Spoiler Alert!

I believe RFK's campaign is a dangerous mistake. Let's argue about it.

Let’s discuss RFK Jr’s Presidential campaign. I am making this post free for all and open to comments. Let’s try to find our way to clarity and coherence in the ever-deepening murk. 

Here is my current perspective, which is always open to change: 

I believe that RFK Jr’s presidential campaign is a huge mistake, a disaster waiting to happen. It is bad for America. The campaign reflects the egotism and delusional narcissism of RFK and his inner circle. It could easily turn out to be catastrophic for all of us.

RFK — currently polling at 10 - 14% of the popular vote — is not going to win the election. By far the most likely result of his candidacy is that Trump wins the election. If Trump wins, a lot of dominos may start to fall, with despots and dictators emboldened across the world, environmental protections trashed, and the climate irrevocably destroyed. 

If Trump wins, we don’t know what will happen within the US — what dank despotic forces may get unleashed. Let’s not find out! 

The first of those dominoes to fall could be Ukraine.

Many Americans have become confused about the great danger that Vladimir Putin represents for open societies and human freedom, with people wishing for a more isolationist approach. They need to wake up. Putin is an absolute dictator, a homicidal maniac, and a heartless psychopath who only understands the language of force and violence. Putin is not, as RFK keeps repeating, acting in “good faith.” We need to work with our European allies to oppose Russia directly and forcefully. Appeasement will not work — it never has.

It is unfortunate that the current Democratic leadership, starting with Biden, lacks eloquence and brilliance. I also hate our two-party system and consider our duopolistic Coke-or-Pepsi “Democracy” to be a sad travesty, with both parties owned by corporations. As I have expressed previously, I am an anarchist. In the short term, I consider Democratic ecosocialism our best option in the face of an ecological catastrophe that, very unfortunately, threatens most life on Earth in the very near future. But that choice, sadly, isn’t on the ballot in November. 

I also recognize that our society has been lurching from emergency to emergency, crisis to crisis, over the last decades. The stakes always seem too high for some outsider or third party to have a legitimate chance. Probably many of us recall how the 2004 candidacy of Ralph Nader — who campaigned on many of the same issues RFK is focusing on, albeit with far more intelligence and clarity — ended up winning the Presidency for George Bush over John Kerry. This preceded the 2008 financial collapse, among other notable failures. We are seeing the same dynamic playing out now. Unfortunately, the stakes are much higher this time because the world is burning down around us. 

Last week, Bill McKibben joined our Embracing Our Emergency seminar. I’ve always found McKibben to be a voice of reason, wisdom, and sanity, even if he is considerably more moderate than I am. McKibben laid out the case for why it is absolutely necessary that we re-elect Biden from an environmental point of view.

One exciting and positive development, McKibben notes, is that renewable energy has become cheaper than fossil fuels. It is now technically feasible to engineer a rapid transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels. We can do this – and we need to do it immediately, if we want to have any hope of not annihilating ourselves. But the fossil fuel companies do not want it, and they own Trump who has promised to do their bidding.

If Biden wins the election in November with a Democratic landslide, he will accelerate this transition and he could, potentially, move the country in a more progressive direction on many issues. I recognize he has become the target of outrage because of the ongoing US support for Israel in the war in Gaza, particularly alienating younger voters. There is much that can be said about this, but it is clear that support for Israel will continue under Trump, Biden, or RFK: They all agree on this one, deeply contentious, issue. 

I intend to go deeper into the issues raised by RFK’s campaign in future newsletters. I know that what I write here is likely to anger some people. Good! Let’s get angry. Let’s get eloquent and passionate.

Let’s fight for our future as — at this moment — it is very much in doubt.