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“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chose Nicole Shanahan [last] Tuesday to be his vice presidential pick… Shanahan, 38, is a California lawyer and philanthropist who’s never held elected office. She leads Bia-Echo Foundation, an organization she founded to direct money toward issues including women’s reproductive science, criminal justice reform and environmental causes.” AP News
Both sides are critical of Kennedy and his running mate:
“Kennedy claimed his campaign is ‘a spoiler for the war machine. It’s a spoiler for Wall Street and Big Ag and Big Tech and Big Telecom and Big Pharma and the corporate-owned media and all the corrupt politicians and corporations.’ Even without the Shanahan alliance, this claim seems dubious. Far from attacking the war machine, Kennedy, very much in keeping with his family’s dubious history, is as big a pro-Israel hawk as Joe Biden…
“Kennedy’s opposition to ‘Big Pharma’ has nothing to do with bringing down drug prices and is just a dog whistle for his advocacy of anti-vaxxing conspiracy theories. As for Big Tech, Shanahan is not a Joseph Kennedy–style crook who will rein in the other crooks but a pure manifestation of the class interests of Silicon Valley tycoons.”
Jeet Heer, The Nation
“If there was any doubt that Kennedy, a product of the most famous family in the history of the United States, still had an affinity for the far-left politics that his family has championed in recent decades, the choice of Shanahan to join his ticket should eliminate it all…
“This is a woman who threw thousands of dollars behind President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and has joined billionaire George Soros in backing radical district attorneys such as George Gascon, the district attorney of Los Angeles who has made a career out of letting criminals out of jail. This is not a ticket that any conservative should ever consider voting for.”
Jeremiah Poff, Washington Examiner
Other opinions below.
“Shanahan donated $4 million this year to RFK Jr.’s super PAC, American Values 2024, which promptly used it to pay most of the cost of the candidate’s cringe Super Bowl ad: Featuring hokey music and images from an ad for uncle John F. Kennedy’s successful 1960 presidential campaign and designed with Shanahan’s creative input, the plug bolstered RFK Jr.’s resolve while outraging Democrats…
“If Shanahan’s willing to spend more, it could smooth her ticket’s path to a ballot presence in all 50 states in November, likely costing Biden millions of Democratic votes while driving virtually all potential Republican supporters and many independents into the Trumpian fold… Even with the buzz around his running mate, RFK Jr. doesn’t have a chance of getting elected. But with Shanahan and her money on his ticket, neither does Joe Biden.”
Paul du Quenoy, New York Post
“In some respects, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks just like what people are longing for. He rejects both parties. And he claims to want to break the stranglehold of government bureaucracy, the cult of experts and the outsize power of corporate interests…“But while the wish is for a passionate centrist independent of the extremes, Kennedy in reality is a crank who attempts to transcend left and right by peddling a dog’s breakfast of conspiratorialism from across the ideological spectrum…
“Kennedy’s default position is that official explanations are suspect, which is another way of saying that all conspiracy theories — from 9/11 trutherism to fringe theories about the assassination of his own father to the idea that the COVID virus was engineered to spare Jewish and Chinese people — deserve the benefit of the doubt. It’s as if his entire political persona were designed to monetize what the political historian Richard Hofstadter called ‘the paranoid style in American politics.’”
Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
“What Shanahan can offer Kennedy is quite a lot of cash — and access to a lot of other people who do too… Shanahan [also] shares a key interest of Kennedy’s: skepticism of vaccine safety. Shanahan has rejected the label of anti-vaxxer, but has said, ‘I do wonder about vaccine injuries’ and that ‘there needs to be a space to have these conversations.’…
“According to The New York Times, part of her motivation for helping finance Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad ‘was concern about the environment, vaccines and children’s health, and her belief that Mr. Kennedy was willing to challenge the scientific establishment.’… Shanahan’s likely ideological harmony with Kennedy underscores how much Kennedy’s bid is less about winning over a huge share of the general electorate and more about spreading his fringe messages about public health.”
Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC
“The political scion is trading on his name like any other good-ole-boy insider. He’s what the kids like to call a nepo baby. He hates ‘the system’ yet kind of is the system… “[But] Even with his name, Kennedy remains a relatively blank canvas for most voters. Shanahan herself said that initially she didn’t think much of Kennedy because she didn’t know much about him. Over these next many months Democrats will make sure voters, particularly low-information voters, know much more about Kennedy and his running mate…
“Former President Obama could come in handy in these efforts. Remember his viral takedowns of Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race? Kennedy’s name and family legacy are the entry point for many voters, but Democrats, especially, will aim to make him synonymous with crazy, fringe, and dangerous ideas and dampen his standing by November. And key to that should be telling voters that Kennedy and his running mate are bankrolled by millionaires and billionaires.”
Nia-Malika Henderson, Bloomberg
