Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have derailed President Joe Biden's strategy for the 2024 primaries, the Western Journal reported. Biden moved the kickoff primary from New Hampshire to South Carolina, where he turned around his own failing candidacy in 2020.
The Democratic National Committee approved the move earlier this year that erased a century of precedent, according to Fox News. Instead of New Hampshire, the first primary election will happen in the Palmetto State due to its ethnic diversity.
This may have been a grave miscalculation as Biden has rankled Democratic voters in a state that isn't heavily Democratic and could potentially give some votes to Republicans in the general election. Even those within the DNC bristled at switching the venue for the important first primary.
"It does not help us. It doesn’t help the party ... to have this divisiveness and to share it in public," DNC Rules and Bylaws committee member Lee Saunders said when the proposal was debated. "We should never talk like that within the DNC."
Democratic strategist James Carville also warned it was a mistake as the people of New Hampshire are not "going to let this go easily." The state was instrumental in securing Vice President Al Gore's Democratic presidential candidacy in 2000 but may not play ball with Biden after this betrayal.
"If you start fooling with these things, then you're playing with matches," Carville said. "I'm not crazy about moving chess players around the chess board.
Moreover, Kennedy is shaping up to be a dark horse candidate in the coming 2024 presidential race. Democrats have attempted to hide their worries about Biden's political future, but it's abundantly clear that this will not be an easy road for the elderly president.
RealClearPolitics has Biden at 64% compared to Kennedy's 14%. Considering Biden is the incumbent and Kennedy is seen as a fringe-left figure, this is likely setting off alarm bells in the president's campaign -- and it shows no signs of slowing down.
A recent Time Magazine profile on Kennedy acknowledged the buzz his campaign has created. He has supporters "as disparate as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, actor Alicia Silverstone, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones," the outlet noted.
Even the candidate admitted he is "constantly surprised by" his sudden and sustained popularity. "It’s just very weird," Kennedy added.
Kennedy's newfound appeal lies in one of his main arguments about the lack of vaccine safety. What was previously thought of as a kook conspiracy, namely that vaccines are ineffective or, worse, harmful, has gained traction with the American people after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The environmental attorney and author saw revenue in his Children’s Health Defense Fund shoot from $6.8 million in 2020 to $16 million in 2021, thanks to growing suspicions of the official narrative on the novel vaccines. Kennedy also had a hit with his book "The Real Anthony Fauci," which exposed the top doctor and health official orchestrated "a historic coup d’état against Western democracy."
While Kennedy's star is rising, Biden is facing a slew of scandals that could undermine his reelection bid. The narrative that he never talked business with his criminal son Hunter Biden is unraveling as news comes out the president allegedly received millions in bribes along with his son, the New York Post reported.
Joe Biden is unpopular even within his own party, while Kennedy is increasingly gaining clout. Now the president's chances at reelection may be further in jeopardy after slighting the people of New Hampshire. This is not good for him.
