It’s hard to remember now, but back in August Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was begging Democrats to throw him a bone. Kennedy was on bended knee because his independent presidential bid was faltering. After hovering around 10 percent in the polls for months, Kennedy’s support cratered once Democrats traded in their nominee, swapping the decrepit Joe Biden for his warm-bodied vice president, Kamala Harris.
Looking for a face-saving off-ramp, Kennedy asked to meet with Harris. He wanted to show her a poll showing that if either Harris or her opponent Donald Trump named Kennedy to their future cabinet, they’d receive a boost in 31 states. A cabinet post was Kennedy’s opening bid, but he likely would’ve backed Harris for less.
The backdrop to a potential Kennedy-Harris sit-down, of course, was Harris’s then-neck-and-neck race with Trump. Harris’ candidacy was all that stood in the way of Trump’s return to the White House — which Democrats said was an existential threat. So, it only made sense for Harris to take the meeting with Kennedy. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.
“We’ve reached out repeatedly through the highest level intermediaries,” Kennedy told the New York Times. “We’ve been told that they have no interest in talking with me.”
Country Club Dems
Like any self-respecting country club, the Democratic Party thrives as much on who’s not in the group as who is. While exclusivity has its perks, it’s an awful way to win elections. Awful, but not impossible, especially when Republicans run the same geriatric racist time and again.
While Democrats managed to narrowly beat Trump in 2020, that was only after losing to him in 2016. In round three, eight years later, every vote would matter, but for Democrats not every vote would be pursued. Some unwashed voters – like Kennedy’s motley crew – ruin the country club vibe.
Harris not only rebuffed Kennedy, but an acolyte went out of her way to insult him. “No one has any intention of negotiating with a MAGA-funded fringe candidate,” said Lis Smith, an adviser to the Democratic National Committee. The taunt almost seemed designed to push Kennedy into Trump’s warm embrace, something Kennedy had been resisting.
The Democrats’ tactic made sense from a country club perspective; as a political strategy, it was insane. Harris had little to lose by speaking with Kennedy — her supporters weren’t going to jump ship because of it — and everything to gain.
Exactly how many Kennedy supporters there were was difficult to pin down, as the group consisted of low-propensity voters who are notoriously difficult to poll. But whatever their size, in a tight election these voters mattered — and, with Kennedy preparing to drop out, they were about to be up for grabs.
RFK on the Fence
In hindsight it may seem like Kennedy’s siding with Trump was a foregone conclusion, but that’s far from clear. Certainly, there were signs pointing in that direction, the most obvious being Kennedy’s top financier. Timothy Mellon — the reclusive, pro-Trump billionaire whose grandfather was the industrialist and former Treasury secretary Andrew Mellon — donated a whopping $25 million to Kennedy’s super PAC.
Closer to home, however, pro-Trump sentiment was harder to detect. It wasn’t just the famed Democratic Kennedy clan that was against Trump, apparently so was RFK Jr.’s own wife, Cheryl Hines, the actor known for her character on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
And Kennedy was himself a lifelong Democrat. He only left the party after Democrats rigged the primary process against him in order to shield Biden (a move that would come back to bite Democrats in the ass a year later when an addled Biden attempted to debate Trump). With the Democratic lane foreclosed, Kennedy relaunched his presidential bid as an independent.
Watching this, Trump saw an opening to bring Kennedy into the fold, possibly as his running mate. “I like Trump-Kennedy,” Trump told associates. “I like the way that sounds.” But Kennedy ruled that out, saying, “I don’t think that my marriage would survive it.” Hines replied: “I think he’s right.”
Undeterred, Trump kept pursuing Kennedy, while Democrats kept excoriating him. In the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, their conversations intensified, with the two eventually striking an apparent deal: in exchange for Kennedy’s endorsement, Trump would give him control of the sprawling $2 trillion Department of Health and Human Services, which has since come to pass. (Kennedy still needs Senate approval to be HHS secretary.)
With Kennedy’s endorsement in hand, Trump was quick to highlight its significance. “It means that all of those who love Bobby, and there’s a lot of them, and all that he stands for, especially regarding the health and well-being of us… they vote for me now,” Trump said at a September rally. “So all of the Bobby people are going to vote for me.”
The idea that there are lots of Kennedy supporters may sound ludicrous to my lefty readers, but it’s true. Kennedy is “unique,” political scientist Lee Drutman noted back in April. “No other active US national political figure has a positive approval rating.” (Kennedy’s favorability has since lessened, but remains positive.)
I’m not rehashing all this to say Harris would have won if she worked something out with Kennedy (that may or may not be the case). Rather, my point is that Democrats’ country club mentality has helped doom the party.
Elections are about building big, messy coalitions and fighting for every voter, not just hanging out with the cool kids. Yes, Kennedy holds some extreme views. That didn’t preclude Harris from meeting with him. But for Democrats, losing face is worse than losing an election.
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