The Kennedys really are just like us.
No, not in terms of automatic admission to Harvard. Or in terms of winning undeserved political offices. Definitely not in terms of criminal justice… If you dabbled in their lifestyle, you surely would have done some time.
And no, they aren’t like us in their personal lives either. The probability that your nephew dates Taylor Swift is incredibly low, and odds are your uncle wasn’t hanging out with Marilyn Monroe in his free time.
I too believed that the Kennedy-Shriver consortium rested far outside the experience of the common man. Then I attended the presidential announcement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the fourth member of the family to seek the presidency (fifth if you include Shriver in-laws) at Boston Park Plaza Hotel last Wednesday.
It was then that I realized, no matter how wide a gap exists between the hoi polloi and an American dynasty, we share one common experience with the Kennedys: the Nonconforming Crunchy Cousin.
We all have a relative who was sounding the Big Pharma alarm long before lockdowns. Who forewarned against the propagandized media before anyone coined the term “Fake News.” Who called out the military-industrial complex as we worried about what now seem like trivial interests.
Maybe you wrote this relative off for his opinion on European healthcare systems, his experimentation with Buddhism, or his early endorsement of Marianne Williamson… in 2019. Perhaps the ideological divide made for uncomfortable Thanksgivings. Maybe your more statist siblings still aren’t speaking to him after a fiery Facebook brawl.
Then 2020 rolled around, and your Nonconforming Crunchy Cousin’s science skepticism started making sense. You hated to admit it, but after the government began closing gyms and barring seed sales for the sake of “public health,” you realized that maybe there was something to those grass-fed, free-range rants you had so smugly brushed off. And when they tried to force an experimental drug into your veins, maybe you detected some common ground.
Now, the Kennedy family rift naturally takes different forms. For example, while your siblings spat back and forth in the comments section, RFK Jr.’s siblings took to Politico to decry his craziness.
But nevertheless, Robert Kennedy Jr. is the family’s Nonconforming Crunchy Cousin. His presidential run has mortified the Camelot-clinging clan, so much so that most refused to attend the announcement.
State-run media has been instructed to brush off the candidacy of RFK Jr., dismissing him as an anti-vaxx, conspiratorial clown.
So I figured his campaign launch would be quite entertaining compared to the cookie-cutter soul-of-the-nation nonsense we’ve gotten from the Betos and Mayor Petes of the Democrat Party.
Still, I didn’t expect the throngs who turned out for it at $5 a head (or more). There was standing room only behind dozens of rows of chairs as well as overflow rooms for the large audience.
RFK Jr. spoke unlike any “Democrat” I’ve ever heard. He swore to uphold the Constitution—yes, the entire document. He promised to tackle chronic disease, and he called out the shortcomings of the CIA.
Boy, was his audience enthused. They roared especially when RFK Jr. tackled the topics of medical freedom and the mainstream media. Some donned t-shirts reading “Bravest for Choice,” the group started by First Responders in New York City after the draconian jab measures were put in place.
Afterwards, I spoke to some members of the audience—normal people who took time out of their Wednesday to attend a two-hour speech.
One woman spoke about Kennedy’s work getting the “poison” out of our water and pharmaceuticals and the need to demand action from regulatory agencies in Washington.
Another woman spoke of his appeal to parents and grandparents who have seen the uptick in chronic disease in the younger generations. RFK Jr. stands alone in discussing these issues publicly.
One young man explained how he is “not a voter.” Still, he was inspired by the message of “Bobby” to respect others in a way that transcends modern political discourse.
None of these people are Democrats. You’d think this would pique media interest.
RFK Jr. isn’t just another Kennedy. Even his family has made that clear. He’s not campaigning to be the next face in your grandmother’s living room in between his uncle and Pope John Paul II.
Unlike the muzzled media, I predict he’ll shake up the 2024 primaries. He’ll scoop up blue and red voters alike. His base is anyone stirred up by this decade’s lockdowns and mandates, who are fed up with preening, self-serving bureaucrats.
Even a decade ago, you’d never concede the levels of American corruption and conspiracy claimed by your Nonconforming Crunchy Cousin. Now you can’t believe you didn’t see it sooner. Science is a circus, cable news is a clown show, and to Congress, the Ukraine war is a game of checkers.
Finally, your cousin has his candidate. If you’re set on voting Democrat this primary season, you might too. And if there’s one of you in every American family, that’s quite the chunk of primary votes for RFK Jr.
The media are mistaken, but that’s nothing new. This election cycle, don’t count the Nonconforming Crunchy Kennedy out.