Unpacking Lis Smith’s Latest Propaganda in The New York Times

By The Kennedy Beacon

In case you haven’t been following, a certain swamp creature named Lis Smith has been dictating, practically verbatim, how the media covers Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On May 2, The New York Times fell further into the lower depths of tabloid journalism by publishing an opinion piece by Michelle Cottle, the majority of which is a Q & A with said swamp creature. 

That the Times is featuring Lis Smith should come as no surprise to anyone even vaguely following the election: the paper hates Kennedy, feels his presidential run is hurting President Biden, and wants to do everything in its power to belittle the competition. A perfect venue to feature the architect of Kennedy smear.

At this point, though, isn’t the Times’ agenda over-the-top? How can ‘the paper of record’ continue to pump out propaganda against Kennedy and not be taken to task? Isn’t this out of the ‘take down Bernie Sanders’ playbook that the Times mastered so well? Remember when Sanders had won seven states in a row and the paper buried its story? 

The Cottle Q & A does nothing but amplify Smith’s ideas and smear, for which she is surely being paid handsomely by the Democratic National Committee. 

Every Cottle question is a softball lofted for Smith to swing hard and peddle her wares. The Times is her mouthpiece unless it’s willing to present critical, alternative narratives. 

In her brief introduction to Smith, Cottle writes, “Ms. Smith is handling the public-facing effort to take down Mr. Kennedy and his kind. She and I had a phone chat recently about what this will take, and how she is feeling about this crazy election landscape.” Cottle might have more truthfully written, “Ms. Smith is working with aligned media, including the Times, to destroy Kennedy’s chances of winning the election.” 

“I am overseeing the communications effort for the D.N.C. that is responsible for tracking the independent and third-party candidates,” Smith coyly tells Cottle. “It is the first time that any effort like this has ever existed.” 

Since when are propagandists the heroes?

Make no mistake: Smith and her team are feeding every possible piece of twistable dirt they can find to writers like Cottle, who take what she says as fact. 

“The idea for it came about because Democrats learned the lessons of 2000 and 2016, when third-party candidates played the role of spoiler and helped elect Republicans,” Smith continues, angling for brownie points. “So given that democracy is on the line in 2024, we are leaving nothing to chance and making sure that we have a whole team that is dedicated to tracking these candidates and making sure that voters are fully informed about them.”

If Smith truly had the public interest in her heart, she’d realize that millions of Americans don’t want what Biden is selling, and millions of others have moved on from Trump. 

In the best spirit of democracy, these Americans are looking outside of the duopoly bubble to find a new leader. Smith is right: democracy is on the line when she, Cottle, the Times, and many other media outlets, lambast Kennedy for daring to think freely and question fervently.

Smith is so hell-bent on her high-paid mission she thrives on spin. How’s this? “....it’s really, really important for voters to understand that almost the entirety of the Kennedy family, the people who know R.F.K. Jr. the best, are opposing his candidacy and supporting Joe Biden.” Not so quickly, Ms. Smith. Only some 15 Kennedys of over 100 have come out in support of Biden. 

Smith also wants you to believe that Kennedy has no path to victory. “The most important thing that we can do is make sure that people understand that R.F.K. Jr. has no path to victory himself and that a vote for him is a vote for Donald Trump,” she tells Cottle. Again, not so quickly. Have you been reading David Stockman?

There is not enough space to take Smith on about all of her other distortions, but we can’t let this line go without comment: “The more people are exposed to what a dangerous crank [Kennedy] is, the less they like him,” Smith tells Cottle.

The more people are exposed to your awful spin, Ms. Smith, the more they realize you will do anything for money.