RFK Jr. on Neil Cavuto

 

Watching RFK Jr. interviewed by Neil Cavuto, I am impressed. It certainly helps to see the variety of crosses behind him. It makes him look like a serious Catholic. I am also impressed by his white bookshelves, or they eerily remind me of those in my grandfather’s house, back when JFK was president and all was right with the world. I’m tripping on the Kennedy nostalgia. But he also came across as sincere and intelligent.

He starts of course with powerful name recognition, and with the equivalent of a respected brand. I see that, even though I was not a fan of his father back in the day. He has nostalgia on his side. Many, amid the current chaos, dream of a return to something that seems like normalcy and decency. This was the illusory appeal of Joe Biden. Kennedy has that to an exponential degree—back to the Kennedy years! Back to Camelot! Back to a day when honour mattered!

I think his speech impediment is also an advantage. Like Chretien’s facial paralysis or Churchill’s stammer, it suggests sincerity and evokes sympathy. As do his sunken cheeks, as does the martyrdom of his father. We feel he has suffered. We believe he can understand our pain.

His longtime anti-vax campaign also seems to me to help him. He fought for an unpopular cause—this demonstrates that he is a man of principle. It marks him as an anti-politician. People are craving someone they can trust, and they can’t trust politicians any longer—this was Trump’s great appeal. Kennedy reinforces that by his manner, at least in this interview. He does not give the impression that he is guarding his words, or calculating them. He answers quickly and directly. This also shows his intelligence, in stark contrast to Biden or Kamala Harris, and dispels any concern, given his anti-vax beliefs, that he is some crackpot.

His history of opposing vaccines positions him as the ideal spokesman against the Covid vaccine mandates. This ought to be a vital issue, and a devastating one, and his presence in the race will force it to come out.

He is wisely appealing to unity. That is a message many want to hear, given the current atmosphere of near-civil war. It was the illusory promise offered by Obama, that got him into the White House.

He is also stealing a page from Trump and the populists by railing against the corporate-government axis.

He also profits from the Democrats’ weak front bench. Biden is senile; the US economy is in a mess under his presidency. Not to mention general chaos in the culture and the streets. Anybody would look better. But Kamala Harris looks incompetent and bubblebrained. Gavin Newsom has objectively done an awful job in California—he was recalled, and people are leaving the state. San Francisco is a war zone. Pete Buttigieg has been awful as Transportation Secretary. J.B. Pritzker is presiding over Chicago dissolving into chaos. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang, their two most promising candidates last cycle, have left the party.

Unless he is blocked by the party machine, as he is likely to be, I think he has an excellent chance at the nomination.

 If he gets the nomination, I think then he has an excellent chance in a general election.