I've made a few changes to this post. I didn't feel my best when I wrote it and it wasn't as clear as it should have been. I hope it's better now. Thanks for reading.
Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,
I define our as the democratic party. If you ain't with us, you're agin us.
Robert Kennedy Jr. announced on not-so-good Friday that he's running for president as a Democrat. He's a nincompoop.
I became aware of his nincompoopery quite a few years ago when I read an article he wrote defending his cousin, Michael Skakel, who was convicted of murdering Martha Moxley when they were teenagers. I was shocked The Atlantic would publish an article that was absolute glop and assumed they used it because of the Kennedy name.
Kennedy is 69 years old, has plenty of money, and is on his third wife.(four days after he filed for divorce from his second wife she committed suicide). He has six children.
He is well known as an environmental lawyer and won many awards for his work in that area. He fought pollution created by factory farms and damage to the environment caused by the U.S. military. He has worked with indigenous rights organizations. The list goes on and on. I wish I could stop right here and say that he's well educated and his work defending the environment is so great that it excuses any stupidity he committed. I'm afraid that's not the case.
Kennedy was also well known for his drug use in his youth. When he was an assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, he was arrested for possession of heroin. A number of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's children had drug problems. After all, they experienced the trauma of their father's death. His brother, David, died from an overdose. I think the drug use can be forgive and forgotten if he's stayed clean. As far as I know, he has.
Sadly, however, Jr. has achieved renown as an anti-vaxxer, beginning with blaming childhood vaccines for autism, ADHD, and other maladies. He spread misinformation about the COVID vaccine and compared COVID restrictions to Nazi Germany. He claimed that if people didn't get vaccinated, then Bill Gates would cut off their access to money and they would starve. I haven't seen that happen.
At one point Kennedy had a discussion with Trump about a position in his administration. I don't know what became of that.
I also don't know if the Kennedy name has the cachet it used to have. We're still sad that this man's Uncle John and his father, Robert, were assassinated, but we also know about Uncle John's many affairs and his naked pool parties at The White House that included smoking weed. Younger people might not be as interested in the Kennedy family as we were. I don't think being a Kennedy can do as much for Robert Jr. as it might have in the past.
It's possible he'll appeal to some Republicans though, who could consider crossing partly lines for an anti-vaxxer. Some of his siblings have publicly distanced themselves from him because of his anti-vax statements.
I know that if I need to choose between Robert Kennedy Jr. and Joe Biden, it's Joe Biden for me. He's not perfect, but my life is so much better than it was during the last guy's presidency.
If you ain't with us, you're agin us. Robert Kennedy Jr. is agin us.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
