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Outliers who enter the presidential derby usually broadcast their plans before running, as Trump did, forming an exploratory committee for the office in 2000, before finally running in earnest in 2016. But outside of Dwight D. Eisenhower a genuine war hero almost never does a figure without a political resume and not so much as a previous head feint toward the White House launch a serious presidential campaign out of the blue as Kennedy did in April. Some people give more forethought to picking a dressing for their salad than Kennedy seems to have given to his run for president.

But Kennedy doesnt care that hes losing because winning the White House isnt his objective. One clue that Kennedy doesnt crave the political power that comes with the presidency is that, unlike his siblings, cousins and other Kennedy offspring (Joseph P. Kennedy II, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Patrick J. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy III, Edward M. Kennedy Jr., Mark Kennedy Shriver, Bobby Shriver), he has never sought public office. The closest he has ever come to serving in a legislature was in 2000 when he briefly considered running for Daniel Patrick Moynihans open U.S. Senate seat (which Hillary Clinton slipped into) and in 2008, when he appears to have been on the New York governors shortlist to fill the seat when Clinton vacated it to become secretary of State. Or, to give him the benefit of the doubt, it could be that Kennedy has always craved power but wanted to start at the top.

What Kennedy does undeniably desire is public attention, something his presidential campaign is delivering, with critical profiles in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time, the Atlantic and a particularly damning and comprehensive one by Rebecca Traister in New York magazine. In just a couple of months, Kennedy has gone from that anti-vaccine guy to a staple of cable news coverage, making him The Top Kennedy for now, even if much of the publicity is bad. Its always been a competitive clan, so hes got to be happy that he now occupies a larger presence in the public mind than his cousin Caroline Kennedy, an ambassador to Japan and now Australia, larger than her brother John Kennedy Jr., who dominated the headlines until his accidental death in 1999. Because its been so long since his father and famous uncles died, Bobby Jr. might even have eclipsed them as The Top Kennedy among younger voters.

The political gene, which often comes bundled with the one for narcissism, never adequately thrives until fed by some form of adulation. Even the negative adulation of the recent profiles can be read as I must be doing something right because theyre all knocking me for somebody as thirsty for attention as Kennedy. Hes winning there, too.

In just a couple of months, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has gone from that anti-vaccine guy to a staple of cable news coverage. | Josh Reynolds/AP Photo

Kennedys candidacy has broadened the platform for his previously banned-by-Facebook-and-Instagram outr ideas about vaccines, not to mention his views on his fathers assassination, gender dysphoria and chemicals, antidepressants and school shootings, the CIA, and the stolen 2004 election. That adds to the considerable platform he has already built on his podcasts and his bestselling screed The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. The current campaign has and will continue to expand his exposure until he concedes the nomination to Biden.

Kennedy may have spent his career as an environmental activist and litigator on the political sidelines, but hes well aware of the dividends that can be earned from running a long-shot presidential campaign. As laid out in a recent Insider article, the typical dark horse candidacy is mostly about climbing the rungs of power. Would former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg be the secretary of Transportation today if he hadnt run in 2020? Would Kamala Harris, who polled below Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for almost the entire 2020 primary campaign, and frequently did worse than Buttigieg, have been tapped as Bidens running mate if she had not run? Would Sanders possess his current clout if not for his two unexpectedly strong forays? Failed candidacies have produced book contracts, cable TV deals, paid speaking engagements, lobbying gigs and proximity to power.

The current Kennedy moment will soon be swamped by the Biden machine. But every day this final heir to Americas second greatest political dynasty spends on the hustings, he will continue rolling up winnings like an undetected card counter in Las Vegas.

The greatest? The Bush family, of course. Send your winnings to [emailprotected]. No new email alert subscriptions are being honored at this time. My social media accounts Twitter, Mastodon, Post, Bluesky, and Notes want to welcome a baby brother: [http://@[emailprotected]]Threads. My RSS feed wants to kill them as they sleep.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Real Motive - POLITICO