By ALI SWENSON (Associated Press)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Republicans attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday because the longtime environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist launched an impartial bid for the White House, reflecting rising issues on the precise that the previous Democrat now threatens to take votes from former President Donald Trump in 2024.
The Republican National Committee and Trump’s marketing campaign each took purpose at Kennedy’s liberal background whereas nationwide Democrats stayed silent as Kennedy insisted in a speech in Philadelphia that he was leaving each political events behind.
“Voters should not be deceived by anyone who pretends to have conservative values,” mentioned Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in an announcement. He labeled Kennedy’s marketing campaign “nothing more than a vanity project for a liberal Kennedy looking to cash in on his family’s name.”
The fiery response exposes the unknowns that lie in Kennedy’s long-anticipated choice to run as an impartial. The transfer is prone to affect the 2024 race, which seems to be heading towards a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, however it’s nonetheless unclear precisely how.
Kennedy, a member of one of the crucial well-known households in Democratic politics, was working a long-shot main bid and holds higher favorability scores amongst Republicans than Democrats. Even Trump simply two weeks in the past mentioned of Kennedy, “I like him a lot. I’ve known him for a long time.”
Allies of each Biden and Trump have at instances questioned whether or not Kennedy can be a spoiler in opposition to their candidate.
“The truth is, they’re both right,” Kennedy mentioned onstage Monday to roaring applause. “My intention is to spoil it for both of them.”
Speaking Monday from Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, the place America’s founding paperwork had been adopted, Kennedy made it clear he didn’t wish to be affiliated with both get together. He referenced a “rising tide of discontent” within the nation. He mentioned he desires to make a “new declaration of independence” — from companies, the media and the 2 main political events.
Hundreds of supporters who gathered for Kennedy’s remarks, holding indicators that learn “Declare your independence” and at instances chanting “RFK, all the way!” had been upbeat about his choice. An eclectic mixture of disillusioned Democrats, Trump voters on the lookout for a change, and political outsiders who say their concepts don’t sq. with anyone get together, they insisted that Kennedy may unify all of them.
“He’s going to win,” mentioned Peter Pantazis, a 40-year-old enterprise proprietor from Lewes, Delaware. “I’ve been praying that he’s going to decentralize the campaign, get away from the party system and actually be the candidate of the people for the people. And that’s what he announced today.”
“The last couple years I’ve been noticing the Republican Party’s been going a way I didn’t like,” mentioned Brent Snyder, a disabled veteran from south Philadelphia. “Not that I agree with everything that’s happening to Trump, but I think right now he has more baggage than his country needs. The division right now is just terrible. We need someone to bring both sides together to make us work.”
Joy, hope and the faint scent of marijuana hovered above the gang as Kennedy spoke of John Adams’ unwavering help for his nation and George Washington’s prescient warning that partisan politics would end in corruption.
Yet Kennedy’s upstart marketing campaign has a protracted approach to go to compete with the funding, help and expertise that the Trump and Biden campaigns take pleasure in. His announcement Monday was delayed briefly when he arrived onstage solely to seek out his speech was loaded upside-down within the teleprompter.
Monday’s announcement comes lower than per week after the progressive activist Cornel West deserted his Green Party bid in favor of an impartial White House run. Meanwhile, the centrist group No Labels is actively securing poll entry for a yet-to-be-named candidate.
Aware of the chance that Kennedy may pull votes away from Republicans, Trump allies have begun circulating opposition analysis in opposition to Kennedy designed to break his standing amongst would-be conservative supporters.
The Republican National Committee printed a truth sheet earlier than Kennedy’s speech titled “Radical DEMOCRAT RFK Jr.” that lists instances he supported liberal politicians or concepts. The doc additionally listed instances he supported conspiracy theories about COVID-19 or “stolen-election claims” associated to the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections that Democrats misplaced to President George W. Bush. Trump continues to advertise the disproved concept that his loss to Biden was the results of a stolen election.
Biden’s allies to date have dismissed Kennedy’s main marketing campaign as unserious. Asked for remark forward of the announcement, a Democratic National Committee spokesman responded with a watch roll emoji. The DNC declined to remark Monday.
Four of Kennedy’s eight surviving siblings put out a joint assertion denouncing his candidacy and saying his announcement saddened them.
“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” it learn. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment.”
Tony Lyons, co-founder and co-chairman of American Values 2024, the tremendous PAC supporting Kennedy, dismissed these feedback as “part of a strategy to discredit him.”
“At his family dinner tables they would disagree about everything, and that’s what democracy looks like,” Lyons mentioned. “Families are allowed to disagree.”
While Kennedy has lengthy recognized as a Democrat and often invokes his late father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle President John F. Kennedy on the marketing campaign path, he has constructed shut relationships with far-right figures lately. He appeared on a channel run by the Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and headlined a cease on the ReAwaken America Tour, the Christian nationalist street present put collectively by Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn.
Polls present much more Republicans than Democrats have a good opinion of Kennedy. He additionally has gained help from some far-right conservatives for his fringe views, together with his vocal mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines, which research have proven are secure and efficient in opposition to extreme illness and demise.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, at present has a lawsuit pending in opposition to a variety of information organizations, amongst them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by taking motion to determine misinformation, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took go away from the group when he introduced his run for president however is listed as one among its attorneys within the lawsuit.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle Smith, and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”