I take back anything nice I ever said about RFK Jr. What an ass. My pick for American president is Vivek Ramaswamy.
Discussion
Are there some news about it?
First signal for me the warmongering.
I watched his interview with Krystal Ball.
That tweet is from back in February 2021, when there wasn't enough solid information against vaccination yet. There was only reason to be skeptical because it was new and couldn't possibly be well tested yet. I was vaccinated myself in Aug 2021, having done a lot of research, and considering myself a borderline case (I was always against mandates, and never thought kids should be vaccinated, even back then).
When he says "we should aim to safely vaccinate everyone who is eligible" I don't presume he meant to force it on people who don't want it, although if you take it strictly literally it sounds that way. But at that time, people just presumed everybody would want to be vaccinated, so making a distinction at that time about those who wanted it vs those who didn't wasn't even part of the public consciousness yet.
What happened?
He says the Palestinians are the most pampered people on Earth.
I understood as he meaning (regardless of whether it is true or not) that Palestinians receive a lot of aid from other countries but that Hammas doesn't give it to the people who then suffer immensely.
I didn't think he meant they are eating caviar while pretending to get bombed.
Never happen. But a good choice.
What did RFK jr do to lose you?
He said a lot of dumb things about Palestinians at his latest interview on Breaking Points, including that they are the most pampered people on earth.
My take was he meant that Palestinians receive a lot of aid from other countries but that Hammas doesn't give it to the people who then suffer immensely. But some people understood it differently.
What really struck me from that interview was that he seemed to say abstract advocacy of violence is not/should not be protected by the First Amendment. In other words that he'd be against Brandenburg v. Ohio.
That I think is very dangerous.
The "what an ass" comment is about him calling Palestinians the most pampered people on Earth. I understand perhaps they've received more aid per-capita, but you could only construe that as "pampered" if you completely ignore that they are the most terrorized and bombed people on earth.
He is heavily pro-Israel which is a deal breaker for me at this point. I don't think anyone could be pro-Israel unless they either don't have a decent diet of information from both sides, or they have a monstrously evil psyche. He is certain of his view, which means he is either monsterous or both ill-informed and certain, and the combination of ill-informed and certain is itself a big red flag for me.
Oh, also, I've listened to Vivek more recently and that guy really really impresses me. He comes closer to how I think than RFK Jr does.
To me his position on the Israel v Palestine issue is a deal breaker for me. Hard to believe him on other stuff when he gets that one wrong and defends it so tooth and nail.
But if you ignore the blatant propaganda that he believes is true, for a moment, whatever his opinions, it has some nuance and it looks like he has criticisms of Israel (particularly of Netanyahu), which I was positively surprised bc I was under the impression from past interviews that he was completely pro Israel on every way. It's a lowbar though.
I wish he goes on to talk to Mac Blumenthal regarding Israel and Palestine.
But what really struck me from that interview was that he seemed to say abstract advocacy of violence is not/should not be protected by the First Amendment. In other words that he is against Brandenburg v. Ohio as a president.
Which if it is the case he is a phony about free speech.