Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week selected Silicon Valley lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his working mate in his unbiased bid for the presidency. Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has no political expertise however brings private wealth and tech-industry connections to RFK Jr.’s marketing campaign, which wants sources and allies to assist it get onto the poll in as many states as potential.
Shanahan, just like the scion of the Kennedy political dynasty on the prime of the ticket, is a former Democrat. She described herself as a “disillusioned Democrat,” The New York Occasions mentioned, and invited “disillusioned Republicans” to assist “unify and heal America.” She’s additionally ardently pro-choice at a time when abortion rights promise to be a spotlight of the election. Kennedy, an outspoken anti-vaccine activist, bypassed “higher identified potential candidates together with Nationwide Soccer League star Aaron Rodgers,” and “named Shanahan at a marketing campaign occasion that included assaults on the pharmaceutical {industry} and COVID lockdowns,” mentioned Reuters.
Kennedy, 70, launched Shanahan, 38, as a “sensible scientist” and a “fierce warrior mother” who’s skeptical of regulated industries and a defender of common Individuals. Shanahan mentioned she could be Kennedy’s “ally in making our nation wholesome once more.” The primary problem, although, will likely be invigorating Kennedy’s longshot marketing campaign, which has the backing of 15% of registered voters in comparison with 39% for Biden and 38% for Trump, based on a latest Reuters/Ipsos ballot. Will selecting Shanahan give Kennedy a shot at victory or, not less than, make him a simpler spoiler?
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This exhibits Kennedy’s bid is not severe
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unbelievable bid for the presidency all the time appeared extra like a conceit venture than a political marketing campaign,” mentioned Chris Brennan at USA Immediately. Selecting Shanahan as his working mate “solely confirmed it.” She turned her “political popping out social gathering” right into a business for “controversial and contested views” on vaccines, suggesting drugs was “one of many causes of her personal daughter’s autism.” These two are “made for one another.” Shanahan shares Kennedy’s kooky views and has the “deep pockets” to “pay for his platform, feeding him validation and a spotlight.”
Kennedy insisted he would by no means decide a vice presidential candidate primarily based on wealth, mentioned Joan Walsh at The Nation. “That is simply one other in a string of lies Kennedy has advised in his lengthy profession of shape-shifting and manipulation, culminating in his useless unbiased run for the presidency.” The reality is there’s “completely no purpose to decide on Shanahan” aside from her cash. “It is definitely not due to her political acumen,” judging by her bragging about being a “driving drive behind Kennedy’s ghoulish Tremendous Bowl business,” which “superimposed” RFK Jr.’s picture on his late uncle’s 1960 marketing campaign advert. The exploitation of assassinated President John F. Kennedy’s historic Democratic marketing campaign “bordered on political blasphemy,” and left Kennedy cousins howling “in anger.”
Truly, Shanahan might make Kennedy a contender
Placing Shanahan on the ticket was certain to offer Democrats suits, mentioned Greg Orman at RealClearPolitics. Beforehand, Kennedy “gave the impression to be drawing help equally throughout the political spectrum,” attracting conservative-leaning voters who don’t need former President Donald Trump again within the White Home and left-leaning independents and a few Democrats uneasy about giving President Joe Biden one other 4 years. However Shanahan, “an ardently pro-choice former Democrat,” might “tip the combo of Kennedy supporters” in a method that hurts Biden. It definitely might get “Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who have been open to a substitute for Biden however skeptical of Kennedy’s prior positions on reproductive rights” to offer his marketing campaign a “re-evaluation.”
Not like others within the “motley crew” on Kennedy’s shortlist, together with Jesse Ventura and Tulsi Gabbard, “Shanahan is on no account a family identify,” mentioned John Hendrickson at The Atlantic. “But she might bolster Kennedy’s outsider ticket in three pivotal methods.” She’s younger sufficient to “assist him enchantment to youthful voters” in a rematch between two major-party candidates going through questions on their age. She additionally will get Kennedy over the impediment in a number of states that solely let two-person tickets on the poll. “And, in fact, she has cash” — “tens and even tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.” Kennedy nonetheless has only a “slim likelihood of profitable the White Home,” however “his motion’s potential to ‘spoil’ the election stays very actual.” Kennedy payments himself “as a bipartisan menace,” however he is clearly betting that his new ticket might change into a drive to be reckoned with as Democrats battle “Biden fatigue.”
