Newsmax Promotes RFK Jr.’s Presidential Campaign Because It Might Hurt Biden

Like other ConWeb outlets, Newsmax is trying to boost the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy Jr. Not because it actually wants him to be president, of course — he’s running as a Democrat, despite spouting right-wing views and conspiracy theories — but because he could act as a spoiler to President Biden’s re-election by running on his family name. (Also, Newsmax is sympathetic to his anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories; for example, a 2015 article uncritically forwarded them.)

When Kennedy made his ambitions known, Newsmax surprisingly published an April 10 article noting that the rest of the Kennedy family opposed his candidacy because of penchant for conspiracy theories involving vaccines and other things. But that was quickly forgotten as it became clear how useful he to be to the right-wingers at Newsmax. Shortly after announcing his candidacy, Kennedy landed an interview on a Newsmax TV program to bash Democrats:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 2024 Democratic candidate for president, told Newsmax that the party appears to have lost its will and capacity to fix the United States.

Joining “The Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Tuesday, Kennedy Jr. criticized the direction of the party his family has contributed to for over 100 years.

[…]

Kennedy Jr. further lambasted the Democratic Party’s role in ignoring the country’s heartland, like East Palestine, Ohio, and facilitating the destruction of the middle class.

“The Democratic Party seems to have lost its bearings and, you know, lost its will or even the capacity to think about changing the system,” Kennedy Jr. explained.

Newsmax gave Kennedy another platform to bash Democrats on May 2:

Democrats are engaging in censorship and enveloped in a “woke” culture that’s “about canceling people rather than engaging them in discourse and having no boundaries on the things we’re allowed to talk about,” said Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I feel like I’m a traditional Democrat,” Kennedy said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax’s “American Agenda.”

Kennedy appeared again on May 4:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, told Newsmax that the party should allow primary debates even with President Joe Biden running again.

Joining “Rob Schmitt Tonight” on Thursday, Kennedy said he should be able to challenge Biden publicly on foreign wars, Wall Street regulations, and the censorship of ordinary Americans.

A May 6 article by Nick Koutsobinas hyped how Kennedy “will make his debut appearance as a presidential candidate at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami later this month.” A day later, Newsmax noted Kennedy claiming that there’s “overwhelming evidence” that the CIA killed his uncle, President John F. Kennedy.

Newsmax even hyped Repubican Devin Nunes complaining that Democrats and the “propaganda fake news” were ignoring Kennedy. It also promoted polls that made Kennedy look good:

• Emerson Poll: RFK Jr. Nets One-Fifth of Voters
• Rasmussen Poll: Dems Like RFK Jr., but Would Vote for Biden

Trump sycophant and terminally wrong Newsmax pundit Dick Morris basically gave away the game by using a May 2 Newsmax appearance to explain how Trump should exploit Kennedy’s campaign for his own benefit:

A campaign for the 2024 Democrat presidential nomination by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has “struck a chord” with the establishment’s left and is making people nervous, and former President Donald Trump would do well to use that to his advantage, including in his upcoming CNN town hall, political strategist Dick Morris said Tuesday on Newsmax.

“I think the anger is just nervousness,” Morris, a former presidential adviser and host of Newsmax’s “Dick Morris Democracy,” said on “John Bachman Now.” “I have some advice for Trump that I’d like to give you over the air and I’ll give to him over the phone. I believe that Robert Kennedy has struck a chord that could be enormously attractive to potential voters for Trump, particularly those who watch CNN.”

Morris said Kennedy is using the “same rhetoric” against the deep state, Big Government, and high tech that conservatives use.

“He talks about genetic engineering, genetically modified foods, pesticides, forced vaccinations, and all kinds of stuff like that,” said Morris. “These are issues that Donald Trump believes in. Those are issues where he would agree with Robert Kennedy, and they’re issues that cut completely across the political spectrum.”

Morris that while most assume that the political spectrum is flat, “it’s not. It’s round.”

“The left and the right join against the center, and I think that is the formula that Trump needs to use to attract the ‘anti-Trumpers’ who are not really anti-Trump,” said Morris. “They watch CNN and could well be persuaded because he’s willing to go with other studies,” including on big pharma.

On May 10, though, Newsmax had to report Kennedy’s denial that he might share a ticket with Trump.