MAGA Operatives Realize They Have To Destroy Their Creation Fast
I doubt anyone was surprised when right-wing closet case Matt Schlapp announced that RFK, Jr will be joining American fascists like Kari Lake, impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Utah neo-fascist Senator Mike Lee and Vivek Ramaswamy at the CPAC Las Vegas “summit” between October 18 and 21. JFK, Jr’s candidacy was invented by Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, promoted by Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Mike Flynn and financed by Nazi Daddy Warbucks Timothy Mellon (of the Robber Baron family of the same name). Schlapp, who is defending himself from credible accusations of sexually molesting younger Republican men, said in a statement that “Kennedy joining such an important event is a reflection of the splintering of the leftwing coalition that has gone full woke Marxist to the point that traditional liberals don’t feel welcome anymore.”
The idea has always been to embarrass Biden in a Democratic primary and then switch to run as an independent and draw Democratic voters away from Biden, helping Trump slip into the White House again. RFK, Jr is expected to announce his independent bid in the next few days. "He now claims Democratic officials are conspiring to “rig” the primaries against him, citing his familiar blend of half-truths and outright fabrications... A progressive activist who co-founded a group urging Biden to drop out— he protested outside a DNC meeting in subfreezing temperatures last February— said Kennedy squandered an opportunity to exploit dissatisfaction on the left. 'There’s definitely an appetite for an alternative to Biden, but he’s not palatable,' said Norman Solomon, a co-founder of Step Aside Joe! and Roots Action. 'The more people learn about Kennedy, the more excitement has faded among Democrats.' Solomon said Kennedy further alienated lefties by muddying his stance on abortion, declaring he would be extremely pro-Israel (after being recorded on several occasions making comments seen as antisemetic) during an era of growing sympathy for Palestinians on the left, and vowing to crack down on undocumented immigration. 'Ideologically, he’s all over the map,' Solomon said. 'It’s hard to see where the hell he is.'"
But something went seriously awry with the plan. As we noted last week, Democratic voters are repulsed by RFK but the job Bannon, Fox News and Carlson— and even Trump (who teased a Cabinet position for him, thus legitimizing him for MAGAts)— have done in building him up has worked on Republicans. Aaron Blake reported that Republican voters like RFK Jr more than Ramaswamy and Mike Pence and that the only GOP presidential candidates who are more popular than him among Republican voters are Trump and DeSantis. And then Mediaite reported that right-wingers were starting to worry that an independent bid by RFK Jr looks like it’s going to draw votes from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, not from Democrats.
Prominent pro-Trump neo-fascists like Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec are getting nervous. Kirk, always ready for a mind-bending conspiracy theory, decided to spread one that an independent Kennedy run is so damaging for Trump that it must be the result of a media “plot” to encourage Kennedy to defect from the Democratic Party. Posobiec couldn’t agree more: “RFK cant win but he can deny Trump the White House and hand it to Dems… RFK will operate like Ross Perot. Where he’s picking up that anti-establishment vote, people who may have considered Trump, but if they’re given an alternative… they’ll go for RFK.”
And then on Friday there was a report from Shelby Talcott that Team Trump is preparing to attack JFK Jr in a big way! No more teasing about a VP slot or a cabinet position. She wrote that internal polling suggests RFK Jr would draw more votes from Trump than from Biden.
With Trump allies “anxious,” as one supporter put it, his campaign and outside allies are also preparing to release an onslaught of opposition research.
“We’re gonna be dropping napalm after napalm on his head reminding the public of his very liberal views, dating back to 2012,” another Trumpworld person told Semafor. “We have a lot of stuff on him.”
While it’s not clear if it’s related, the [far right] Daily Caller published a story today dredging up Kennedy’s comments from two decades ago that “factory meat integrators are more threatening to democracy than Osama bin Laden.” The same story also mentioned his description of the NRA as a “terror group” after the 2018 Parkland shooting.
…Trump team’s newfound focus on RFK Jr. as an opponent is yet another example of the campaign shifting into general election mode early. But it also could be dangerous for Kennedy, who up until now has enjoyed the support of many pro-Trump figures and conservative media.
“He used to be a fun plaything to hurt Biden, now he is something that could hurt the GOP,” one Trump-aligned operative said.
An early test of that shift might be Kennedy’s upcoming appearance at a CPAC event alongside presidential contenders like Vivek Ramaswamy and high-profile Trump supporters, which could be an occasion for some MAGA figures to publicly distance the movement from him.
Trump has been on friendly terms with Kennedy over the years and previously praised him as “a smart guy and well-intentioned” on the trail. If he begins signaling to his supporters that he’s on the wrong side of MAGA, that could substantially diminish Kennedy’s appeal.
Some of this may also depend on how Kennedy positions himself in the coming weeks. Does he highlight his more liberal views, like his environmental advocacy? Or does he focus on his anti-vaccine messaging, which has found more traction on the right and with a segment of independent voters who have drifted towards Trump in recent years?