Michael Kane on AV24's Plans for the DNC Convention in Chicago

By Adam Garrie, The Kennedy Beacon

Note: Adam Garrie of The Kennedy Beacon interviewed Michael Kane, founder of Teachers For Choice; member of AV 2024; formerly with Children's Health Defense; and a supporter of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The below interview centers on activities, speeches, and peaceful demonstrations Michael has planned for next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. For information on how to join these peaceful activities, visit https://av24.org/dnc/ 

The interview below has been edited for brevity. You can listen to the full interview, here:

KB: It's Adam Garrie with The Kennedy Beacon here and it's my pleasure to welcome a guest who's really done absolutely amazing things that have moved mountains. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Michael Kane is someone who gave a voice to people (without one) at a time they needed it the most, and he did this through his leadership of Teachers For Choice. 

But today, Michael is heading to Chicago to give the DNC a bit of a present that they'll probably never forget. So, Michael, thanks for being with us. Tell us why you're going to Chicago. 

MK: Next week, August 19th through the 22nd, the Democrats are having their national convention, where they really seem to be officially out of the closet with their undemocratic means to coronate Kamala Harris, who has won as many primaries as I have in my lifetime, which is zero. So, myself and many Kennedy supporters will be making sure that the Democrats know there are millions of people who do not support their attack on democracy. We will also be making sure people hear loud and proud that Kennedy 24 is the only way to go in this election.

KB: We all know about what the DNC did in 2016 - they pushed Hillary ahead at the expense of a man who was ostensibly a more popular candidate. What have they done in this election cycle that people need to be vigilant about? 

MK: Robert F Kennedy Jr. entered the Democratic primary, in the tradition of his family for over a century. They have been some of the most prominent Democrats America has ever seen. And the DNC did everything they could to push him out, to make sure there was no path to victory. 

He ran in New Hampshire, which is where the election traditionally has started for a century and the DNC made a rule: If you campaign in New Hampshire, if you step one foot in New Hampshire, we're taking all of your votes and we're going to give them to Joe Biden. 

Kennedy was actually penalized for engaging voters, for going and hearing what the common people think and want and responding to that. And it just kept going. 

This happened in Florida and in other locations where they just simply said, there is no democratic process in this primary. And we know – from back in 2016 when that was litigated – what happened to Bernie Sanders. The courts ended up ruling [that since] the DNC is a private corporation, they can do what they want. And famously, there was that quote in court where the DNC attorney said, “We could pick our candidates smoking cigars in the back room.” 

This is the affront to democracy that we're dealing with. And now, they are just putting Kamala Harris up and having absolutely no democratic process at all.

KB: In 1968 there was a Kennedy in the election and we know what tragically happened to him. There was a sitting president who decided not to run. And there was a sort of dithering, indecisive vice president who became the nominee against the wishes of many. And on the Republican side, you had someone who everyone had written off as a political has been and then he was back. It was Nixon then. It's Trump now.

We all know what happened on the streets of Chicago in 1968 [during the democratic convention.] What sort of precautions are you taking to ensure free speech wins the day, and that people who might want to shut down peaceful demonstrations are unable to do so?

MK: Yeah, that's a really good question and really important. I’ll be there - a lot of us will be there. Teachers For Choice will be there. People from American Values [AV 2024] will be there. Kennedy supporters, all types of us will be there. 

We have hired professional security to make sure everything that we're doing is safe, is scouted out and that we're being smart in everything that's happening because as you mentioned, 1968 was a wild situation. 

I have been a grassroots organizer for many years. I have a team that has done this – a portion of the team did Defeat the Mandates in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial in 2022, where over 40,000 people came out. We're doing everything we can to make sure that it's a safe experience and an expression of free speech for everybody. 

KB: Free speech is more important now than ever. I mean, going back to 1968, Graham Nash wrote the song, Won't You Please Come to Chicago - “We can change the world…” and Kennedy as an independent candidate really does aim to change the world of politics and the world more widely. What are some of the Kennedy messages to independent voters, undecided voters, voters who don't like Kamala Harris, who don't like Donald Trump? What is this Kennedy message that they should really get to know? 

MK: The biggest issues are to heal the divide. For me, that and just the idea that we need a real statesman to head the free world…we need somebody that understands that it is not about attack and vitriol. It's about the issues. That alone, I believe, is the most important issue that we're facing.

Kennedy also has a real plan to address the crisis that is happening at the border. Kennedy has an outstanding plan for medical freedom and bodily autonomy that we've actually been documenting at kennedyforhealth.com, while no other candidate has anything anywhere near this. 

He has a plan to end the forever wars. He has a plan to truly deal with inflation and stop this devastating debt that is being passed on to our children and to our grandchildren. That's what comes to mind for me. 

And nobody is going to stand up for free speech and protect it the way Bobby Kennedy will.

KB: There's no question about it. And one of the things that I noticed about the Bobby Kennedy campaign is that he's one of the only people that makes it a point to protect the rights of people who don't agree with him. Biden and, by extrapolation, Harris are all about contacting social media companies and coercing them into censoring the digital public square. Maybe Apple wasn't far off with their 1984 commercial because it is 1984. 

Trump, we all know… lock this person up… lock that person up. With Kennedy, I think the message is – whether you agree with every single policy of his or not – he's going to defend your right to economic liberty, medical liberty, the liberty to speak out. Do you think that's an important message for the many undecided voters that are still out there? Do you think that that's something that could maybe help draw them into a campaign, even though they might have lost hope in the political process as a whole? 

MK: I sure hope so. That's the future that we need to go to. That's the past we used to have, right? We used to have it where it was liberals: it was Democrats who championed: “I may disagree with you, but I will, I will die for your right to say what you're saying.” And that history, that tradition, seems lost. 

For instance, Tulsi Gabbard was placed on a Homeland Security list the morning after she was on The Laura Ingraham Show on Fox, calling out Kamala Harris's past, her history and the policies that she has.

I mean, if every Republican, Democrat, independent, Green, Libertarian is not afraid of that. I don't know what you should be afraid of. This weaponization of the federal government against political enemies has gone off the charts in these past four years in the Biden-Harris administration. It must be stopped, at all costs. We have to come together. And I'm firmly convinced that the way that we do that is putting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the White House.

KB: Kennedy talks a lot about healing the divide. I personally think that it takes two to tango, and without creating a free speech environment, we won't be able to return to a high trust society. Do you think that Kennedy is the one who can pull us back from this brink of a society where government hates the people, and that hatred is reciprocated? 

MK: Yeah, 100%. I think he's the guy that can do it.You're going to see Democrats and Republicans, both getting on to bills that a Kennedy administration is pushing, that you would not have expected - that we just don't see anymore. What we see is highly partisan realities that are happening out there. Kennedy's platform is not a Republican or a Democrat platform. It is truly an independent platform. I don't agree with everything that Robert Kennedy says he wants to do.

But we're seeing that even in Bobby's own campaign, there are people who disagree with him. When have we ever seen a serious candidate for president say, I have someone on staff who is publicly disagreeing with me in a major way? That's what we need. We need these types of conversations and environments. 

KB: [We] see that even in his selection of Nicole Shanahan, another political outsider, which I personally think is a good thing. She gave an interview with Dr. Ron Paul and Daniel MacAdams, and she made it clear that if anything, her views on things like non interventionism might be even stronger than [those]of Kennedy. 

The Kennedy campaign seems to be one where there's debate as opposed to blind obedience. Now, the 19th of August, like you said, is when it all begins. People from around the country are going to to Chicago. What should they do to join you in this peaceful demonstration in Chicago?

MK: Well, the first thing to do is go to our website, av24.org/dnc If you go there, it's going to show you one of our main events that we're having on Thursday night [August 22], at the end of a peaceful rally that we're putting together. So go to av24.org/dnc and you will get all of the information as to what we're doing. 

In my opinion, Kennedy is the one who should have been at the DNC right now because I think he would have won had they had a real primary going across the country. But the Democratic Party no longer represents democracy. 

KB: We've talked a lot about independent voters, alienated voters and Republicans. Obviously, you'll be encountering a lot of regular Democrat voters in Chicago. But for regular Democrats that are in Chicago, who might have convinced themselves that the party of today is the party that it once was . . . what is your direct message to them? 

MK: How's life going for you today? How are the economics of your city? How is the safety of your city? And Joe Biden? Do you really feel you're better off today than you were four years ago, or are you just so incredibly afraid of “Orange Man Bad” — you're so incredibly afraid of Donald Trump that you would vote for absolutely anything instead of that?

So when we engage rank and file Democrats… we’re going to talk to them about how are you doing right now? How is your life right now? I think there's a lot of people on all sides of this who are voting out of fear right now, instead of taking a look at Kennedy, the one choice that could really make a difference for America. 

KB: A powerful message in difficult times. Michael Kane, thank you so much for joining us here at the Kennedy Beacon and all of the very best of luck spreading the word in Chicago next week. 

MK: Adam, I'm a huge fan of everything you do and all of your work. Thanks so much for bringing me on to talk about this.