RFK Jr.’s running mate: This week, environmental lawyer/alt-science salesman Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running for president as an independent and has done quite well in the polls, selected Nicole Shanahan, ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and technology entrepreneur. in his own right, as her deputy.
Shanahan was the primary financier and creative mind behind RFK Jr.’s surprisingly good Super Bowl commercial:
Of course, this pays homage to JFK’s 1960 ad campaign, a fact that pissed off much of the Kennedy family, who generally don’t share RFK Jr.’s beliefs and seem moderately to severely embarrassed by him.
“My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used the faces of our uncle and my mother,” wrote Bobby Shriver, RFK Jr.’s cousin. “She would have been appalled by his deadly views on health care. Respect for science, vaccines and health equity were in his DNA.”
Now, Shanahan has been chosen as vice president, which has led to a strange reaction from the chairman of the Libertarian Party. “I think a lot of libertarians are a little confused about why he chose Nicole Shanahan,” LP President Angela McArdle said. The hill. “I’m sure he’s a lovely person, but he doesn’t necessarily align with any of our opinions.” But why should he align himself with the opinions of libertarian voters? Well, there’s been a lot of speculation that the Libertarian Party is looking to put RFK Jr. at the top of the ticket — an odd choice when you consider, for example, what his Environmental Protection Agency would look like.
Until now, many pollsters and pundits had believed that RFK Jr. running as an independent would hurt former President Donald Trump more than President Joe Biden. “Soon after Kennedy became independent, an NPR-PBS-Marist poll showed Biden leading Trump by three points (49-46%) in a head-to-head matchup, but by 7% (44-37%, with RFK Jr. at 16%) in a three-way race. Similarly, Quinnipiac had Biden ahead of Trump by one point (47 to 46%) but by three points (39 to 36%, with 22% for RFK Jr.) with Kennedy in the mix,” he reported IntelligencerIt’s Ed Kilgore.
Now, Kennedy appears to be helping, not hurting, Trump’s chances: “RealClearPolitics polling averages nationwide show Trump leading Biden by 1.6% (46.6 to 45.0%) in a two-candidate race, and by 5.4% (40.7 to 35.3%), with Kennedy at 12.3%) in a three-candidate race.”
But Kennedy faces a significant barrier to voting access, which is resolved by accepting the LP nomination, if that is what is offered to him. Kennedy is currently on the ballot only in Utah. But his campaign assures voters that he “has also collected enough signatures to qualify in Nevada, Hawaii and New Hampshire,” according to Politic. His super PAC also says he collected enough signatures to be included in Michigan, South Carolina, Arizona and Georgia. (I assume the real reason he won’t take the plunge is because the moderator of an upcoming LP presidential debate is yours truly, and I’m not a fangirl.)
Bible Mark: In other news from the normal campaign trail and our very well-adjusted candidates, Trump has started selling $60 Bibles for Holy Week. “We have to make America pray again,” Trump said in a Bible-selling campaign on Truth Social, an interesting message for a man who has repeatedly refused to name his favorite verse, calling it “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians”. in a 2016 speech at Liberty University (where you really shouldn’t be wrong), and… he didn’t regularly attend church before it was politically advantageous for him (he still chose to only attend on holidays and for photos).
“People are so shocked when they find out … that I’m Protestant. I’m Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church,” said Trump, who generally declined to name a church he regularly attends. in 2015. “In a video shared on Truth Social and played at Trump rallies, a narrator’s voice booms: “On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned heaven and said, “I need a guardian”. Trump,” he reported Axios. And in December Trump declared that he wanted to “create a new federal task force to combat anti-Christian prejudice.”
This all sounds a lot like pandering to Christians while also trying to sell the word of God for a quick buck. That’s par for the course for Trump, but forgive me if I’m not particularly enthusiastic about this field of presidential contenders.
Scenes from New York: It’s good that the Bronx DA isn’t asking for more money for his office. But practically everything else in his request to the City Council concerns:
Progressive criminal justice mindset, in one quote: “Lack of resources for youth and mental health are leading to violence, urban crime and shoplifting. I can’t find a way out of this. … We have to invest in communities”.
OK, but your job is *to be the prosecutor*, not… https://t.co/uLT3XFNleB
— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) March 27, 2024
QUICK SHOTS
- “Trudeau vows to strengthen renters’ rights in bid to win over young voters,” reads this disturbing headline Bloomberg.
- Jo Boaler is a professor of mathematics education at Stanford, responsible for designing the new California Math Framework (CMF), which will not teach algebra to most middle school students in the name of equity (soft bigotry of low expectations , someone?). But Pirate threads Sanjana Friedman reported that Boaler “sent her children to a $48,000-a-year private school that teaches algebra to its middle school students” and that there are “30 statements of alleged misrepresentation in her research, the same research that underlies the CMF”.
- “Efforts by Hunter Biden’s lawyers to dismiss tax charges against the president’s son were met with skepticism by the judge overseeing the case,” he reported Axios.
- The evolution of a pro-life Democrat.
- Down with the Slack spelunking mobs!
Either you hire someone or you don’t. Either print an editorial or don’t. If you don’t want opinions or representatives who have ever been aligned with Trump, say so or stand by the decision to represent a large portion of the electorate. This immediate retreat in front of Slack channels is so boring. https://t.co/TJJN7tAYRx
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) March 27, 2024