Though an awkward acronym, “IINO” (Independent in Name Only) now applies to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
On Tuesday, Kennedy announced lawyer, activist and prolific Democratic donor Nicole Shanahan as his 2024 running mate.
Early Wednesday morning on his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump gleefully responded to Shanahan’s selection by denouncing her as a “Liberal” and predicting that both Kennedy and Shanahan would probably face indictments from establishment Democrats whose electoral prospects the left-leaning independent ticket now threatens.
“RFK Jr. is the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far. He’s a big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters. I guess this would mean he is going to be taking votes from Crooked Joe Biden, which would be a great service to America,” Trump’s post began.
Kennedy has indeed built his reputation partly on environmental activism. In 2017, he criticized then-President Trump for “turning America into a petrostate.” That stance certainly would endear him to some traditional left-leaning voters.
But Kennedy also has attracted anti-establishment voters thanks to his criticisms of COVID-related tyranny. In particular, the independent candidate has spoken out against the controversial vaccine and corresponding mandates. He has also opposed the U.S.-funded Ukraine War and the military-industrial complex in general. With those positions, of course, he has threatened to cut into Trump’s own anti-establishment base of support.
Shanahan’s selection, however, has made it impossible to imagine more than a handful of Trump supporters defecting to Kennedy. And the former president knows it.
“His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is even more ‘Liberal’ than him, if that’s possible. Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, and always will be!!!” Trump wrote.
Do you support Trump over RFK Jr.?
Then, drawing from personal experience, the former president predicted electoral shenanigans.
“It’s great for MAGA, but the Communists will make it very hard for him to get on the Ballot,” Trump wrote. “Expect him, and her, to be indicted any day now, probably for Environmental Fraud!”
Indeed, the same people who tried and failed to keep Trump off state ballots could do the same to Kennedy.
Furthermore, the same people who have tried to derail Trump’s campaign by indicting him four times could also indict Kennedy.
No one who has paid attention to U.S. public affairs since 2016 could doubt the truth of Trump’s assertions.
The establishment, in particular the Biden administration and the sinister deep state it serves, has shown itself capable of raw tyranny when threatened.
As Trump noted, the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket threatens Biden’s already-dim electoral prospects.
“He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I love that he is running!” Trump concluded.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg/Morning Consult released the results of polls in seven anticipated battleground states. Those polls asked voters to choose from among five candidates: Trump, Biden, Kennedy, independent candidate Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Per RealClear Polling, Trump tied Biden in Michigan and held a two-point lead in Wisconsin.
But the former president led by a whopping six percentage points in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Poll respondents in Georgia, meanwhile, gave Trump a seven-point lead.
Without Kennedy and the other two candidates in the race, those margins narrowed everywhere except Georgia and North Carolina.
Those polls, of course, came before Kennedy selected Shanahan as his running mate. Thus, one cannot yet predict how the mass of 2020 Biden voters might react.
On one hand, they might like Shanahan’s politics and, therefore, shift to Kennedy.
On the other hand, they might now regard Kennedy as an unserious person for making such an underwhelming selection.
Either way, Trump certainly sees it as advantageous to depict Kennedy as a threat from Biden’s ideological left. And the former president has seldom given reason to doubt his political instincts.
