RFK Jr. bringing new donor bucks into race

A month ago, I wrote about the planned leak of RFK Jr.'s big announcement for Oct. 9, which is, of course, today, and the leak indicating that he will indeed run as an independent. And, now, we're seeing more and more TWO campaign finance phenomena.

One is that Bob Jr. is drawing more from Republican than Democrat money on donors with a political history.

Two, and bigger, is that he's drawing new blood.

Politico looks at the money Kennedy's own campaign, not Super PAC, raised up to Sept. 30. It frames this as "Republican lean," but really, what it is, is massive political newbie lean. More than three-quarters of the large-dollar donors gave no federal funds in general in either 2016 or 2020.

Beyond that first graph, of those who have donated elsewhere this cycle, he's primarily getting money from Trump donors but also Vivek Ramaswamy contributors.

Beyond that graph, see this lie:

“Some members of our party like his positions on vaccines, but other than that he’s a liberal,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). “That’s not going to work.”

Wrong! Bob Jr. is a wingnut on pro-life, wingnut enough to tout one place that talks about the "abortion as Black genocide" canard.

Donalds isn't alone, though, as there appears to be a "Florida Man" gangup. Pedo pusher Matt Gaetz:

“Oftentimes people can donate to someone that they’re not even voting for just to see their argument platforms,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). “We’ve seen those calls among the sort of junior varsity slate of Republicans seeking the nomination, so I’m not as concerned about [donors].”

And Lil Marco:

“Really what you’re talking about is what impact could he have in five or six states that are going to be competitive, [if he’s] on those ballots,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has not yet endorsed in the 2024 race. “Frankly, I don’t know how many voters out there are willing to spend their vote on a candidate they think has no chance to win,” he said.

They are scared. At that first link, I noted states that come more into play, or states like Arizona and Georgia that Biden narrowly won in 2020 that are a bit more likely to stay in his column with Bob Jr. in the race.

Back to the previously apolitical donors? Sadly, because this is based on data-mining from FEC reports, Politico has nothing on WHY these donors are giving away money now. From it's own POV, that ties in part to its bad framing at the start of the piece. 

Part of why is clearly dissatisfaction with duopoly choices. That's possibly tied to GOP donors' hedge-donating. It may also be libertarian types, even Libertarian types, who see someone who largely fits their interests, but not entirely, and a more appealing candidate than Trump or the non-eyegrabbing 2024 Libertarian candidates.

Of interest, and related to Byron Donalds' lie, and possibly of interest to these recently apolitical big donors?

On Oct. 13, just days after his announcement, Bob Jr. booted Dennis the Menace Kucinich to the curb as his campaign manager, and replaced him with his daughter-in-law, who looks about as wacky as Bob himself. Besides the nepotism issue in general, a campaign that had looked fairly well-oiled up to this point will probably face extra scrutiny on those grounds.

I wonder if Dennis the Menace, wacky enough himself at times, had been some sort of restraining factor on Bob Jr., like on the pro-life stuff, where since then, has touted Auntie Angie's House, which, reading between the lines of this:

Our mission is to eradicate the Black Maternal Health Crisis through research, advocacy, support, education, and awareness.

Presumably believes in the "abortion is Black genocide" trope.

Given that he's grifted on the actual wrongs of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment to target American Samoa, Somali immigrants in Minneapolis and other people of color with his antivaxxerism, Bob Jr. may actually be a self-gaslighter on the "abortion is Black genocide" issue. As a 2-star overall book I just read notes, in 2021, Bob Jr.'s Children's  Health Defense released the film "Medical Racism: The New Apartheid." Add in that Bob Jr. has buddied up with Tony Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, and there you are. (How he squares this with blank checks for Israel, I don't know.

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Update, Nov. 6: Perhaps reflecting some of the above, as well as Democrat butt-hurt-ness, a new Quinnipiac Poll shows Bob Jr. underwater on favorable/unfavorable. It also shows Rethugs more excited about the race than Dems.

Above all? It shows Bob Jr. tilting the race toward Biden. So, why the fuck isn't Genocide Joe giving him Secret Service? 

Especially since Quinnipiac legendarily tilts Republican.