In Rare Move, The New York Times Tempers its Open Hostility Toward Kennedy

The New York Times politics reporter, Rebecca Davis O'Brien, appeared on the paper’s podcast, 'The Daily,' hosted by Michael Barbaro, on Thursday, October 12. During the roughly thirty-minute episode, O’Brien outlined Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s journey from litigator against polluters and the pharmaceutical industry, to an insurgent independent presidential candidate challenging the status quo of the two-party system.

Since Kennedy announced his run for president in April, the ‘paper of record,’ and numerous other mainstream newspapers and magazines including The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and Vanity Fair, have covered Kennedy’s run with open hostility. Instead of simply stating the name of the candidate, for example, they pervasively qualified him for their readers as “anti-vax,” “conspiracy theorist” and “fringe,” as though such words were part of his name.

Those arguing for more honesty and balance in the legacy media should not mistake this podcast for a mea culpa. There were still attempts to marginalize some of Kennedy’s policy positions as the fruits of “conspiracy” and “paranoia,” and the podcast’s headline preemptively tips the listener against Kennedy: “The Spoiler Threat of RFK Jr.”  

Still, O’Brien herself is even-keeled. This change in tone from a thus-far hostile outlet, four days after Kennedy’s announcement of his plans for an independent run, should be seen as a acknowledgement that Kennedy’s growing popularity among key cross-sections of America deserves more serious attention. 

O’Brien is best where she’s most empirical. Describing Kennedy as 'anti-partisan,' O'Brien interviewed the candidate’s supporters at the launch of his independent campaign at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Monday, October 9. There, she spoke with the cross-section of voters that Kennedy went on to reference in his speech.

O'Brien spoke with lifelong Democrats, including a woman who had supported President Obama but felt alienated by the leftist extremism of the Biden administration. Another lifelong Democratic voter said that he felt politically disillusioned because the Biden administration took support from Black Americans for granted.

At the event, which O'Brien endearingly described as a 'hippy Trump rally,' she spoke with lifelong Republicans who had become thoroughly disenchanted with the entire political system following the contentious 2020 election. 

Perhaps most intriguingly, O’Brien said that multiple Kennedy supporters mentioned the candidate’s opposition to the strangulating political and financial power of the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock. Kennedy has spoken at length about the control that asset managers like BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street have over other public companies and the lives of everyday Americans. Specifically, Kennedy has discussed how these corporations have made affording a home an impossible dream, the repercussions of which have harmed small businesses, shattered the entrepreneurial American spirit, and destroyed the ability of middle and working-class families to create generational wealth.

Others with whom O'Brien spoke were drawn to the storied Kennedy name, while many sought the truth about the haunting assassinations of the candidate's uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, whose life was taken hours after winning the California Democratic primary in the 1968 presidential election.

The podcast traced Kennedy's background as an environmental crusader, defending numerous individuals and organizations wronged by large corporations. Here, O'Brien paints a picture of Kennedy as a man whose values have remained consistently anti-authoritarian and skeptical of the growing parasitic relationship between big corporations and big government.

O’Brien and Barbaro discussed how, during the zenith of 21st-century authoritarianism amidst the Covid-19 shutdowns, Kennedy's lifelong passions took on a new urgency. He found himself in what he considered a perfect storm of government interference in the freedom of the American people, coupled with corruption in a pharmaceutical industry that captured the regulatory bodies intended to keep their corruption in check.

As O’Brien explained, Kennedy has focused his campaign on removing the influence of companies like Lockheed Martin from shaping foreign policy, while also concentrating on removing companies like Pfizer from its position in shaping public health policy.

Kennedy has also bemoaned the fact that the party of his father and uncles has been transformed into the political wing of big money, big pharma, and the military-industrial complex. O’Brien conveyed Kennedy’s initial desire to remain in the party that has been associated with his family for over a century, but she explained how he ultimately reached the conclusion that the party had strayed too far from his values. 

Moreover, O’Brien explained that the DNC's decision to unilaterally back the reelection of President Biden led to the creation of a primary system that effectively shuts out challengers from having their voices heard. This includes Biden's refusal to debate challengers from within his party, in spite of the fact that as the podcast revealed, Kennedy polls much higher among Democrats than most of former President Trump’s Republican challengers.

While some members of Kennedy’s large family have bemoaned his independent streak, O’Brien paints a picture of Kennedy as a man refusing to compromise on his principles. She also recognizes that he is building a populist movement founded on listening to and embracing ideological differences in the grand tradition of the First Amendment.

Although the podcast’s headline suggests Kennedy will play the role of spoiler, the independent candidate addressed this directly.

As reported by The Kennedy Beacon, Kennedy stated, “The media pundits will tell you we have no chance. They say my only impact will be to draw votes from other candidates. The Democrats are terrified I’ll spoil the election for President Biden. The Republicans fear I’ll spoil it for President Trump. The truth is — they’re both right!” He added, “That’s the real reason the party elites and the Washington insiders are terrified of my candidacy.”