RFK Jr. will speak to the Libertarian Convention this afternoon, just one day before Donald Trump is slated to address the fringe third-party group.
RFK Jr. is running a campaign to spoil the election for Trump in November, so it should come as no surprise that RFK Jr. and Trump will grace the same stage this weekend. Both candidates share extremist views on some of the most important issues facing voters today.
From Jan. 6 to praising American adversaries to restricting reproductive health care rights, RFK Jr. and Donald Trump are on the same side of the issue: the wrong side.
Republican Donors
- Wyoming billionaire Timothy Mellon, the largest GOP donor in the 2024 campaign cycle to date, has now given the super PAC backing Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential spoiler campaign a total of $25 million, including a recent $5 million cash infusion.
- Mellon is a well-known Republican donor helping fund the MAGA movement this cycle. To date, Mellon has given $15 million to Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing former President Donald Trump. He’s also given $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing MAGA loyalists to the House, and $4 million to The Sentinel Action Fund, a super PAC affiliated with the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation.
Sympathies for Insurrectionists
- RFK Jr.’s campaign sent a fundraising email that lamented how “J6 activists” were “sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties.” Campaign hire Zach Henry, who downplayed the January 6th insurrection as “Democrat misdirection,” was among the mob outside the capitol on January 6th beyond the established police lines. RFK Jr. himself claimed the riot at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the deaths of at least seven people, was not an insurrection and said he’d consider pardoning individuals who took part in overrunning police, delaying electoral certification, and ransacking the building.
- Trump called those arrested for attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6 “hostages,” said he was inclined to pardon many of those convicted for their roles on January 6th, and continues to surround himself with insurrectionists.
A Desire to Restrict Abortion Rights
- RFK Jr. dismissed abortion rights as “non-existential” and floated multiple ideas to restrict abortion care access at the national level including a 15-week abortion ban, protecting a fetuses under the law, restricting abortion care access after a “certain number of weeks,” and restricting abortion access at “fetal viability.”
- Trump nominated the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, and his assault on abortion and reproductive rights is ongoing. Recently he said he was “looking at” restrictions to birth control, the morning-after pill, and other forms of contraception.
A Desire to Destroy Public Education
- RFK Jr. announced his support for charter schools, which divert money from public schools, are among the nation’s most segregated learning institutions, and lead to worse educational outcomes for children.
- Trump’s 2020 budget proposed slashing funding for public schools by 10 percent.
A Xenophobic Immigration Policy
- RFK Jr. echoed Trump’s desire to close the border and said he would do so “permanently.”
Published: May 24, 2024