Part Twelve – Mid-October
Why must we save our sanity, who said we ought to stay sane, how is it even decent to remain sane in this world we are so recklessly and callously deranging?…It is a kind of madness to always hear the keening of the dead, this hurt canticle. It is a madness not to hear. – Anna Badkhen
In Congress, the inmates took over the asylum. As MAGA Republicans battled for control of the position of Speaker of the House, no government news got done. Some might consider that good news, as Biden’s latest request for more military aid for Ukraine was tabled. But that didn’t prevent him from sending not one but two aircraft carrier fleets to the Mediterranean.
Aside from making an attempt to play the adult in the room and announcing (mostly minimum wage) job increases, Biden had plenty of bad news. His disapproval rating hit the highest mark of his presidency (56%). Invoking the ghost of Richard Nixon, former intelligence analyst Ray McGovern, regarding the ongoing investigations, wrote:
The Joe Biden-friendly Establishment media has mounted a full-court press to “prove” that Biden is, well, not a crook…But time is about to run out, and pre-emptive propaganda is unlikely to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. IF the facts do come out and IF they are reported, Biden’s presidential hopes may suffer a mortal blow.
Kennedy, still denied Secret Service protection, despite the agency’s determination that he is at an elevated “risk for adverse attention,” and despite the fact that an armed man impersonating a U.S. Marshal had been arrested at a Kennedy event, finally gave up on the Democrats and declared himself an independent candidate. His campaign announced that within six hours of the announcement it took in over $11,000,000 in contributions (over $28 million in the past year). Later that week, however, Kucinich quit as his campaign manager. Kennedy replaced him with his daughter-in-law, who, reported the NYT, “is best known for a memoir about her tenure in the C.I.A.”
How does the news of Kennedy becoming an independent impact the race? David Talbot writes:
Worried Democratic donors were convened on Zoom…to discuss how the party’s wealthy sponsors can stop challenges like the Kennedy campaign. “People are very focused on this threat,” corporate activist Matt Bennett… told Politico. Kennedy’s Democratic Party opponents are strategizing how to keep his name off state ballots and how to keep spreading disinformation about him.
Polls, notoriously inaccurate, especially this early, do indicate trends. One appears to show that Kennedy is the highest-polling independent or 3rd party candidate to enter a presidential election in the modern era, entering at 19% with Biden and Trump at 38% each. Another interpreter explains, “While trust (in the federal government) has hovered near historic lows for the better part of the last 20 years, today it stands among the lowest levels dating back nearly seven decades.”
Although Alternet ran its first hit piece since July, the Democrats, terrified of his candidacy within the party, can relax for a while now that he has left. One poll shows that 48% of Republicans have a favorable view of Kennedy (more than of most Republican contenders), while only 14% of Democrats do. This is partly due to the media demonization and partly to his regular appearances on conservative media, a result of course of the MSM refusing to interview him).
It means that he could pull more support from Trumpus than from Biden. And it explains why (writes Talbot)
Trump allies have also admitted Kennedy makes them “anxious,” with one Trump advisor telling Semafor, “We’re gonna be dropping napalm after napalm on his head reminding the public of his very liberal views, dating back to 2012. We have a lot of stuff on him.”
Newsweek dropped its demonization of Kennedy long enough to note, “Republicans Start to Panic About Trump’s Chances Against RFK Jr.” ABC News agreed: “RFK Jr.’s switch to independent campaign draws criticism from Republicans — not Democrats”. MSNBC reported “MAGA Republicans’ top political tool has betrayed them. And they’re furious”.
Prediction: If polls continue to show him taking more votes from Trumpus, we’ll quickly see that Secret Service protection.
Then Palestine / Israel erupted yet again. Mainstream media went into overdrive, repeating lurid claims that Hamas fighters had killed and beheaded 40 Israeli babies. Just as with the bogus line on Ukraine, “analysts” tripped over each other repeating the one word: “unprovoked”. Biden quickly maintained his pathological support for genocide and stated (outright lie or advancing senility?) “I’ve been doing this a long time. I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children…” His handlers retracted the statement when the source of the claim – a right-wing settler – was quickly revealed. But the administration ignored 55 Congressional progressives (after 2,200 Palestinians including over 700 children were already dead), who made the mild request that the attack on Gaza “must be carried out according to international law and take all due measures to limit harm to innocent civilians”. Too extreme for mainstream democrats.
If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged. – Noam Chomsky
But Biden did have good news during this insane week. Who would claim the mantel of primary “PEP” (progressive except for Palestine)? Kennedy also doubled down on his unqualified support for Israel:
This ignominious, unprovoked, and barbaric attack on Israel must be met with world condemnation and unequivocal support for the Jewish state’s right to self-defense. We must provide Israel with whatever it needs to defend itself — now. As President, I’ll make sure that our policy is unambiguous…I applaud the strong statements of support from the Biden White House for Israel in her hour of need. However, the scale of these attacks means it is likely that Israel will need to wage a sustained military campaign to protect its citizens. Statements of support are fine, but we must follow through with unwavering, resolute, and practical action…
Kennedy could not have engineered a more arrogant, shameless and ignorant denunciation of any claim to being a progressive – or any appeal to progressive support – than if he’d had Steve Bannon as his speechwriter (perhaps he did). This is probably why Kucinich quit the campaign. By contrast, Cornell West, an actual progressive, said: “The escalation of the barbaric violence in the Middle East must stop. The vicious Israeli occupation and the ugly Palestinian retaliation results in the killing of precious innocent people on both sides. We must have a lasting peace based on justice!”
With Kennedy shooting himself in the foot, Biden no longer needs to worry about him siphoning off progressive support, in either the primaries or the general election. But he can’t deny the low ratings. Still, the DNC gives every indication that they are willing to go down with him.
But just in case they can no longer make excuses for the dementia or the Congressional investigation gains media traction, Gavin Newsome has been vetoing every piece of progressive legislation that reaches his desk (such as allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits), rather obviously and shamelessly attempting to appear more conservative. Should he succeed in overthrowing Biden, however, here’s another prediction: the Republicans will portray him as a flaming socialist anyway, and his attempts to play moderate will merely alienate the left just when he’ll need it.
madnessatthegates 