Two weeks in the past I argued nationwide pollsters mustn’t embody Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the impartial candidate, of their presidential trial heats till we had extra purpose to consider he would seem on most state ballots.
As a part of my argument, I cited reviews that Kennedy’s vice presidential search was zeroing in on two “essentially unserious … bona fide kooks”: anti-vaccine soccer participant Aaron Rodgers and wrestler-turned-governor-turned-conspiracy-theorist Jesse Ventura.
At this time, Kennedy introduced his decide, who’s as ridiculously unqualified as Rodgers or Ventura but missing their superstar wattage: 38-year-old lawyer Nicole Shanahan.
Why? Not as a result of there may be any wisp of an argument she must be a heartbeat away from the presidency. As a result of she has gobs of cash and may single-handedly fund his marketing campaign.
Extra about this debasement of democracy, however first, right here’s what’s main the Washington Month-to-month web site:
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The Roberts Court docket Actually Might Give Trump Blanket Immunity: James D. Zirin, a former federal prosecutor, argues the Supreme Court docket’s “perverse determination” within the Trump poll qualification case bodes poorly for his or her upcoming ruling within the Trump immunity case. Click on right here for the total story.
Steve Garvey’s New Discipline of Desires: Steve Kettman, a former employees reporter for New York Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle, sizes up what’s behind the previous baseball participant’s “remarkably lazy” Senate marketing campaign. Click on right here for the total story.
Trump as Loss of life of a Salesman’s Willy Loman: Deanne Stillman, writer of American Confidential: Uncovering the Weird Story of Lee Harvey Oswald and His Mom, sees parallels between the legally challenged former president and the tragic fictional character. Click on right here for the total story.
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Shanahan got here from an impoverished childhood to grow to be a lawyer who created and bought a tech firm that specialised in patent administration software program. She grew to become insanely wealthy after marrying mega-billionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin, then used these riches to launch a philanthropic basis referred to as Bia-Echo. The muse funds fertility analysis, prison justice reform initiatives, and local weather change initiatives, notably concerning agriculture.
Shanahan and Brin divorced final 12 months following a Wall Road Journal report of an affair between Shanahan and Elon Musk, which the 2 deny.
This all makes for a mildly fascinating Silicon Valley cleaning soap opera, however hardly quantities to a resume that’s presidential-caliber.
What qualifies her, in Kennedy’s eyes, is her checkbook. Precisely what Shanahan obtained within the divorce settlement is unknown, however clearly it isn’t chump change. For instance, she didn’t flinch at funneling $4 million via a Kennedy-affiliated Tremendous PAC to supply a marketing campaign advert that aired through the Tremendous Bowl.
Selecting a operating mate solely due to a capability to bankroll a marketing campaign is very uncommon however not utterly unprecedented.
In 1980 the Libertarian Social gathering and its presidential nominee Ed Clark turned to grease business titan David Koch, who explicitly provided “a number of hundred thousand {dollars}” of his cash as a strategy to get round marketing campaign finance legal guidelines. He ended up kicking in $2.1 million, serving to the occasion notch 50 state poll strains for the primary time.
Little doubt Kennedy is attempting to do the identical with Shanahan. However doing so entails much more hypocrisy.
Kennedy launched his marketing campaign saying, “Individuals are indignant at being neglected, left behind, swindled, cheated and belittled by a smug elite that has rigged the system in its favor.”
Kennedy, after all, was born into the elite.
Being wealthy doesn’t disqualify anybody for the presidency or vice presidency, although sometimes candidates should show to the voters their private deserves with a resume of public service or distinctive enterprise acumen. (Donald Trump’s claims of enterprise acumen have been confirmed fraudulent, however nonetheless, that’s what he used to grow to be the one president with none expertise in authorities or army workplace.)
Kennedy himself fails the check. He’s solely gotten so far as he has by coasting on the identify of his well-known father and his lifelong connections to different members of the rich elite. With out that, he’d be only one extra of the tons of of crackpots who file the paperwork to run for president.
Now he’s tapping a far richer member of that elite to be some of the highly effective folks on the earth, not due to any distinctive achievements in her personal proper, however as a result of she has the cash to fund his marketing campaign.
This can be a perversion of democracy, and a smug one at that.
Kennedy has the correct to run alongside whomever he needs. However the media and the polling business don’t have any obligation to deal with his ticket like a severe marketing campaign, particularly when he stays thus far behind in poll entry.
Possibly Shanahan’s cash helps him get on ballots. Possibly the Libertarian Social gathering, which has a powerful document of poll entry, bails him out with its nomination.
However till that time, we must always deal with Kennedy like all the opposite crackpots operating futile presidential campaigns–by ignoring him.
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