RFK Jr. draws crowd of 350 in North Sandwich

NORTH SANDWICH — As a primary challenger to a sitting incumbent, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a steep challenge. Yet, he has a distinct advantage, being born into the most famous family in the Democratic Party’s history.

Polls show the shape of the situation. According to fivethirtyeight.com, which compiles averages of national polls, President Joe Biden had 64.3% of support among Democratic voters on Aug. 8, compared with Kennedy’s 15.2%. A line graph shows the relative support changing little since May 1.

Yet, polling can be an inexact science — the election of Donald Trump in 2016 was one example of the hazards of political forecasting — and perhaps the pollsters would have been surprised by the size of the crowd — around 350, by this writer’s estimate — who found their way to a field, still wet from the day’s rainstorms, north of the big lake on Tuesday evening.

Some attendees said they came because of positive sentiments they carried for the Kennedy name. Some said they appreciated his message of bridging the gulf that divides American discourse, seen on both cable television and social media. Some said they were inspired by his focus on the economic and physical wellbeing of working-class Americans. And some said they wanted to hear him speak in person, unsure of media representations of him as a candidate whose campaign is fueled by conspiracy theories.

‘Already excited’

The event was billed as a “house party” and “meet and greet” at the home of an entrepreneur who runs a financial services firm that works in the cannabis industry. As the crowd assembled and waited for Kennedy’s arrival, Laura Kearney of Wolfeboro said she was “already excited” by the campaign. “I’m going to vote for him, I just wanted to see him live.”

Kearny, who said she always votes for Democrats, said she appreciated “the way he speaks from his heart, the spiritual side of him,” and how he says things that might not be considered politically correct. “I’ve heard him talk about his addiction, and God, and love, and wanting to bring the country together ... I love that he wants to listen to all sides,” she said.

Daniel Ellison, of Effingham, said he inherited fondness for the Kennedy name. “My grandfather knew the Kennedys. The family, they’ve been through tragedy. It breaks my heart, that evil in the world,” he said. Regarding the current candidate, he said, “I like the medical freedom,” and considers Kennedy a “real Democrat: common sense, working class, the struggles of everyday population.”

“I’d like to see him become president,” Ellison said. “I’m about a better life for the common people. I’m glad that he’s running.”

Bianca Greco, from New York City, attended because, she said, “I’m interested to hear what he has to say.” Her husband, Rafe Greco, said, “I like that he has different issues than the typical Democrat or Republican: Big pharma, gun issues, vaccination issues, he’s talking about things that other politicians aren’t talking about.”

Kennedy’s campaign has attracted the interest of some who voted for Trump. Steven Toomey, from North Sandwich, said he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, and said he liked Kennedy.

“We like what he says, his whole stance on vaccines,” Toomey said. “My wife and I were pretty vocal, trying to educate our friends and family about the possible downsides of vaccinations.”

Toomey said he liked Kennedy’s “enthusiasm,” but added he didn’t agree with him on all fronts, specifically when it came to foreign affairs.

Toomey said he still admired Trump, particularly his persistence despite two impeachments while he was president, and a growing list of criminal indictments since he left office.

“I was a Kennedy Democrat, my parents were Kennedy Democrats, we had JFK’s picture on our wall,” Toomey said. “I think Robert is the old Kennedy Democrat. If it came down to it, my money would be on him."

The event also attracted some people who were preparing to exercise their voting rights for the first time. Alyssa Cantu from Berlin said everything she had read about Kennedy was “promising,” and “I wanted to come see in person, see the thing unfiltered.”

Cantu was accompanied by Scott Loven of Gorham.

“This is my first time coming to a meet-and-greet, trying to see the difference between what’s online and reality,” Loven said.

A populist message, wrapped in conspiracy

When Kennedy took the microphone, standing behind a barricade and protected by security personnel, he spent much of his 90-minute talk telling stories about growing up as part of American political royalty, whether it was visiting Poland when it was a Soviet satellite country, watching his uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, build relationships with adversaries in order to advance legislation, or traveling along with the body of his father after he was assassinated in 1968, as a cross-section of Americans lined the family’s path to join in their grief.

He positioned his campaign as a return to the philosophies of “my uncle,” John F. Kennedy, who as president resisted advisors’ urges to go to war with the the Soviet Union, as well as that of his father, who, in his telling, spoke about the Vietnam War in harsh truths, and in doing so, united elements of the American public that had been seen as disparate.

“We have two people running for president, who had both served a term in the White House, who are both bragging about economic prosperity,” Kennedy said, referring to Biden and Trump, the two front-runners for their respective parties’ nominations. “I think most Americans are afraid that if either of those got into office, it’s just going to be more of the same.”

Instead of a prosperous America, Kennedy said his work as an environmental lawyer showed him communities in poverty. He said the average American doesn’t make enough to afford basic living expenses, that parents have to make “impossible decisions” about how to feed and care for their families, and that young adults don’t see a future in which they will be able to own a home.

“This is not the America that I grew up so proud of,” Kennedy said.

At the root of these problems is an array of government agencies “captured” by corporate interests, which he said explained everything from the train derailment and environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, to a proliferation of hazardous chemicals in foods, environment and medicine, and high interest rates charged by credit card companies.

“If the mafia did it, it’s called loan sharking, but the banks get away with everything,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy drew a line from the cost of aid to Ukraine, which is fighting off an unprovoked invasion by Russia, to recent cuts to social safety net programs such as food stamps. He said that he would seek a fast end to the war in Ukraine by negotiating a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kennedy claimed such a deal was agreed to between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022. “This was all hidden from us until two months ago,” Kennedy said. “President Biden sent Boris Johnson over there to torpedo the deal.”

“Rubbish,” interjected someone from the audience.

“It’s true,” Kennedy retorted, alleging the Biden administration wants the war between Ukraine and Russia to continue.

Responding to a question about corporate influence in government, Kennedy said, “The corporations have captured the agencies, they’ve turned the government into sock puppets,” so they can “strip-mine the wealth of the American middle class.”

“I think I’m in a unique position to fix this. I’ve spent 40 years litigating against these agencies,” Kennedy said, and he understands how this “capture” occurs. He related to the crowd that then-President-elect Trump asked him to head a commission on vaccines, until, he alleged, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer gave Trump $1 million.

“Then the White House went dark, nobody would answer our phone calls,” Kennedy said. Instead, Scott Gottlieb was named head of the FDA, and Trump’s Operation Warp Speed resulted in billions in revenue for Pfizer. Gottlieb currently sits on Pfizer’s board of directors.

“That’s not draining the swamp,” Kennedy said.

In his administration, the National Institute for Health would be directed to halt focus on infectious disease, and instead look at chronic diseases, especially those affecting children, such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, food allergies and autism.

Kennedy referenced a study that he said found such diseases were a rarity in children until the year 1989, and have since become common.

“We know it’s not genes, it has to be some environmental exposure,” Kennedy said. The study he cited speculated the cause could be from 11 possible sources, which ranged from PFAS, pesticides and high fructose corn syrup, to cellphones and WiFi radiation.

“Vaccines are also one of the culprits,” Kennedy said. “We went from three vaccines when I was a kid, to now 72 ... Let’s not point fingers, let’s figure out what it is.”