Can an Outsider Also Be Elected in America?

By Blake Fleetwood, The Kennedy Beacon

“A populist fervor is sweeping the Western world. Populist parties, both left and right, are recording meteoric gains across Europe as the old establishment parties struggle for survival.” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In France, Emmanuel Macron’s moderate coalition has been handed stunning defeats by both the far left and the far right in the last ten days. Marine Le Pen’s first-round victory by her right-wing populist movement signaled a significant protest vote against the status quo. 

In a second round of voting, the far-left populist political parties dealt another mortal blow to Macron’s status quo. The leftist New Popular Front demanded the resignation of Macron’s prime minister and vowed to roll back many of Macron’s economic overhauls. Macron’s snap-election gamble to avoid handing over control of the government to a racist and nationalistic party failed miserably. It only succeeded in bringing forth massive populist protests. As of this writing, no party on either side has won a clear majority. But both extremes have made their voices heard. 

It is the latest example of what can only be called Revenge of the Outsider, a movement that is sweeping the Western world. 

Sometimes the outsiders are from the right, and sometimes they are from the left. They are angry at a status quo that leaves them further and further behind, frustrated, cheated, and depressed.

On July 4, in England, the outsider left-wing Labour Party, represented by Keir Starmer, wiped out the hapless Rishi Sunak and his moderate Tories in lopsided elections. For middle-class workers, the historic economic stagnation has been devastating. The average British worker would be earning $4,600 more annually if wages had grown in line with American or German incomes since 2010.

The same disruptions of moderate parties are being felt all over Europe. Electoral upsets, fueled by middle-class dystopia, have disrupted the status quo in Holland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and Germany, leading to turmoil and an increasing distrust of the Ukraine war. 

The ruling elites of the West have become detached from the experiences of the majority of their citizens. People are hurting, and they are lashing out.

These populist upsets are not all provoked by local issues, although rampant immigration plays a significant role. But the root problems and economic dislocations are much deeper and more profound.

Globalization, technological change, automation, and enormous economic disruptions have left the majority of Western citizens behind. They feel taken for granted by traditional politicians, abandoned, and looked down upon by urban elites. These changes over the last four decades have set in motion powerful forces that continue to play out.

This transformation is similar to what happened during the Gilded Age (1870–1890), a period of change from agricultural to industrial that resulted in gross materialism, blatant political corruption, and enormous inequality. These excesses gave rise to populist, anarchist, and socialist insurgencies. 

But in 1903 President Teddy Roosevelt saved capitalism from a violent insurgency by promoting fairness for all. He implemented the Square Deal, a series of massive reforms that tamed the rapaciousness of the capitalist excesses and focused on balancing the interests of labor, farmers, businesses, and consumers. He increased antitrust enforcement, addressed economic inequality, and improved working conditions by implementing the eight-hour workday and prohibiting child labor. 

America is in a cold civil war between a decimated middle-class majority – of the left and the right – and a ruling uniparty that has contributed to burgeoning inequality, grown rampant over the last 40 years. 

The average non-college-graduate – 62% of Americans – makes less now than he did 40 years ago.

The election of Barack Obama, an unknown senator and a black man, is one of the first manifestations of the public’s yearning for change. He promoted change but he didn’t deliver. The Occupy Wall Street protesters of a decade ago and the middle-class blue-collar workers who delivered Donald Trump the 2016 presidency are strikingly similar in their angst. Both groups believe that the government isn’t working for them and that they are getting the shaft.

Brexit 2019 was a significant expression of the desire for change. It promised to fix everything. It offered the hope of less immigration and freedom from European economic rules. But now the economy is 5% smaller, and most voters, 65%, think it was a mistake for Britain to leave the EU.

The forgotten middle class all over the world is demanding change. Throw the bums out is the operative sentiment. The one politician in America who stands for that is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

Kennedy is in a unique position to speak for the disgruntled left and right. This is what his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, did in 1968 before he was murdered. Kennedy understands the despair of those who have been left behind. He taps into the skeptical, anti-establishment mood of many American voters. 

This rage was captured in a New York Times focus group. The 12 participants characterized Kennedy as “Truly independent.” “Principled.” “Anti-establishment.” “Outcast.” “Definitely different from everybody else.” 

Kennedy, determined to break the power of the corporate oligarchies, vows to empower the middle class, starting with 3% mortgages for first-time home buyers, a move that interferes with the trend of the hedge funds taking over the American housing market. Kennedy vows to reduce the influence of money in our political system. 

Nearly $10 billion is anticipated to be spent in this election cycle to elect politicians. No one gives real money like this without wanting something. It is mostly bribes that encourage politicians to do what the monied elite wants.

These powerful global populist movements are demanding significant change to stop the economic and social devastations being inflicted upon them. In 2016, Donald Trump saw what was happening and rode this populist fervor to the White House. He is trying to do it again by declaring himself the “protest candidate,” hoping that voters will not remember his first term.

If we don’t acknowledge the widespread rage, Trump will be unstoppable. But the Democrats, who are desperate to defeat Trump, are unlikely to find such a person within their ranks. According to the polls, Kennedy is the only person who can defeat Trump and has a more favorable rating than Trump.

As Kennedy tweeted, admonishing people to vote for the responsible candidate will serve them no better than it served Emmanuel Macron in France. 

Kennedy, the ultimate outsider who once was an insider, is speaking for tens of millions of Americans when he says, “We need not cede populism to Donald Trump.”

Blake Fleetwood was a reporter for The New York Times and has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal,USA Today, The Village Voice, The Atlantic, and Washington Monthly. Blake can be reached at jfleetwood@aol.com.