The New York Times Normalizes RFK Jr.'s Ludicrous VP Stunt Casting
Not a joke? Actually, they are very much a joke, just like the New York Times.
Earlier this week, RFK Jr.’s campaign leaked a list of possible VPs to the press to see how they would be received. That list included:
Jesse Ventura - A very successful wrestler but marginally successful politician whose career evaporated and is now mostly known as a conspiracy nut.
Aaron Rodgers - A toxic anti-vaxxer and all around asshole.
Andrew Yang - A failed political wannabe and annoying grifter.
Tulsi Gabbard - A Russian asset and closeted Republican.
Rand Paul - The fakest libertarian ever. Also a Russian asset.
Mike Rowe - A fake populist.
Tony Robbins - A toxic misogynist.
Tricia Lindsay - An anti-vaxxer (I finally looked her up after never once having heard her name until this week).
The New York Times would very much like you to believe that, and I quote, “R.F.K. Jr.’s Possible V.P. Picks Are No Joke.” Really? REALLY?! Andrew Yang? Tony Robbins? Mike Rowe? Fucking Aaron Rodgers?!?! These are not serious picks by a serious person. This is stunt casting.
Stunt casting, if you’re not familiar with the phrase, is when a person is picked not because they’re good for the role, but because they will generate a huge amount of buzz. Think Stacey Abrams as the President of Earth in Star Trek: Discovery. Abrams doesn’t have much of a career in acting ahead of her but, oooooh boy, did she set the internet on fire. Which was the point.1
Sarah Palin is the most notorious example of political stunt casting. She was manifestly unsuited for the job but, yowzer!, did she get people talking. In the process, she dragged Republican politics into the mud and they stayed there. So, good job, GOP! Stunt casting is great!
At least Gabbard, Paul, and Ventura have experience in politics. But wouldn’t you know it? The Times does not focus on Gabbard or Paul, who, while loathsome, would at least be qualified to be VP. No. The Times focuses entirely on Jesse Ventura and fucking Aaron Rodgers:
And that he’s [RFK Jr.] looking at Ventura and Rodgers only makes me take him more seriously. Kennedy knows what he’s doing in considering partners who speak in unfiltered ways, for better or for worse, and they have star power and an ease with crowds. A lot of voters will see them as regular people.
Oh just fucking stop it. RFK Jr. doesn’t poll at 10-13% because people think his positions are interesting. They hear the name “Kennedy” and that catches their attention. That is why he was recruited by Steve Bannon in the first place. His name, and the fact that Kennedy is mentally unbalanced and easy to manipulate.
The Times desperately wants Kennedy to run in every state. Barring that, they will cheerlead him running in swing states with the frantic hope he will pull votes away from Biden.
The problem is that Kennedy does not appeal to Democratic voters. He appeals to aggrieved white men. Oh, I’m sorry, “the anti-establishment” vote. AKA, aggrieved white men. End the duopoly, Bern the system down, blablabla. You know, people who were never going to vote for a Democrat in the first place.
All of these potential VP picks are right in line with that. Not one of them appeals to Democratic voters. They all appeal to the aggrieved white man vote. The Matt Taibbis and Glenn Greenwalds who don’t support Trump but somehow hate everyone that opposes Trump. This is not going to erode support for Biden.
The further Kennedy drifts to the right, the more he will appeal to Republican voters, not Democrats. As Nikki Haley showed, there’s an enormous appetite for anyone not Trump on the right and as the Times points out:
Some voters are giving this guy a real look, and a few see him as the new Trump — outsider, anti-establishment, his own person (regardless of the dangerous and fact-free views that he holds).
Those people are not on-fence-Biden voters. They’re Republicans who really do not want to vote for Trump but can’t bring themselves to vote for Biden. But Kennedy? They can do that!
But that’s a problem for the GOP and the press. Kennedy was supposed to ratfuck Biden. If he picks a VP like Aaron Rodgers (the rumored leading contender), Kennedy’s campaign, such as it is, will veer sharply to the right, pushing away potential Democratic voters and attracting far more Republicans.
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This is why the Times is working so hard to normalize this stupidity. If they can whitewash Kennedy and his VP pick, they’ll become more acceptable to Biden voters. It’s a bit of a long shot, though. Rodgers is a Sandy Hook denier. Ventura is a loudmouth nut who hasn’t been in politics for two decades. The rest? Republicans or novices who will be eaten alive by the first reporter who bothers to ask hard questions. Sarah Palin gave John McCain a boost but only for a little bit. That’s not going to happen a second time and certainly not for RFK Jr. who does not have a massive propaganda machine behind him.
The Times is right about one thing, though, Trump is not going to be laughing if Kennedy picks someone GOP voters will be attracted to. Kennedy is already a threat and Trump can’t afford to lose a single vote.
It would be the greatest story of the 2024 election is the GOP’s grand ratfucking plan backfiring and costing them everything. It would be hard to tell who would be more pissed off about it: Republicans or the New York Times.
There are 234 days until the 2024 election. Vote blue like your life depends on it.
Also, she’s famous for being a massive Star Trek geek and let’s be honest, she definitely represents the future Star Trek is aiming for. Why do you think Republicans won’t stop whining about how “woke” it is?
“Republicans or novices who will be eaten alive by the first reporter who bothers to ask hard questions.”
So you’re sayin’ the Republicans and novices are completely safe from being eaten alive.
Even if RFK Jr wasn’t obviously completely batshit crazy, his picks certainly are. Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs???? Though I think Aaron Rodgers is really scraping the bottom of the loony bin