As I noted on Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s selection of entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate was bad news for Joe Biden. Rather than pick a centrist or even a moderate conservative to establish a formidable unity ticket, he chose a radical leftist. The choice further solidifies the ticket’s progressive bona fides, which is likely to turn off conservatives who’d been flirting with supporting Kennedy in November because they don’t like Donald Trump.
Many conservatives who were all too willing to ignore Kennedy’s radical left-wing positions won’t necessarily offer Shanahan the same courtesy. Similarly, Shanahan is bound to make the Kennedy ticket more attractive to Democrat voters who aren’t all that jazzed about voting for Biden.
The Democratic National Committee believes this as well. Following Kennedy’s selection of Shanahan, the DNC hosted a campaign conference call with members of the media, during which it was clear that the party is panicking about Kennedy’s presidential bid.
“The call with members of the press took place immediately after Kennedy announced tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate at a rally in Oakland, California, and included Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis, and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who all fretted that Kennedy would likely ruin any chance of Biden being re-elected,” Fox News reported.
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“We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris reelected. It’s critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal. And let me be clear, that’s exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a spoiler,” Davis said.
“Him being in the race means that there is a greater likelihood that Donald Trump will become president again,” McMorrow said.
Earlier in the call, Garcia railed against Kennedy as “a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist,” referencing his past skepticism toward vaccines, particularly those aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic. He also accused Shanahan of holding an “anti-health agenda” despite a large portion of her introduction as Kennedy’s running mate being focused on Americans’ health, especially that of children.
“He’s turning to Trump mega-donors to really support this, really, spoiler campaign. I think he’s likely interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected. Maybe that’s what this is about. And many of us are not sure, but he is someone that should not be taken seriously as a serious person. I mean, certainly his campaign is quite dangerous,” Garcia said, appearing to launch his own conspiracy theory about Kennedy’s candidacy.
His reference to former President Donald Trump’s donors supporting Kennedy was likely referring to Timothy Mellon, the heir to the Mellon banking fortune who has given millions to outside groups supporting Trump’s third run for the presidency. Last year, Mellon donated millions to American Values 2024, a super PAC backing Kennedy.
Garcia continued to harp on Kennedy’s past positions on vaccines, referring to his bid for the presidency as “disgusting and shameful,” and calling on him to end his “horrific campaign.”
Speaking of conspiracy theories, Davis said, “The truth is that he was drafted into this race by Donald Trump’s top supporters and is being financed in this race by Trump’s largest donor. That isn’t merely a coincidence. He has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania. All he can do is take away votes from President Biden and make it easier for Donald Trump to win, and we simply can’t afford to let that happen.”
He also accused Kennedy of targeting black people “with dangerous lies and conspiracy theories” about vaccines.
“We cannot afford Donald Trump to be back in the White House,” lamented McMorrow, “which is what is going to happen if people don’t see RFK for what he actually is, which is Donald Trump with a Kennedy name slapped on him.”
McMorrow also observed that it would be easy for Kennedy to spoil the election for Biden.
“You don’t need significant support to throw an election to Donald Trump,” she said. “We saw this play out in 2016, where Jill Stein got 50,000 votes and Hillary Clinton lost by 10,000 votes in Michigan. So it is this type of a campaign — and Kennedy should be smart enough to know better. But I don’t think he does. I think his ego is in the way.”
The theme was consistent: Kennedy is a spoiler. Polls show that he takes support from both Trump and Biden, but mostly from Biden — and I suspect that Kennedy will pull even less from Trump going forward.