So, it has come to my attention that RFK has a TON of support. His third party run is shaping up to be the most successful since Ross Perot's in 1992 and 1996. And in polls that include RFK, he's currently sitting at 15.3% of the vote. I really have to ask: what the hell America?
It should be noted I already asked why, and I've actually posted actual responses I got from RFK stans on my blog. So I'm not LITERALLY asking at this point, I kind of know, but I really have to look, shake my head, and think, seriously, people? Seriously?
Because I covered this guy. He doesn't impress me at all. If anything I think his supporters are kind of insane.
And before you wonder what side he's "taking" voters from, and if they're trump voters, it's actually about 50-50 Trump and Biden. Trump is 2.7% ahead of Biden in polls that include RFK, and without RFK, we're talking 1.1%. Also keep in mind Cornel West is included too and he's "taking" almost exclusively from Biden, so yeah. As a matter of fact, if West isn't included but Kennedy is, Biden comes out 1.2% ahead. So I guess the dude is "taking" voters more from Trump than Biden.
In which case I kinda say "good". I mean, Kennedy ain't my cup of tea, but at least he isn't the psychopath trump is.
Anyway, I decided to check his policy pages to see if he actually has policy now, and I'm kind of pleasantly surprised.
His first page is on the cost of living, and he has a weird mix of liberal and conservative policies. He's for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and being pro union. He wants to bring the cost of housing down but doesn't explain how. He wants to focus on the border and cut down on illegal immigration for economic reasons. He talks a lot about corruption. On student debt he wants to make it dischargeable in bankruptcy and eliminate interest on student loans, and he wants to pay for it by cutting defense spending and ending our wars overseas. I think he's full of crap on this, but hey, I have to say, it's something.
Like, this dude has basically upped his game massively since I covered him last and while I still see him as a populist who doesn't have the ability to follow through, I see this and I have to say, well, I can see how he's appealing to people.Especially in this era of Biden being unable to really do much of anything. people want someone who gives them hope, and who acts like they care and promises to fix things, and I could see why people would support him.
On housing, he talks about low interest government bonds to bring mortgage rates down. I don't have a specific idea on how this would work, but it's an interesting idea. He wants to change the tax code and the zoning codes across the country too, and to push city governments to put government owned land on the market for purchase. These are all interesting ideas, and I can't say I disagree with much of this. A bit different approach than I have, but assuming the ideas work, it could work in theory.
He has some environmental policies, but nothing as ambitious as a green new deal or even build back better in my opinion.
He talks about making government honest again, without giving much idea into how he would do that. He also talks about healing divisions without doing much to explain how.
He basically talks about wanting to end wars and stuff, which is probably why the populist left is crazy over this guy.
He talks about the border and seems fairly conservative here, while at the same time wanting to be humanitarian. Given my own moderate, nuanced positions on immigration, I can't really disagree with his core approach too much, although he does lean into "stop intervening overseas" a bit much (like, seriously, i dont think our foreign policy is all bad).
He talks about being pro free speech, ending the war on drugs, and shifting criminal justice to a more rehabilitative approach, I can't find much to be against here.
He seems to have a relatively color blind approach to fixing racial justice, focusing on need rather than just race, this is an important distinction i agree with and this is how you win trumpers back. He also supports reforming prisons and the police, which i dont disagree with, and he brandishes his economic policies to bring the working poor out of poverty. Again, this is how you do this, I actually like a lot of this. he's addressing the issues in substantive ways without leaning into wokeism.
He talks about rebuilding infrastructure and fixing healthcare, although on healthcare he doesnt really seem to advocate for universal healthcare so it just seems like a bunch of talk to me.
And finally he wants to help veterans.
So yeah, I admit I just skimmed most of his stuff, didn't do a real deep dive into it, but this is MUCH better than I looked at 6 months ago. As a matter of fact, let's grade him according to my metric 1 metric right now based on what he has.
Support for basic income- 0/10
He's not for UBI
Support for medicare for all-0/10
He's not for medicare for all or even a public option. He doesn't really address the issue in a substantive way.
Economic policy- 5/10
I mean on other economic ideas he's somewhat progressive but seems to fail to go into stuff that I would like to see like build back better or free college/student debt forgiveness. He seems more moderate here. Still, I like his populist flair and he supports some good ideas, so...
Social policy- 5/10
Eh, he has some good ideas, but also fails to make his views known on stuff like abortion, LGBT+ rights, etc.
Foreign policy- 0/10
I don't like his foreign policy at all. I'm sorry but this "end da warz" foreign policy stuff doesn't resonate with me. I can see why some populists like it, but it's not my thing.
Overall ideology- 8/20
Eh, he has some ideas that I like, but all in all he's way too moderate for me in terms of what my standards are. I mean in retrospect I kinda feel like I was too harsh on Biden and I should've given him higher on some metrics. Although to be fair perhaps the Biden metrics are fair and this guy is worse than Biden for me. Still, he's more liberal than conservative honestly, and I don't think he's bad. He's not my cup of tea but he has improved a lot since the last time I looked at him. Still, I consider him more moderate than Biden even so I ain't a huge fan. Still, if this is what Trump was, I could live with this.
Consistency/commitment to progressive goals- 3/10
I mean I cant really judge him well on this one but he seems consistent in his own ideology, but in terms of what I want, nah, not super consistent at all.
Experience/competence- 0/10
I think he's basically liberal trump. Like what trump was trying to be in 2016 but more the real deal. Still he doesnt seem to know what he's talking about half the time and comes off as a blowhard to me still.
Doesn't act as a spoiler- 0/10
He's literally running third party
Overall- 21/100
I mean, I admit, I'm being extremely harsh here, but given Biden was the baseline and I gave him a 61/100 on this metric, I adjusted my scores around him.
But yeah, he's not really what I would want for president. He's not for UBI, medicare for all, he's more moderate than Biden for the most part (although significantly more progressive than trump), and yeah if anything maybe I should've given Biden higher. Still, this guy is....okay.
Like, I'm going to be honest, I would never vote for RFK, but I'm starting to get to a place where I feel like I can respect RFK voters more than I did. Back 6 months ago he had virtually no policy and seemed to be all talk to me, and even then a lot of his populism just...doesnt resonate with me. He is an anti vaxxer, he is stupidly "anti war" like much of the modern left, and his vision for america seemed to involve going back to "normal" pre covid, whereas I want a new way forward in which we actually learned the lessons we were supposed to from that.And he has weird ideas about autism and stuff. So hes still kinda cringe to me. But I have to respect him and his voters more than I did.
If anything, the fact that he can take several points away from trump's support tells me that maybe not all trumpers are lost causes after all, and maybe trump can still be defeated with the right mix of populist ideas and policies. I was starting to think we lost those people to the right permanently, but it looks like some can be swayed. Still, he is taking from both Biden AND Trump, so that doesnt necessarily improve Biden's position much in the polls, but at the very least, I can respect RFK's voters more than Trump's at this point. Hell, maybe I should seriously start asking trumpers who buy into his populism to consider RFK instead, if biden is a bridge too far.
Because let's face it, RFK would probably make people better off than trump would. Trump is a full on demagogue, and a dangerous one at that. This guy is just a weird centrist populist that ain't my cup of tea, but he ain't bad.
And that's actually the highest compliment I can give him now, he went from "this guy sucks why does anyone like him" to "well he ain't BAD...". Like, at this point if you told me you were voting for RFK I'd feel less inclined to think you were an idiot and more inclined to be like "oh, well, that's a half decent choice and I can respect that."
So yeah. Why do people like him so much? Seems to be a merging of left and right populism around a relatively centrist platform that is low key progressive while also throwing bones to the trumpers who hate immigration and neoliberalism. He's not a bad choice. Although I would argue there's far better out there.
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