“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden don’t agree on much, but they see eye to eye on one thing: They both hate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and they don’t want him anywhere near the debate stage.
The two campaigns actually worked together to squeeze the independent presidential candidate out of the two upcoming debates they announced this week.
Trump and Biden working together to box him out is very bad news for Kennedy, Jr. and his longshot presidential hopes.
“President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms,” said Biden campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon.
Both major party candidates have targeted Kennedy in recent weeks, as polls show the nephew of President John Kennedy attracting an uncomfortable level of support from each side.
“RFK is interesting in that he pulls from both candidates versus (1992 independent presidential candidate Ross) Perot, who almost exclusively pulled from (George H.W.) Bush,” a Democratic strategist, Stefan Hankin, told the Washington Examiner. “It probably is not in the interest of either candidate to have him up there.”
That’s why they worked together to eliminate him…but it’s not totally clear it will work.
CNN has stipulated, in order to stand on its dais, candidates must win at least 15 percent support in polls which CNN selects, and they have to appear on enough state ballots to win the 270 votes in the Electoral College necessary to become president.
All this has to be completed by June 20—one week before the debate.
It’s just one of the ways the debates will be stacked heavily in Biden’s favor. The two debates will be hosted by Fake News CNN or ABC News.
The CNN debate will be hosted on June 27 in Atlanta by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, neither of whom have made any effort to hide their burning hatred of Donald Trump and his followers. (They’re also not too fond of RFK Jr.)
Trump’s mic will be cut when Biden is speaking—and he’s known for blathering on endlessly and speaking over top of his opponents, as he did with Sarah Palin in 2008 and Paul Ryan in 2012.
RFK Jr. will likely have no place there, and a live audience is absolutely banned from the premises.
The news set RFK Jr., who is never at a loss for words, into an uproar.
“Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want,” said RFK Jr. in a social media post on Wednesday.
“Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.”
Kennedy lashed both candidates, viciously observing that, “by excluding me from the stage, Presidents Biden and Trump seek to avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure including deficits, wars, lockdowns, chronic disease, and inflation.”
Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want.
They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 15, 2024
Kennedy wasn’t the only one outraged: Even Biden’s fellow Democrats said their party should stand aside and let Kennedy take the podium.
“It would be better to actually include RFK Jr, who a lot of people are supporting” and is “a thoughtful debater,” Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
Phillips knows about this firsthand: Biden ignored Phillips’ presidential campaign during this year’s Democratic presidential primaries.
Rep. Dean Phillips: RFK Jr. should be in the debate
“25-30% of the country right now is indicating they’re not for either [Biden or Trump]”
“It would be better to include … RFK Jr, who a lot of people are supporting.
I think he would be a thoughtful, engaging debater with… pic.twitter.com/709Xee0jQn
— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) May 16, 2024
But then RFK Jr. made an announcement that really shook things up.
“I’m happy to report that I will meet the criteria to participate in the CNN debate before the June 20 deadline,” RFK Jr. posted on X (formerly Twitter) later the same afternoon. “I look forward to holding Presidents Biden and Trump accountable for their records in Atlanta on June 27 to give Americans the debate they deserve.”
I’m happy to report that I will meet the criteria to participate in the @CNN debate before the June 20 deadline. I look forward to holding Presidents Biden and Trump accountable for their records in Atlanta on June 27 to give Americans the debate they deserve. #KennedyShanahan24
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 15, 2024
It’s not clear if Kennedy can really make the first debate: Kennedy’s campaign has announced it is qualified to appear on the ballot in 11 states that have 123 electoral votes.
But that total came before Kennedy’s vice presidential candidate used her substantial wealth to fund ballot access measures.
RFK Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, announced this month that she has poured a whopping $8 million into their presidential campaign.
That comes on top of $2 million in donations that Shanahan gave the campaign in March—bringing her to a total of $10 million.
Shanahan is a wealthy Silicon Valley figure who made her bones after selling her own patent company—and marrying, then divorcing, left-wing Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
She told a Nashville fundraiser she made the contribution, because “we want to liberate presidential elections from the grip of the existing two-party duopoly, and revitalize American democracy.”
Is it possible Biden used his one-on-one stipulation as a way to get out of a debate he doesn’t really want to have?
If RFK Jr. makes the CNN debate, it “raises the question as to whether Biden uses this to duck the whole debate saying they’re not complying with his terms,” wrote Nick Arama at RedState.com. He dismissed Biden’s terms as “lame,” but “he can’t do it without trying to completely control the environment.”
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden. “You don’t want to debate RFK Jr.?”
Biden only smiled with such glee that he nearly laughed out loud.
“That’s a no?” asked Doocy, who got no further response.
Biden “frankly looked kind of evil,” observed Arama. “If he can’t even deal with the media asking questions about a debate, how’s he possibly going to handle a debate without a lot of help?”