LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will share with voters his policies for economic renewal at two events in Michigan this week. According to his campaign, he will discuss his short- and long-term policies to reverse the decline of the American working and middle class and address rising costs of food, energy, medicine, and housing. He will also describe how economic revitalization is intrinsically linked to ending the corrupt merger of state and corporate power, addressing the chronic disease epidemic, and ending forever wars.
69-year-old Kennedy is a lifelong Democrat, the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. According to his website RFK Jr. began a career of public services as soon as he passed the NY State Bar, eventually becoming one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States and earning global recognition including TIME Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet.” His bio also says that his work has especially emphasized marginalized communities in their battle against corporate and government polluters.
Kennedy’s X/Twitter social media page declares that as president, Kennedy will “end the forever wars, clean up government, restore the middle class, and tell Americans the truth.”
Although Kennedy currently criticizes the Democratic establishment for its abandonment of core Democratic values like peace and the First Amendment, Kennedy has long been an active supporter of Democratic candidates and leaders, endorsing and campaigning for Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Kennedy, a supporter of union rights, has argued that those who work hard in the United States should be able to afford a good life. However, an Axios report has uncovered that his campaign merchandise is not made in America or by union labor. When asked for comments about the UAW strike, Kennedy’s campaign did not return our request for comment about the issue.
Although the media has portrayed Kennedy as anti-vaccine, he says he is merely a proponent of vaccine safety. While a witness at a July hearing held by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the “weaponization” of the federal government, Kennedy said he has never been anti-vax and is, in fact, was up to date on his vaccines – except the COVID-19 vaccine – but he said “I have never told the public, ‘avoid vaccination.’”
While Kennedy is in Michigan, he’ll be hosting two events. The first one will be a Voter Meet & Green on Thursday, October 5th from 6 to 8 pm ET in Warren Michigan at the Macomb Community College. The second Voter Meet & Greet will be in Lansing at the Doubletree by Hilton on Saturday, October 7th from 3 to 5 pm ET. For more information on the events, click here.
Then on Monday, October 9th, Kennedy will be making a historic announcement in Philadelphia, PA, the birthplace of the nation. The Kennedy team says, “In his speech on Monday, Mr. Kennedy will lay out a path to the White House that involves a major shift in American politics. We invite you to witness history in the making, at the very spot where our founding fathers launched this nation in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. On Monday, we come together again to reset the course of our nation.”
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Many in the media expect that Monday will be the day that Kennedy announces his official third-party run for the presidency. Kennedy is currently polling at only 15-percent in a Real Clear Politics national poll when matched up against Biden in a primary and the DNC (Democratic National Committee) doesn’t seem interested in hosting any kind of Democratic presidential candidate debate which would allow Kennedy to go up against Biden.
Because many Democrats seem to feel that Kennedy running as an Independent candidate could hurt President Biden more than if he continues to challenge him as a Democrat opponent, the pro-Biden media has already started attacking Kennedy after mostly ignoring him as a threat up until now.
In an October 4th hit piece on Kennedy written by Salon, they go after him on his plans to run attack ads against the DNC as well as his stances on foreign policy, vaccines, the Middle East, climate change, the economy, and more, also warning that he has taken “consistently conspiratorial” views. Salon goes on to say Kennedy could end up helping the “neofascist Republicans” win the presidency and they worry about the younger voters who often lean Libertarian or to the Green Party when they don’t think they have a good choice among the Republican and Democratic candidates. This could open them up to a third party candidate if their choices are limited to Biden and Trump.
In addition to peeling off votes from President Biden, it’s been reported that Kennedy could also get votes from anti-Trumpers, disaffected Republicans and Independents due to his views on things like Ukraine, COVID-19 vaccines, Anthony Fauci, and the First Amendment. Some on the right find Kennedy relatable because, like many conservatives over the past few years, he has been banned by social media, accused of spreading “misinformation.”
Commentators have said that Kennedy could be an important factor in taking away needed votes from both Biden and Trump in swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania – if they are, in fact, the presidential candidates that Kennedy would be facing.
In addition to Kennedy, the “No Labels” party has been threatening to run a third-party candidate as well – which is likely to be 76-year-old West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. Others have also jumped into the contest including 70-year-old Black political activist Cornel West who has recently left the Green Party to run as an independent.
Back in 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton won the presidential election with only 43-percent of the popular vote when independent Ross Perot got in the mix. The incumbent Republican president, George H.W. Bush, received 37.4-percent and independent Ross Perot got 18.9-percent. In a recent poll done by a super PAC supporting Kennedy, Kennedy received 19% support in a match-up between President Biden (38-percent) and former President Trump (38-percent).
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