Politics

10187 readers

164 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Socialism

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org

circularfish@beehaw.org

knokelmaat@beehaw.org

remington@beehaw.org

RFK Jr. announces he will run as an independent candidate (www.politico.com)

submitted 1 year ago by JCPhoenix@beehaw.org to c/politics@beehaw.org

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday he is abandoning his bid for the Democratic nomination for the White House in 2024.

“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy announced to a crowd of supporters at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. “We declare independence from the cynical elites who betray our hope and who amplify our divisions. And finally, we declare independence from the two political parties.”

His family name is almost synonymous with the Democratic Party, but Kennedy has determined that its primary nomination process was skewed in favor of President Joe Biden. That history, he said, made the decision personally painful for him.

Some members of the Kennedy family released a joint statement in response calling his announcement “deeply saddening” and “perilous for our country.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] superflippy@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just don’t understand who he thinks is going to vote for him. The number of centrist conspiracy theorists who will vote for a former Democrat has got to be vanishingly small.

[–] Nechesh@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a huge number of people out there who are fed up with both parties and see those parties as equally (or near enough) bad. He's appealing to those who dislike Trump and Biden. Don't underestimate his ability to play spoiler to one of them.

[–] Omegamanthethird@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

"Don't underestimate his ability to play spoiler to one of them."

I think we know which one he'd play spoiler to. Moderate Republicans know how to hold their nose because they're supposed to. Democrats don't have that strong of identity politics. It's much easier for them to be convinced to not vote Dem.

This is especially true for the swing states that are going to determine who actually wins the presidency.