Saturday News Round Up – RFK Jr. Advocates for Julian Assange, Legalizing Cannabis, and Bipartisan Collaboration

“Get ready for a transformation in American politics beyond anything in living memory. The most recent President who wasn’t a Republican or Democrat was Millard Fillmore! And the most recent independent President was … George Washington.” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Image source: Deseret News via X

Today’s RFK Jr. news:

Independent presidential candidate

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

is running full steam ahead toward the White House. Today he participated in a Twitter space with campaign manager Amaryllis Fox, titled “Campaign Kitchen Episode 1: State of the Campaign Space.” Listen to the replay here.

Kennedy has just released a video calling for the legalization of cannabis as part of his larger plan to end the epidemic of drug addiction in America.

• RFK Jr. on X: “Legalizing marijuana won’t just get people out of jail and back to work – it can actually help solve America’s drug addiction problem” | X

• RFK Jr. Releases Presidential Campaign Ad Calling for Marijuana Legalization ‘To End Addiction’ | Marijuana Moment

Kennedy also reiterated his support for Julian Assange, the imprisoned journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, whom he praised as “a hero.”

Meanwhile, as the Biden White House continues to deny Kennedy protection from the Secret Service (despite multiple aborted security incidents involving apparently deranged individuals), the public outcry continues to grow:

• A Fake Badge and a Loaded Gun: The Mystery Man Who Tried to Get to RFK Jr. | The Epoch Times

Fellow independent candidate Cornel West spoke about RFK Jr. during an interview with ABC News in Australia. Despite disagreeing on issues related to “vaccine practices,” West said that Kennedy “is right in terms of the pharmaceutical companies having a disproportionate influence on U.S. health policy.”

• Presidential candidate Cornel West on RFK Jr’s run for the White House | Planet America

Inflection Point News shared a clip of Tucker Carlson and comedian Theo Von discussing Kennedy, in which the former Fox News host described Kennedy as “a very honest person. Bobby could have an infinitely easier life than the one he’s chosen. He’s doing this because he sincerely believes it.”

• “It sounds like @TuckerCarlson thinks @RobertKennedyJr is more of the real deal than @realDonaldTrump. Just listen to him lay out with the great @TheoVon on his podcast.” | Inflection Point News on X

The state of democracy:

As Kennedy continues his campaign, his opponents face increasing legal trouble, continuing to raise questions about whether the 2024 election will be free from influence by President Biden’s Department of Justice. Needless to say, it’s not a good look for either President Biden or former president Donald Trump.

Image source: Jamel Holley via X

• Judge issues another gag order in Trump’s civil fraud trial | Politico

• Judge in New York fraud trial extends gag order to Trump’s legal team | The Guardian

• An anti-Trump group produced four ads attacking his legal troubles. They backfired. | Politico

• Trump Suggests He’ll Take Gag Order Fight to Supreme Court | Forbes

Biden’s support continues to slip among Americans in key demographics – particularly those you might describe as “your average citizen.” It can’t help that Biden’s attempts to influence the DOJ extend to his son, Hunter:

• Biden’s case to rural America is missing a crucial ingredient | MSNBC

• Hunter Biden: I fought to get sober. Political weaponization of my addiction hurts more than me. | USA Today

• Hunter Biden seeks DOJ probe into former business associate Tony Bobulinski | ABC News

Nobody at this point believes that Biden himself is running the show, with many joking that former president Barack Obama is the true “puppet master.” Well, yesterday, the news proved those theorists correct – at least as far as Biden’s strategy to address anxiety around artificial intelligence:

• How Obama helped President Biden draft the AI executive order | ABC News

• Biden quietly tapped Obama to help shape his AI strategy | NBC News

Kennedy continues “eye-popping” polling trend:

In yesterday’s Round Up, we covered a new poll by Quinnipiac that had Kennedy winning 22% of the national vote in a three-way race against Biden and Trump. Here are some reactions from the press, each with their own spin on how this will translate at the ballet box in 2024:

• Opinion: What Robert Kennedy Jr.’s shocking poll numbers say about 2024 | MSNBC

• Quinnipiac Poll: RFK Jr. Pulls 22 Percent in Biden, Trump Race | Newsmax

• Opinion: RFK, Jr. Boom Will Go Bust | The Messenger

Check out the following analysis from Breaking Points, whose hosts said they “cannot understand why this has not gotten more coverage”:

Meanwhile, President Biden’s own polling continues to demonstrate that the American people are fed up with the status quo. Newsmax, which is firmly conservative, takes the position that this helps Trump:

• HarrisX Poll: Trump Leads Biden by 6 Points in Full ’24 Field | Newsmax

On the other hand …

• “What’s interesting about this is that RFK seems to be pulling from both Biden and Trump nearly equally, and perhaps slightly more from Trump. The two-way margin is a single point, 47/46 Biden, so Trump loses ten points when RFK is added to the mix.” | HotAir

Only time will tell where the 12% of “undecided” voters (as reflected in the HarrisX poll) will land. But if RFK Jr. continues his consistent upward trend, there is little doubt he will fulfill his goal of winning over a critical mass of voters from both candidates.

Louis Conte, Headlines Editor

Liam Sturgess, Assistant Headlines Editor

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