And the winner is Kennedy….

If you thought that Bobby Kennedy had exited the Presidential race, or was never really in it to begin with, think again. The movement behind him is now deep and wide. It is the most significant youth movement since President Obama and now expanded to include the many Boomer parents of these kids. His presence in this presidential race has profoundly impacted the imminent outcome. However, the real impact will happen after the election is over. Let’s consider the ways in which he has been so influential and why.

As for the outright winner, it sure feels to me like it will be Trump, but this requires an explanation, which will make more sense after we better understand the Kennedy factor. (Hint: Trump now has a team. Harris is still campaigning as a person).

First, if Trump wins, it will be in no small part due to Kennedy getting his voters to do the impossible – vote for President Donald Trump. Probably half of Kennedy’s voters swung to Trump when Kennedy asked his backers to join forces with Trump. The other half couldn’t stomach the leap. Given that Kennedy owns the under-45-year-old vote in the US today, this was a materially important boost to Trump. Kennedy had reached out to the Democrats too but got nothing but silence. Kennedy became the King-maker and threw his weight behind the Republican side. He would have preferred to align with the Democrats. But, as he says, he did not leave the Democratic Party. The Party left him. The party not only abandoned their traditional position as the opponent of war and of big business. In addition, they blocked Kennedy’s efforts to run as a Democrat. They blocked his efforts to remove himself from the battleground state ballots. He had wanted to avoid being a spoiler. The Democrats think he’ll pull more Republicans away from Trump than Democrats away from Kennedy. So, Kennedy went to the Supreme Court, asking to be removed from these ballots, but it was probably too late. He is now asking his supporters to NOT vote for him. Whata luxury position to be in.

But, Kennedy swung Joe Rogan over from the start. Frankly, that has made a greater impact than all the opposition in the traditional media. Notice that Harris thought going on Saturday Night Live had value because it had worked for Bill Clinton. But, this just reveals that the Democrats have not understood that this is a podcast Presidency. Not a TV Presidency. That era ended long ago. Kennedy understands the power of the long form podcast in the current era and was the first candidate to make serious use of podcasting to spread his message in the current race. By the way, the Democrats have tried hard to use the traditional print and TV media to trash Kennedy at every turn. It has worked with the boomers who still rely on these sources for their news. Boomers reading this will no doubt be shocked that anybody can take Kennedy seriously. But, having canvassed audiences across the country, this effort to portray him as a nut case is being constantly overwhelmed by new data that supports his arguments. The younger audiences, who don’t trust mainstream media, are ever more aligned with him on substance. Joe Rogan’s support for Kennedy and Trump has outweighed all the efforts of mainstream media.

In addition, Kennedy had called for the impossible. He said he wanted a “unity government” where Democrats and Republicans would hold hands again. This approach seemed impossible and somewhat deranged to political experts. Yet, the impossible happened not only once but twice. On the left, Vice President Dick Cheney is now holding hands with Vice President Kamala Harris. On the right, Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is holding hands with Donald Trump. Unity government options are now available to voters on both sides. Kennedy got his wish. He got his wish on both sides. This alone is a remarkable accomplishment

.Kennedy said he wanted health to be at the front and center of American political debate. It wasn’t even a campaign topic at the start of this race. Now, it is central to this race and to the public debate. The Make American Healthy Again strapline has resonated with voters in all age brackets. As I have traveled the country this year, I’ve noticed how this issue began to go viral amongst young people who wanted to know why French fries in Europe have four ingredients: salt, potato salt, and non-hydrogenated oil, while the American version has 11 to 19 ingredients including natural beef flavoring, dextrose, and sodium acid pyrophosphate, and “anti-foaming agents.” Now, their parents are all over these issues, too. People are voting against cancer-causing, life-threatening products in the food chain. Everybody wants glyphosate out of their bread. Kennedy got the nation's vote against a system where major corporations buy a regulatory stance and inject health-threatening ingredients into the food and medicine chains. The “Freedom Fries” movement is overtaken by the “No Fries” movement Kennedy launched. Getting ultra-processed food off school lunch menus has turned out to be a vote winner for him. He has not only elevated his primary issue but also forced the rest of the political establishment to address it. His most recent announcement was that the Trump Administration would eliminate fluoride in water. This may not resonate with boomers, but it does with everybody younger than that.

Perhaps the greatest coup of all for Kennedy has been Trump’s announcement that Kennedy will Chair a new Presidential Commission on Presidential Assassinations. This will dig into the long-festering wounds arising from the assassinations of Kennedy’s father and uncle (RFK and JFK) and the yet insufficiently unexplored assassination attempts on Trump.  This is likely to be the most critical outcome of this Presidential race because it will likely reveal things that may change the nation’s understanding of its own identity. After all, many have tried to get the JFK and RFK files fully declassified (left and right alike) and yet have been stymied at every turn. Now, Kennedy will be able to bring light to bear on this dark corner of American history.

The opposition to this is formidable. I watched his campaign manager and daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox, speak with Tucker Carlson. She is ex-CIA. She opened by pointing out the inconsistency between America being a democracy and yet having a political establishment that seems to like overturning democracies abroad. She questioned the efficacy of the continuous efforts to engage in long wars that the US never really wins. Interestingly, when I tried to comment on her interview, Linked In gave me a pop-up that said, “Amaryllis Fox Kennedy cannot be mentioned.” This is exactly what The Democrats are not getting. The suppression of public debate does not serve their interests. More and more Americans have become more and more uncomfortable with the seemingly cozy relationship between the government and the media. Some ask if the media is the government. Trump’s $10b lawsuit against CNBC for editing Harris to make her look better is at the heart of this new focus on this cozy alliance.

All this helps explain what Bezos is up to at The Washington Post. Jeff Bezos’s decision not to endorse Harris or any candidate was well thought through. Obviously, the fallout is huge. The Washington Post lost something like 250k subscribers. But