the House was controlled by Democrats for 40 straight years and no one complained. The US must be broken up into at least 3 separate countries. It's the only way to separate US taxpayers from the Pentagon.
Certainly public funding, and only public funding, of all elections would be a good start.
Kind of ignored the rest of the article.
I really don't care much about these political machinations; or Kennedy's personal life; or the people that wish to tear him down. I don't like political dynasties either. However.
His book, The Real Anthony Fauci, is one of the most important books written this century and qualifies him as a modern day hero.
Where did you stand when they mandated the jab?? Read the book if you really want to be informed rather than simply commenting on politics as usual written by Michael.
I agree that is an excellent book, and a real eye-opener in terms of Fauci/NIAID's insidious role in the AIDS epidemic.
The medical freedom community supports RFK Jr. for his activism. In retrospect he should have stayed out of politics.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wins historic $290 million case against giant Monsanto and Roundup weed-killer.
Yeah, nothing of note in his record. GTFOH.
And many more! He's been phenomenal in his litigation protecting both the environment and people's (especially children's) health.
TLDR you sure have the conventional wisdom down pat. But RFKJr has something you’ll probably never understand. He actually cares deeply about a topic of interest to many people and has the courage to try to do something about it. All the whining about right wing this and contradiction that doesn’t add up to a thing. When are the very smart and sophisticated people who write for a living going to understand that all possible leaders are flawed human beings and start talking about what really matters, which is what they actually do with the power they have? RFKJr has worked really hard on something that matters to people. It’s no wonder that’s a foreign concept to those who stand on the sidelines and write up the horse race. And there’s no way RFKJr can do more damage than the clowns we already have.
I am sitting here stunned, dumbfounded, and in disbelief. As one of those RFK Jr "sycophants," my entire worldview has just been turned upside down. I also have deep respect for Seymour Hersh, and I've long appreciated your analysis, as well. Now, I don't know what the hell to believe anymore.
I gotta hand it to you, Michael, for being an equal opportunity critic, going after Kackala, Trump, now Kennedy. I hate to ask what you've got on JIll Stein (lol). But seriously, as difficult a pill as this article was to swallow, I very much appreciate the time and effort you put into it, and the courage(?) it took to publish it.
That said, I'm still voting for Bobby, because a) I vowed long ago to never vote Uniparty ever again, and b) to help the Independent party reach the 5% popular vote needed to become an official party. As I see it, that's the only way (short of ranked-choice voting being magically instituted) to break free of the Duopoly's stranglehold.
Sorry to break this to you, but you can't vote for Bobby in most, if not all, states. He removed himself from the ballot. Perhaps he is still on your state ballot? Please clarify. Thanks.
He remained on the ballot in about 40 states to reach the 5% national popular vote needed to make the Independent party official; only withdrawing (or attempting to) in the battleground/swing states.
I donated the max to RFK Jr. just to show he had support from "Republican leaners." If he'd been anti-war it might've been different, but he wasn't even anti-CIA. When he first announced, he said his son had gone to fight in Ukraine and that Mr. Putin was a "war criminal." (I view Mr. Putin as humanity's only hope). Some months later, he replaced Kucinich as his campaign manager with his CIA-alum daughter in law who's written a book singing praises of her ten years in the CIA, "Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA," Roughcut – Deckle Edge, October 15, 2019, by Amaryllis Fox (Author)
Who gives a fuck. This was not only stupid but too long to read. If he brings one additional vote to Trump that is all that matters. Fuck the whiners.
Why are you on substack if you can't read? You must really have trouble with books. Maybe go to X, they used to have a 200 character limit or whatever there for people like you.
I read just fine thank you. Perhaps he should write about something people actually care about. And by the way brevity is the soul of wit. He could have summed up that horseshit in three paragraphs. Did you need all of that verbiage for the point to penetrate your tiny brain.
Too long to read???