247. Robert F Kennedy Jr: Donald Trump's Vice President?

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1:49Hello and welcome to the Restisted Politics US with me, Katty Kay. And me, Anthony, how are you doing? How's your week been? I'm doing well, Katty. I admire your headset better than mine. This is very bad for my hair, this headset. I tried that the first week and then the whole princess layer thing, you know, it never worked for Carrie Fisher. And if it doesn't work for Carrie Fisher, Katty Kay should not try it. I just want you to know, I am as vain as you have you haven't figured that out yet. I'm upset about that headset, but what's more to be said? I'm going to send you my $15 little in the earbuds so that you can get away with that.

2:25Okay. Let's get on with the show. There's a lot to talk about this week. We're going to talk about two things in American politics that I think are pivotal in the election, but haven't really got a lot of traction certainly around the world. The first thing we're going to look at is Robert F. Kennedy's run for president. We're going to talk about who he really is, why he's running, which candidate he could end up helping. And of course, we have to go into brainworms, which we'll explain later. Then after the break, we're going to look at all things vice presidential and how Donald Trump can't resist turning a very important campaign decision into an episode of the apprentice.

3:01But first, Anthony, I think we've got to start with the trial in New York. We had stormy Daniels taking the stand. She was cross -examined by the defense, the prosecution put her up there, and she gave some pretty graphic details about the one night stand she had with the former president. And I bring it up, Anthony, because of course she's a friend of yours. Well, I mean, it's not my fault. Liz, I've met with stormy and I was on the Bill Mars show with her, which was very interesting. And then of course, we went to the after party together. And she told my wife that I was a lot shorter than she thought.

3:38Out. But she said I was handsome enough to put in her carry -on luggage. So, dear, very much that did not like that. I mean, that's fine. But I'm only bringing that up because she's a lot of fun. She's articulate. She's smart. And she is honest. And so, her film star career, her being an adult film star obviously, is going to turn to some of the things that are coming out of her mouth. But I don't think that what she is saying is false. I think she is telling the truth about her relationship with Donald Trump, telling the truth about what happened. And of course, that's very important for the case.

4:15And for our UK listeners to understand this case, it's not that Mr. Trump had sex with an adult film star. That's not the big deal. The big deal is the election interference. He made a decision to use money towards this thing from his organization that would be a direct violation of campaign finance laws in the United States. And it is a form of election interference to do that. So, both of those things are felonies. And again, I'm not saying that he's going to go to jail for this sort of stuff. But I do think the prosecution has made the case. Now, I know in the UK, you can't say those sort of things on the air, but you can hear in the United States about US criminal cases.

4:58Yeah, but it seems to me, wasn't it, how he got a bit of a wrapping off from the judge? And the judge did kind of come down on him hard. I thought, I warned him. Look, I don't want to send you to jail for contempt of court for violating the gag order. But I might do so. That's the serious side of it. I'm sorry, but I just can't get to the end of the week without getting Donald Trump in his box as on a bed out of my brain. I mean, it's like, I need a defense shield there because I didn't need to know that. I didn't need to, and I'm just wondering how many people are feeling like me, especially female voters, thinking, oh, okay.

5:26So, so he himself knowing his personality as well as I know him, the fact that you're sick and by that has him uber upset. I just got to let you know that about because he hates being mocked. He may hate being made fun of. And of course, Stormy has also described in detail other aspects about him, which would describe why perhaps he's so hyper masculine, why he has this overbite or this overcompensation. And it could have a lot to do with his physical anatomy. And so I'll leave it there because I know that this is a children's friendly podcast. But I just want you to imagine the embarrassment of this guy.

6:08And here's the other thing. He thought he was going to get away with this. And so I think Trump's surprise was, I'm going to run for president. It's a very big publicity stunt for me. I've done so many stupid things in my life that they will creep up on me in the presidency. And I won't make it to the presidency. And then lo and behold, he's able to get away with everything. There's a whole list of things that he has done that has broken every cannon of American politics, presidential politics, and presidential candidates. Isn't there something kind of wonderful about the fact that he's done all of that and the one thing he couldn't get away with was stormy Daniels.

6:47And a one night stand in a conference hotel room and that that's what's coming back to bite him. And I thought it was kind of cool away the prosecution built her up to your point about her being smart. They said, look, this woman got a full scholarship to a Texas university and was going to be a vet. She was on her way. She was studying until she got into the film stop business, which kind of, I think she's the big feminist icon. I brought a prop for this show, okay? Because I know we do YouTube as well. And so I want to just show you this. Can you see this? Yep. That is a picture of me. Two handsome men.

7:18Yeah, well, I don't know. The characters are not that handsome, but that's Don Corleone's Trump. Me is Tom Hagen. That was going to be the cover of the New York magazine The Week I Got Fire. Okay, so forget about the Italian racism of the cover. It doesn't really bother me. But the point is he's a mafia Don. He sees himself as a mafia Don. And the mistake that Mr. Trump made is that he didn't take care of his made guys. Okay? And so Michael Cohen was one of his made guys. And he never took care of him. And he left him hanging. And so what did Michael Cohen do to him? Michael Cohen did to him. The same thing that Sammy Gervano did to John Gotti.

7:57He went after him in the court system. He exposed him. And if he's guilty here, which he likely will be guilty, this will be a problem for Mr. Trump because he will be running for president. They're not going to put him in jail, Caddy. But he'll be running for president with an ankle bracelet on on. And he'll be stuck at more a logo. And people will decry that. And they'll say that that's law fair, meaning the Biden administration has used the law to hurt the other candidate. But the truth of the matter is, if you understand the American political system, this is a New York state issue. And this is a city issue.

8:32The prosecutor coming after Mr. Trump has really nothing to do with the Biden administration. Yeah, I mean, let's look. We have to leave this to play out. It's going to be another two to four weeks. We reckon this trial is going to run. And it's going to be that jury of 12 of Donald Trump's peers who are going to decide. And only one member of that jury has to decide that he's not guilty. And Donald Trump gets acquitted. It's a hung jury. Okay, so just one thought on that. If you don't mind me saying this, this is from my law school experience working with a lot of lawyers. Everyone thinks, well, you got one juror in there.

9:06There's probably a mega person deep in the Trump cult. And no matter what is said, is going to let Trump. Or they just decide that the evidence isn't there that he, you know, that he personally knew that these checks were going. I'll tell you that's not how it works inside those juries. Because there's a group think that overtakes the jury. And if there are 11 people pushing for the guilty verdict, they will be able to convince that one person. So this will be a nasty thing that happens. And we'll watch it unfold. But the learning lesson here for all of these people listening to his caddy, you got to protect the people that are working with you, whether you like them or not.

9:43And Mr. Trump has an asymmetric view of loyalty. He's paying the price for it right now in that court. So that's interesting because my learning lesson is don't have a one night stand with somebody else when your wife has just had a baby. And that's why you and I make good podcast partners. You see that? So you see how you're adding value in a way that I couldn't. Right. What we're actually going to talk about is the third party candidate, RFK Jr. Robert Kennedy Jr., who is also running for president of the United States. I think a lot of viewers around the world are very aware of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

10:18They may not actually know that there are actually two or three other candidates running. The only one of those who's actually developing traction is Robert Kennedy Jr. He is the son of Bobby Kennedy, who of course was assassinated in 1968. And he is the nephew of John Kennedy, who was president of the United States, who was also assassinated in 1963. So he has this kind of lineage. If you think about the Kennedys, they are the winzers of American politics. I think that's fair, right? And I mean, I think that's a fair description of the Kennedys. There is there isn't a bigger democratic name. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.

10:53Yeah, but they don't have that storied history that the Kennedys do. So incomes RFK Jr. running as an independent candidate in this race. Well, you know, the British aristocracy better than me, but I can tell you this about the United States. And I'm a blue collar kid. People love aristocracy. You can pretend otherwise. The United States tries to be this flat, maridocratic system. But there's a love affair in the United States for families like the Kennedys. Now, maybe the Kennedys shine has sort of been rubbed off a little bit over the last 20 years. But I'll take you back to the 60s and 70s.

11:33I know that I frankly grew up in where people like my parents. And again, I got raised Roman Catholic. And so Jack Kennedy was the first Catholic president of the United States. I loved him. And there were pictures of him everywhere in our house. And obviously, you know, I was in the live at the time. But my mother told me that the parish priest literally told people go out and vote for John Kennedy for president. Because this is the opportunity for the Catholics to have their first president. Of course, Joe Biden is the second Roman Catholic president. But the thing about the Kennedy family, though, is they have been mired in tragedy.

12:09And so there's often a saying in Greek tragedy that the sins of the father get passed on generationally. And of course, Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger. He was involved with the mafia. He was a stock swindler. He made a fortune doing that. And for those of us that really know our British history, he was the UK ambassador for a time appointed by Franklin Roosevelt. And he was an appeaser. He was a sympathizer with the Nazis. And he was well and roundly disliked by the UK government. And so he had to have separation from his younger children who wanted to be in politics. Because Mr. Churchill obviously didn't like him.

12:51And Jack Kennedy had a position himself away from his dad. Why am I bringing all this up? Is that this family is attached to the American political scene for the last 80 years, Cadi. And Robert Kennedy is representing the family, even though the family, including his siblings, have not endorsed him. Moreover, they've all gone to the White House. The Kennedy family, this royal Windsor -like family that you're describing, has gone to the White House and taken pictures with Joe Biden. And have endorsed Joe Biden. This would also include Jack Kennedy's last surviving child, Caroline Kennedy. I think there are some members of the family actually that are supporting him, but the main ones you're right.

13:34The main ones. The main ones are... And I think just to explain to listeners why he's drawn the eye of so many of his own family members as well, of course, of Democrats. He's a controversial figure. Basically, if you look at his campaign platform, he's running on sort of two main things. One is that the current system, which is dominated by two parties, no longer represents lots of people. And so you've got millions of Americans who feel homeless. The other is this kind of... Is anti -COVID response anti -COVID vaccine. That's what... If you just say one thing about Robert Kennedy that people know, it's that he's anti -vax.

14:15Right? I mean, that's kind of what he's running on. And he's this outspoken anti -establishment figure. And it's that anti -vax side of him that his family don't like, and the fact that he risks toppling Joe Biden just by the fact that he is running as an independent candidate. Now, historically independent candidates, we know this. They haven't had much traction. We spoke about this last week. The system costs so much fricking money that it's almost impossible to run if you don't have a big party backing you. But Kennedy's argument this time around, and the reason he's running as an independent, is that so many people are unhappy with the choices that they have of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

14:59That this year there is an opportunity for somebody to run as an independent candidate who gives them somebody else. So now we have this 70 -year -old guy, but boom, news flash because he runs. And just this week, we discover that the guy has a dead worm in his brain. He wasn't hearing things. He had memory loss, also problems, neurological problems. He went to a doctor, and the doctor said, it's a tumor, his uncle had had a tumor, recently died of a tumor. So they said, you've got to fly down and have emergency surgery. Just as he's about to get on the plane to fly down to have emergency surgery, another doctor rings them up and says, actually, you know what?

15:40We don't think this is a tumor, this memory loss that you've been having, the brain fog that you've been having, we look at the scan and we think that it's a worm. It's a parasite in your brain, and this worm has died. And apparently, when worms die in your brain, Anthony, it's never very nice. Because they start eating away at the cell. That's probably one really saying this. We've gone from sex to brain worms. Anyway, they start eating away at the cells. You can't remember stuff. So Bobbi can't really think so great. I don't have to have brain surgery. It's not a tumor. And this, for some reason, all of this gets into his divorce deposition from a decade ago, and it pops up this story yesterday in the New York Times.

16:23And now this brain worm and what impact it may have on Bobbi Kennedy, because the only thing we know is that Bobbi Kennedy says he's fine. He says that those memory losses in that brain fog that was 10 years ago, we don't know that. It's true. We haven't seen the medical records. So we don't know whether actually this brain worm is going to have much more of an impact on his campaign. Could it be that voters look at Bobbi Kennedy now, and they don't see this strapping model of masculinity? They see a guy who's got a deaf parasite in his brain. I just want to add one thing. And I think that the notion of brain worms and sex with Donald Trump, I think they're very...

17:02I have the same. Yeah. I do. I think they're very similar. Could somebody please pass me the vomit bag after I just said that? And since our producers have asked if we ever met him, again, I'm bringing props, that's me and Bobbi, okay, at the Bitcoin conference last year. And I spent an hour with Bobbi to talk about his campaign, and I was there for his speech. And he's a charismatic guy, and he's a thoughtful guy. And there's a lot of things that he says, has a lot of truth to them. But you and I both know American politics well enough that there's no chance in hell he's going to get elected to the American presidency.

17:39So why is he doing this? And who is he going to damage the most? And since I can't leave that worm out there hanging, I just want to point this out that his father was the most vicious, vicious campaign managers. Bobbi Kennedy Jr. was Jack Kennedy's campaign manager, and he was dropping bombs on people left and right. But this is a self -detonation bomb that Bobbi Kennedy could come out there and tell us that he's got a dead worm living inside of his brain. Now, I may have a dead worm living inside my brain, Katty, but I'm just going to let you know about it. Anyway, we'll get more on this worm because actually this worm could be pertinent to the November election.

18:23But who does he hurt more? Well, I think that's a really good question. The Biden campaign has been the campaign that has been most worried about Bobbi Kennedy, right? They have spent a lot of money on lawyers trying to prevent Bobbi Kennedy to get onto the ballot. So, quick explanation. In order to run as a candidate, Bobbi Kennedy's name literally has to be printed on those ballot papers in as many states as possible to give him a chance of winning those states. At the moment, he's only on the ballot in three states. He says he could be on 10 states overnight. He just, you know, hasn't decided to do whatever it takes to get there.

19:03You get on the ballot by getting a ton of people to make signatures, right? Thousands of signatures. And each state has different rules. It's super complicated. It's very expensive. You have to get these thousands of signatures in order to get on the ballot. Or you could do what he did in Michigan, which was you find an existing party, which is on the ballot already an independent party in Michigan. It's the natural law party, which I think has a membership of about four. And they have suddenly decided to make Bobbi Kennedy their candidate. So, he's on the ballot in Michigan, which is why this is all started to be important.

19:35He got on to the ballot in Michigan in April, which is when the Biden campaign suddenly woke up and thought, oh, Christ, this guy could actually be a problem for us because Michigan is a swing state. We've spoken about that. And if Bobbi Kennedy takes 10 % of the vote in Michigan in a very tight race, that could hurt us. Now, the Biden campaign, I'll let you talk about the Trump campaign in a second, but the Biden campaign knows that traditionally these third party candidates have hurt Democrats more than they've hurt Republicans. So Ralph Nader, hurt Al Gore in 2000, Jill Stein, the green candidate, hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.

20:13Stein got 30 ,000 votes in Wisconsin, which potentially lost Hillary Clinton that state. She may even have lost Hillary Clinton in the election in 2016. You could make that argument, which is why Bobbi Kennedy's campaign is such a big deal. And the Biden campaign knows that Trump has a high floor. There are lots of people that really love Donald Trump. They're not going to leave him for some third party candidate. But Joe Biden's supporters, they're a little bit more squishy. And a candidate comes along with the name Kennedy, who has some issues that appeal to Democrats. He's pro -choice, he's pro -union.

20:46It's possible the Biden campaign realizes that those squishy Democrats could go and pull the lever for Bobbi Kennedy. So that's the case for the Biden campaign. What do you reckon about the Trump campaign? Where are they worried? I want to say a few things. And again, just to remind everybody listening in in American politics, follow the money. And the money for the Bobbi Kennedy campaign is coming from conservative Republicans that are trying to help Trump. You will find Steve Bannon in pictures with Bobbi Kennedy. Moreover, Jill Stein, who you'll remember, was a green party candidate in 2016.

21:25She was backed by arch -right conservatives, even though she's a quote -unquote green party member. So follow the money. There's also disinformation out there, I believe, where people are saying, well, Bobbi Kennedy hurts Trump more than he hurts Biden. The Biden people certainly don't feel that way. And obviously, these right -wing conservatives that are funding Bobbi Kennedy don't feel that way. And so the real question is, what happens here? Bobbi Kennedy, stay in the race. How does this sort itself out? Now I will say this to you. Anthony, do you think there's any chance that just recently the Trump campaign is starting also to think that Kennedy could be a problem for them?

22:04I'm just noticing how Trump is being a little bit more vicious about Kennedy. He's calling him junior. He's saying that he's a Democratic plant. He's sort of putting out truth socials about him a little bit more. And I wonder whether they have any internal polling that is suggesting that he could be something of a threat to them. So both sides may be worried about him, but again, follow the money. The right -wing is the one supporting Bobbi Kennedy. And you know this. I still talk to a lot of Trump people and a lot of Trump insiders. When asked the following question, would Donald Trump accept Bobbi Kennedy Jr.

22:40as a vice presidential candidate? The answer to that question was yes. And then the follow -up question is, well, why? And the answer to that question is, Mr. Trump wants to win. He wants to win at all costs. He wants to put a hurt on the liberal elite and all of his haters. Nothing will make him happier than just to win. He probably doesn't want to govern as much as he wants to win, Cadi. And so I believe it is still on the table, despite the rhetoric and the rabble rousing. It is still on the table that Bobbi Kennedy could be the vice presidential candidate for Donald Trump. And by the way, if that were to happen is really bad news for the Biden campaign because one thing that Kennedy is doing is he's attracting a lot of young people to his campaign.

23:23Now politics being politics, maybe the egos are too big, but I'll just remind people about their American history. In 1980, George Herbert Walker Bush said that Ronald Reagan's economic plan was voodoo economics. And everyone roundly criticized George Bush for saying that Reagan went after him, but at the convention he made George Bush his vice presidential candidate to unite the party. Mr. Trump has one other thing going on if you don't mind me adding this is that he can't get the Nikki Haley voters. And in the enapolis 21 % of them, she's not on the ballot. 21 % of them voted for her in Pennsylvania, Governor Haley not on the ballot or in Bassett or Haley not on the ballot.

24:0617 % of the people voted for her. And you and I both know in American politics, you need to cross over voter. Barack Obama got that from Hillary Clinton in 08. Hillary did not get that from Bernie Sanders in 16. She lost the election. So Trump is sitting there knowing that a good 15 to 20 % of old school Republicans may hide off from him. And so don't be counting out a marriage, a political marriage between Bobby Kennedy and Donald Trump. Well, that would be seismic. By the way, you should clearly be a broadcaster, Anthony, because that was the perfect segue into the second half of our show. So after the break, we're going to talk more about the vice presidential pick because I tell you, a Trump Kennedy ticket would be two massive alpha males.

24:51I have not met Bobby Kennedy, a very good friend of mine dated him for a while. And there is nothing shy and retiring about Bobby Kennedy. He does not like taking second place to anybody. So I wonder how that would shake out. We're going to talk more about the vice presidential pick after the break.