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— NAVIGATING THE INSANITY* —
Anybody not so familiar with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must have been surprised that his meandering speech announcing the suspension of his presidential campaign and the endorsement of Donald Trump sounded a lot like the former president.
In fact, viewers would have been justified in saying, “Wait, did Trump get a real tan and does he have a cold?”
See for yourself. You can watch the entire thing here (but be advised that the actual address doesn’t start until 41 minutes into the video for some reason).
There really are a lot of similarities between the two men.
The most obvious one might be the complete detachment from reality.
We know all about Trump’s legendary delusion, but RFK Jr. is not far behind.
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” he told a crowd of what sounded like a half dozen supporters/family members (for what it’s worth, I believe that, in an honest system, this article would win the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography; but that entire thing is rigged).
RFK Jr. also did not end his campaign; he suspended it in 10 key states to make it easier for Trump to win there. He will continue to run in solidly red and blue states.
The reason why is apparent (to someone who lives in a fantasy world): If Trump and Kamala Harris both get 269 votes in the Electoral College, then RFK Jr. believes that he could “conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election.”
If he means “get a job as a White House janitor,” then that’s probably a correct statement. However, if he is talking about becoming president without winning a single Electoral College vote, then that seems somewhat less likely.
It should go without saying that both of them are incredibly strange.
Again, we know all about Trump’s weirdness, but RFK Jr. might actually have him beat, which seems like quite an accomplishment.
He once talked about how a worm ate part of his brain, detailed how he dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park because he thought that would be funny, and tweeted that he would not “take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates.”
In fact, the only conceivable reason why Republicans may want to highlight this endorsement is that RFK Jr. makes Trump seem slightly less weird by comparison.
It should be noted that, while there is a significant overlap in their platforms, they don’t agree on all issues.
For example, while Trump has a high opinion of fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter, RFK Jr. has assured the public that he would not eat humans.
It really is tough to see how this endorsement benefits Trump. RFK Jr.’s plan probably means Trump will lose the popular vote by more, and it is just as likely that the endorsement will hurt the former president with moderates as it will help with Kennedy’s “base” of anti-vaxxers and crypto bros.
Then again, Trump is a fan of anybody who likes him.
All that being said, it would be truly shocking to see the two men campaign together. Shocking, but also absolutely hilarious.
*In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
