When I woke up on Sunday, I planned to write my weekly Spy column about the importance of Democrats not becoming overconfident. After the Democratic Convention, too many friends had commented that they were feeling optimistic. One told me “The election is now Harris’ to lose.”
I shook my head when I heard these comments but, on reflection, I agreed, albeit for different reasons. As a long-term victim of TDS, I see Trump self-destructing. I see Trump’s inability to stay on scripts his advisors prepare for him. I see Trump’s physical decline and agree that, since Biden’s departure from the race, Trump is the man who is too old to run for president. I find myself thinking that “The election is Harris’ to lose.”
After reading the morning paper, I came across an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, that brought me back to reality. The Hill reports that the respected pollster Frank Luntz believes that the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. could win Trump the presidency. The Hill quotes Luntz:
“It’s probably worth about 1 percent for Trump and that 1 percent could be everything if it’s in the swing states. In the end, the reason why Kennedy was drawing 10, 12, even as high as 14 percent is because he was taking votes away from Biden. Joe Biden’s gone. Kamala Harris has replaced him, and [Kennedy’s] vote collapsed down to about 4 or 5 percent and what’s left is a Trump vote.”
Luntz continued:
“Some of them [the Kennedy supporters] are simply not going to participate in November, roughly two to one, the ones who are remaining will vote for Trump over Harris, and that’s worth a single percent, and a single percent can make the difference in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.”
Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. You may have just dropped a dead baby cub on America’s future, not that you care. You wanted a job in the next administration, and when Harris shrugged you off, you turned to Donald Trump. That stinks.
A few decades ago, I attended a crab feast on the day before a wedding. The hosts bought an abundance of crabs. (They were much cheaper than now.) After the feast, a full bushel of crabs remained. A member of the wedding party asked the host whether he could have the left-over crabs. The host graciously said yes.
The wedding party member had driven a brand-new BMW 7 series sedan to the party. He popped the trunk open, put the crabs in, still in the basket and with no ice. He then returned to the party. Several martinis later, he drove back to his hotel.
The next afternoon, after a very late breakfast, the BMW driver went down to his car. When he opened the door, an awful stench greeted him.
You can guess the rest of the story, but the BMW never recovered. The guest got another one less than a month later and, from that point forward, I am told, he never put crabs in a car trunk again.
The stench of the rotting crabs is what we smell from the bizarre RFK Jr. presidential bid. Nothing about it is good. Even his status as “a respected environmental lawyer and champion” wasn’t enough to justify running against an incumbent Democratic president.
I wish I could have predicted that Kennedy would end up snuggling with Trump, but that vision was too nasty for me (admittedly a low bar).
Unfortunately for America, dismissing Kennedy for the bizarre sideshow that it was and is will not help defeat Trump. Luntz is probably right about Kennedy’s endorsement helping Trump (although I have difficulty imagining a Democrat who supported Kennedy because “Biden is too old” following Junior into the Trump camp).
For more than a year, it has been obvious that the 2024 election would feature a string of surprises. There will be more. Maybe Trump will drop out with Kennedy replacing him as the head of MAGA. I can picture RFK Jr. chanting “drill, baby, drill,” vowing to close the border and deporting millions of undocumented migrants and spouting his own hateful rhetoric against his opponents.
I do not want Mr. Kennedy anywhere near any government agency. If you need another reason to oppose Trump, Trump just gave you one by promising RFK Jr. a job.
If you are an RFK Jr. supporter and smell the same stench I do, it is time to walk away and think about voting for the future–for the Democrats.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant. He writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects.
Mickey Terrone says
Hello John. Thanks for that reporting and commentary. The Kennedy family’s willingness sadly to distance themselves and condemn Robert Kennedy Jr’s campaign is a strong enough signal for any Democrat to vote against him or his “partner”, Donald Trump.
I think you’re right about the election being close but when and if Trump loses, the most severe test of our American democratic republic will follow as Republican representatives in red states conspire to block election certifications and claim fraud (which I believe they themselves are the most likely to perpetrate). Their goal is to create doubt and invalidate the election results where Trump lost – regardless of whether or not down ballot Republicans won on those same ballots and regardless of any evidence.
Now, with the heavy incentive of avoiding trial and likely imprisonment, Trump has nothing to lose in fomenting a revolution against the US Constitution and the majority of the American people. Such a refusal to accept the verdict of the people should have set off loud alarm bells among patriotic Republicans. All he needed was to be nominated to set the revolution in motion. He doesn’t really care if he wins the electoral college or popular vote. America should be preparing for Trump’s Last Stand in November/December of 2024.
Perhaps the most grevious aspect of Trump’s sleazy enterprise is that so many rank and file Republicans support it (and him) even after he has acknowledged he is unwilling to accept the verdict of the American people and the electoral college, which ironically got him elected in 2016 despite losing the popular vote by 2.9 million votes to Hillary Clinton. They are, in effect, his accomplices, either by their agreement with this scheme or by just playing dumb and not acknowledging they have heard anything about it.
Frankly, I’m losing any semblance of faith in average Republicans, most of whom deny Trump would ever perpetrate such a thing (although he has already tried once).
Michael Davis says
Well written. I could not agree more. The Republican Party is as toxic as the American fascist movement in the 1930s. Everyone planning on voting for Republicans should watch the video of the German America Bund’s Pro American rally held in Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. The Republcian Party is preparing to disrupt election results in very state where Trump may not win the majority vote.
John Dean says
Mickey, as always, thanks for a substantive, informative comment.
I’m with you on the “average Republican.” I believe Trump has destroyed the GOP and that the best hope for a two-party system is for it to disband and make room for a new, centrist party that can represent sane people.
Maggie Andersen says
The thought of RFK, Jr. in any government role is frightening! But so is the thought of Trump having presidential power again. YEA, this election is about policy but that can be debated through the regular processes of government action. But this time, presidential character is on the line and I want a president people admire not one who uses us for personal gain.
John Dean says
Well said. The difference in the character of the two presidential candidates could not be greater.
Reed Fawell 3 says
“Frankly, I’m losing any semblance of faith in average Republicans, most of whom deny Trump would ever perpetrate such a thing (although he has already tried once).”
Houston, we have a problem, since last go round these irresponsible people amounted to 68 million Americans. You know the kind that always give their lives for their country in grossly disproportionate numbers.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Agree. These people who vote Republican are
either sadly ill informed “voters”, or are very aware of the Trump threat but care more for either their billions
or their little elephant membership cards to the very
posh Republican Party, so they have been told😆
Either way, they have all lost credibility.
Mickey Terrone says
Once again, Mr. Fawell, you misrepresent the facts. Those 68million Republicans voted for Trump BEFORE he perpetrated the January 6th insurrection and before he was convicted of assaulting E. Jeanne Carroll and 34 felony counts of falsified business records. He’s desperately trying to delay numerous other trials. If he believed he was innocent of all those charges, you’d think he’d hurry to get a final verdict that would clear his name. But in reality, he’s acting like a trapped rat.
I hope the millions of Republicans who have moral character, are good Christians, good enough Americans to understand the value of our democratic republic and who are patriotic enough to reject a fascist from overthrowing our treasured Constitution, will vote for Harris or not vote at all. While there many be many Republican zombies who would support a white supremacist dictator for America, and support a revolution if Trump loses the election, I hope that many millions more will reject Trump in the privacy of the voting booth and afterwards when he seeks their support in a violent revolution on the streets.
And, BTW, why would any American patriot support a heinous coward like Trump who insults American veterans as “suckers”?
Francine DeSanctis says
Thank you for this informative letter, Mr Dean. Since Trump has already aligned himself with Putin, Hitler and the Devil, why not add on another dangerous supporter? Kennedy has already been denounced by his family, for his lack of scientific evidence of conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. He should be on the top of the list of candidates for HHS Secretary.
THOMAS FANNON says
You may note from my last letter that I am no fan of Mr. Trump. If you listened to Mr. Kennedy’s speech, however, or to a recent interview with Ms. Shanahan, you would know that the foul odor is coming from the entire Democrat party, especially from the puppet masters behind their current and recent candidates.
Laurie Powers says
Mr. Dean’s (and most commenters’) comments are misleading, misinformed and out-of-context. I think it’s pretty obvious that he didn’t listen to Mr. Kennedy’s historic speech, or if he did, he didn’t learn anything. He could have, except that his mind appears to have closed for business long ago and he suffers from DNC/media brainwashing as well as TDS, admittedly.
The foul odor is indeed coming from the entire Democrat party, the one that repeatedly subverts democracy to “save democracy,” but its members can’t smell the odor because they are enveloped in it. As Mr. Kennedy said, “The current party has abandoned democracy and is now the party of war, censorship, corruption, Big Tech/Big Pharma/Big Ag corporate capture of regulatory agencies and Media control and propaganda”…far more 1984ish than Orwell could have imagined. They also have engaged in the most comprehensive and systematic election interference in history. Oh, the hypocrisy.
I left the rotten, corrupt-to-the-core Democrat party several years ago when I could no longer stand the stench. I personally know hundreds of the millions of former Dems who also left the party in recent years.
Kennedy is the most honorable and presidential candidate in my lifetime. His vision of a unity government is courageous and remarkable, reminiscent of Ireland’s sacrifices and journey to unity. The Democrat party (and their undemocratically elite-installed nominee…did you vote for her in the primary?…didn’t think so) wants no part of a unity government devoted to Making America Healthy Again, because the party elite, their establishment donors and aligned corporate interests benefit from the stranglehold of Washington insiders and maintaining control, division and the ill health of Americans.
This is an existential fight for America’s future, and the Democrat party/VP Harris are on the wrong side of those issues – the issues that used to be their issues, but are no longer. The former party of JFK and RFK, that once fought for the middle class, is unrecognizable today. They are now aligned with corporate interests against We the People. The parties are now nearly fully inverted, but most Dems are too myopic and informed/influenced by the wrong sources to see it. Apparently, they don’t care about the issues or policies, they just want “joy.”
Mr. Kennedy’s vision in a nutshell – reversing the chronic disease epidemic, restoring the health of our children especially, ending government censorship and the weaponization of agencies against the public, unraveling the corporate capture of our government, and pursuing peaceful leadership in the world.
If you DON’T want those things, you should vote for VP Harris, as Kennedy has said.
If you want government to work FOR the people instead of AGAINST the people, you should vote for the other party – the unity party (Trump, Kennedy, Gabbard, Musk and more former Dems to come), the party of the people, common sense, smaller and more effective govt., and healing. Now the long-neglected issues that are existential to the future of our country are part of the national discourse (and the platform of the unity party), thanks to Mr. Kennedy.
Mr. Kennedy concluded his emotional speech with, “We have to love our children more than we hate each other.” Now is the time. I choose trust, hope and unity over mistrust, fear, division and all that goes with it. Make America Healthy Again.
Before forming opinions, Mr. Dean and everyone else should listen to the entire, unedited 48-min speech, linked below (CNN and other outlets cut key parts about media censorship and corporate capture that hurt them and their sponsors). He provides details, facts, statistics and information that the majority of people have no idea about, because the captured media and Democrat party don’t talk about it for the reasons mentioned previously.
Here is the link –
https://www.kennedy24.com/?utm_campaign=sense_of_victory_8_24_24_all_1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=joinkennedy
Deirdre LaMotte says
RFK Jr. is an anti-Semite who peddles dangerous anti-vax conspiracy theories, has a disdain for science, and a hatred for the truth. He’s not a Democrat, he’s always been a Trumper.
His biggest funder is a Republican donor who is also one of Trump’s biggest donors. His group gives money to the GOP. He’s an anti science, anti vax, pro conspiracy whack job who was running not only to get more eyes on his discredited conspiracy theories, but to help get Donald Trump elected. Unfortunately for him, that blew up in his face.
His share of the vote has dwindled down to barely 2-3% and his negatives have skyrocketed.
He doesn’t have much support left to throw to Trump. I can easily imagine his endorsement backfiring by further confirming Trump as the candidate of kooks, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy nuts, and creepy weirdos.
That poor family; i suppose there is always a black sheep but he is beyond the pale.
JOHN EDWARD DEAN says
Thank you for reading my piece, despite your disagreement. We are obviously on completely different pages.
Wilson Dean says
RFK Jr fits well into Trumpland. He simply sold himself to the highest bidder, the only bidder with no moral compass, while the only other potential bidder (Harris) had the moral decency to totally reject the idea of bidding at all. It’s the same concept as when all flies in a cow field locate in the same place.
John Dean says
Agreed. A shameful incident in the history of the Kennedys, but, fortunately, the final chapter for RFK, Jr.