Today is Sunday, July 16, 2023. As I was missing from this page yesterday, I offer a new perspective on another person running for president, who I have not remarked on too much earlier before now, and he is the son of slain Democratic candidate for president in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, and his name is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and he is a raging conspiracy theorist who makes Donald Dumpf a bastion of toleration as he fosters antisemitism and pumps out torrents of fake news. This possible opponent of Joe Biden is covered in an eye-opening online article for i News by Rupert Hawksley entitled “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is America’s next nightmare.”

This unfit candidate for the highest office in the land emerges with substantially higher favorability ratings than either of the two older men vying for office in 2024. Kennedy, Jr. bears the most sacred name in Democratic politics and has won prized endorsements from famous celebrities and billionaire technology barons – but remains tethered to ludicrous conspiracy theories that make him extremely dangerous if his candidacy is allowed to flourish.

Kennedy, Jr. is running a guerrilla campaign, which was initially dismissed as a vanity project by a fringe conspiracist, yet polls have shown support running as high as 20 percent – a frightening reminder of his close friend Biden’s fragility and the electorate’s volatility.

Kennedy’s views are so bizarre, so conspiratorial, that he has been praised by some of the most loathsome figures in the country such as Alex Jones, who was fined hundreds of millions of dollars for claiming a notorious school shooting was a hoax. Now Kennedy has been accused of antisemitism after saying that COVID-19 was a bioweapon designed to spare Jewish and Chinese people.

Before the pandemic, he has suggested – without evidence – that chemicals in water turn children into transgender, antidepressants can be blamed for school shootings, and wi-fi causes cancer. He has also spread persistent misinformation about vaccines, including pushing widely discredited links with autism.

Even his own siblings have publicly condemned his corrosive views on vaccines. Yet Kennedy – third child of the charismatic, liberal man sharing his name who was shot dead while running for the White House in 1968 – carries on spewing out poisonous nonsense, as seen with the latest furor.

Another example of his wild imagination is his insistence two months ago that he had “overwhelming evidence” the CIA was involved in murdering his uncle, the late John F. Kennedy. He blames Washington for the war in Ukraine, saying the “political establishment” manipulated Kyiv into the conflict, while Putin supposedly acted in “good faith” by responding with an invasion.

As more and more people reach the conclusion that Biden should not run again in 2024, Kennedy benefits justifiably from concerns over the incumbent’s age. Although Kennedy himself is a pensioner, at 69 years of age. He is sadly boosted by name recognition and the power of his family brand, although this may wane as he gains more coverage for his outlandish views.

Many of these positions are far removed from mainstream Democrats, including his irrational opposition to gun control and his Kremlin-echoing stance on Ukraine, which puts him in cahoots with the Republican Party. Analysts suggest that much of his surge in polls – and some funding – is actually coming from Republicans, lured by his fierce opposition to pandemic lockdowns and regular appearances on Fox News.

It would appear that this man is still tormented over seeing his uncle killed so publicly when he was nine, then his famous father assassinated five years later. Yet it is very sad to see this latest Kennedy run for the White House after morphing from a valiant fighter for the environment into such an obscene conspiracy theorist. I would dare say his father would tremble with disappointment over how his son has run his presidential campaign and how crazy his views have become since rubbing shoulders with so many lunatic repugnicans. As the saying goes, Robert F. Kennedy would turn in his grave if he saw how his son has turned out.

As for his latest kerfuffle declaring that COVID-19 is “ethnically targeted, which attacks certain races disproportionately,” such as whites and Black people, but avoids Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese, universal condemnation from Democrats is essential here to show how deeply troubling Kennedy’s comments are. And, by golly, the condemnation has come fast and furious. One critic, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, of New Jersey, called Kennedy “a disgrace to the Kennedy name and the Democratic Party” in a tweet responding to the video which contained his vulgar remarks.

Debunking his vile assertions, Rep. Ted Lieu of California pointed out, “Millions and millions of people died from COVID-19 worldwide, including Americans who were Jewish or of Chinese descent.” Lieu slammed Kennedy further, saying, “If you still support the wacky, narcissistic, racist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., then that says more about you than it does him.”

Just reviewing this snapshot of the latest “Democratic” candidate vying for the White House, I can say with no hesitation that Kennedy is a disgrace to the very name he bears and his transformation into such a conspiracy nut is totally inexplicable.

Let no one forget what this Harvard-educated jerk said about early COVID restrictions at a rally in Washington sometime ago, “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” suggesting that COVID restrictions were worse. His own wife at the time diverged from her husband’s cringeworthy remark, saying in a tweet, “My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive.”

Yesterday I had my friend of 50 years over, “Jake,” who spent almost 12 hours lounging with me in our apartment schmoozing over what has transpired with us during the last few months. At 3:20, we got up and walked over to the Midway Theater to see the new Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible thriller. At almost three hours long, the action thriller delivers heart-thumping action sequences in the latest installment of the 1960s television program that starred Peter Graves and Martin Landau, among others. Here Cruise, at 61, seemingly performs his own stunts, and those stunts are truly amazing. In one stunning sequence, he careens up a ramp, jumping off the edge of a steep Norwegian cliff, plunging into a ravine and parachuting into a moving train.

The plot of this two-part saga concerns the quest for the other half of a cruciform key that controls the state-of-the-art new Artificial Intelligence (AI) weapon dubbed “The Entity,” which is a cyber threat as well as a threat to humanity. If used improperly, the Entity could be capable of invading the world’s operating systems. Cruise plays superspy Ethan Hunt who is tasked with finding the other half of the key and whose rival Gabriel (Esai Morales) also desperately wants the key. The entirety of the film concerns the rush to acquire the other half of this key, involving a spectacular car chase through Rome in a yellow Fiat and pursuing vehicles. There are innumerable fistfights in the 2-hour-and-43-minute film that would satisfy the most ardent armchair action enthusiast.

After the film, Jake and I had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, Spicy C. Then we came back to the apartment to have coffee and eat some cake slices I bought at Martha’s Country Bakery for the occasion. We then turned on the television to watch Baby Boom starring Diane Keaton from 1987 on PBS. Elliot was home by the time we returned from dinner.

The day ended around 12:45 a.m. with Jake, as I walked him to the elevator and bid him good night. We both said we would not wait another five months to see one another again.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.