Today, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump, which polls suggest may give the former president enough votes to be elected president. Kennedy’s endorsement may also bring the focus of the presidential race back to issues. Agree or disagree with him, Kennedy has strong views on policy. Kennedy said he endorsed Trump out of his concern for free speech, children’s health, and the war in Ukraine.
On stage with Trump a few minutes ago, Kennedy said that the former president “told me that he wanted to end the censorship because the whole basis of American democracy is the free flow of information. We know that a government that can silence its opponents has a license for any kind of atrocity. Can you think of any time that you can look back in history and say that the people who were censoring were the good guys? They're always the bad guys. Because it's always the first step down that slippery slope to totalitarianism.”
Kennedy’s endorsement comes less than a day after Kamala Harris’ policy-lite acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last night. For decades, political marketing experts have told us that American presidential candidates must have a powerful story and practical agenda to sell to the American people. John F. Kennedy was a courageous war hero, Bill Clinton was an empathetic man from a little town called “Hope,” and Barack Obama was an intelligent black man capable of bringing the nation together.
Democratic presidential candidates even went negative in ways that affirmed their positive message. JFK was alarmed about an apparent “missile gap” with the Russians. Clinton said it was “The economy, stupid.” And Obama presented himself as the younger and more capable candidate for solving the financial crisis, ending foreign wars, and transcending partisan hatred than the older generation of Baby Boomers.
What is it for Kamala Harris? In her speech last night, she offered nothing in the way of a powerful story and little in the way of a concrete agenda. Her whole campaign has been that way. Since Harris announced her candidacy, her campaign emphasized that she was “brat,” her opponents were weird, and her campaign was about “joy,” vibes, and “freedom.” It’s been over a month and Harris has still not done a real press conference.
