Two weeks in the past I argued nationwide pollsters shouldn’t embrace Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the unbiased candidate, of their presidential trial heats till we had extra motive to imagine he would seem on most state ballots.
As a part of my argument, I cited studies that Kennedy’s vice presidential search was zeroing in on two “basically unserious … bona fide kooks”: anti-vaccine soccer participant Aaron Rodgers and wrestler-turned-governor-turned-conspiracy-theorist Jesse Ventura.
At this time, Kennedy introduced his decide, who’s as ridiculously unqualified as Rodgers or Ventura but missing their superstar wattage: 38-year-old legal professional Nicole Shanahan.
Why? Not as a result of there may be any wisp of an argument she ought to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. As a result of she has gobs of cash and might single-handedly fund his marketing campaign.
Extra about this debasement of democracy, however first, right here’s what’s main the Washington Month-to-month web site:
***
The Roberts Courtroom Actually Might Give Trump Blanket Immunity: James D. Zirin, a former federal prosecutor, argues the Supreme Courtroom’s “perverse determination” within the Trump poll qualification case bodes poorly for his or her upcoming ruling within the Trump immunity case. Click on right here for the complete story.
Steve Garvey’s New Subject of Goals: Steve Kettman, a former workers reporter for New York Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle, sizes up what’s behind the previous baseball participant’s “remarkably lazy” Senate marketing campaign. Click on right here for the complete story.
Trump as Demise of a Salesman’s Willy Loman: Deanne Stillman, writer of American Confidential: Uncovering the Weird Story of Lee Harvey Oswald and His Mom, sees parallels between the legally challenged former president and the tragic fictional character. Click on right here for the complete story.
***
Shanahan got here from an impoverished childhood to change into a lawyer who created and bought a tech firm that specialised in patent administration software program. She turned insanely wealthy after marrying mega-billionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin, then used these riches to launch a philanthropic basis known as Bia-Echo. The muse funds fertility analysis, prison justice reform tasks, and local weather change initiatives, notably relating to agriculture.
Shanahan and Brin divorced final 12 months following a Wall Avenue Journal report of an affair between Shanahan and Elon Musk, which the 2 deny.
This all makes for a mildly fascinating Silicon Valley cleaning soap opera, however hardly quantities to a resume that’s presidential-caliber.
What qualifies her, in Kennedy’s eyes, is her checkbook. Precisely what Shanahan acquired within the divorce settlement is unknown, however clearly it’s not chump change. For instance, she didn’t flinch at funneling $4 million by means of a Kennedy-affiliated Tremendous PAC to provide a marketing campaign advert that aired throughout the Tremendous Bowl.
Choosing a operating mate solely due to a capability to bankroll a marketing campaign is very uncommon however not fully unprecedented.
In 1980 the Libertarian Get together and its presidential nominee Ed Clark turned to grease business titan David Koch, who explicitly supplied “a number of hundred thousand {dollars}” of his cash as a solution to get round marketing campaign finance legal guidelines. He ended up kicking in $2.1 million, serving to the get together notch 50 state poll strains for the primary time.
Little question Kennedy is attempting to do the identical with Shanahan. However doing so entails much more hypocrisy.
Kennedy launched his marketing campaign saying, “People are offended at being unnoticed, left behind, swindled, cheated and belittled by a smug elite that has rigged the system in its favor.”
Kennedy, in fact, was born into the elite.
Being wealthy doesn’t disqualify anybody for the presidency or vice presidency, although sometimes candidates should show to the citizens their private deserves with a resume of public service or distinctive enterprise acumen. (Donald Trump’s claims of enterprise acumen have been confirmed fraudulent, however nonetheless, that’s what he used to change into the one president with none expertise in authorities or army workplace.)
Kennedy himself fails the check. He’s solely gotten so far as he has by coasting on the identify of his well-known father and his lifelong connections to different members of the rich elite. With out that, he’d be only one extra of the lots of of crackpots who file the paperwork to run for president.
Now he’s tapping a far richer member of that elite to be one of the highly effective individuals on the planet, not due to any distinctive achievements in her personal proper, however as a result of she has the cash to fund his marketing campaign.
This can be a perversion of democracy, and a smug one at that.
Kennedy has the correct to run alongside whomever he desires. However the media and the polling business haven’t any obligation to deal with his ticket like a severe marketing campaign, particularly when he stays up to now behind in poll entry.
Possibly Shanahan’s cash helps him get on ballots. Possibly the Libertarian Get together, which has a powerful file of poll entry, bails him out with its nomination.
However till that time, we must always deal with Kennedy like all the opposite crackpots operating futile presidential campaigns–by ignoring him.
SHARE THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Unfold the phrase! Ahead this e-mail e-newsletter to your folks, or share the web variations from WashingtonMonthly.com or Substack.
FIND THE MONTHLY ON SOCIAL
We’re on Twitter @month-to-month
We’re on Threads @WAMonthly
We’re on Instagram @WAMonthly
We’re on Fb @WashingtonMonthly
Greatest,
Invoice