RFK Jr., CNN and Click-Bait Coddling

This rock has a better chance of winning than RFK Jr.

 

 

 Jay Michaelson, a rabbi, writes in a 7/20/2023 CNN opinion piece:

 "Whereas, Kennedy Jr. is the epitome of the ‘useful idiot.’ Heavily funded by right-wing donors, he is proving to be an early headache for President Joe Biden, who is now forced into a no-win decision between debating him and allowing his dangerous nonsense to go unchecked." 

RFK Jr. is no 'early headache' for Biden. He is a useful contrast for Biden. The more RFK Jr. self-implodes, the more Biden looks like the only sane adult in the room.

CNN and others continue to paint RFK Jr. as a serious presidential candidate even as the facts in their own reporting lay out his own lurching, calamitous self-immolation. CNN has a fiduciary interest in allowing RFK Jr. to be 'considered' a serious candidate (by whom?; for what?) solely because RFK Jr. will generate clicks -- but only if he remains considered (by CNN) to still be a 'serious' challenger who 'worries Democrats.'

Who are all these 'worried Democrats' ? How come CNN can't find one and interview them? Are they also 'worried' about talking to CNN? How worried can a Democrat be?

This is the oldest and sleaziest news trick in the book. You invent a premise from whole cloth claim that it 'worries' some unknown but apparently audible 'Democrats' If the worries are audible, where is the audio? Where's the interview? Where's the transcript? 

The provable fact that the Koch brothers are funding RFK Jr. and the fact that he is not flatly rejecting their 'help' should be the second sentence in any CNN story about RFK Jr. He is the first-ever Democratic primary hopeful directly funded and cheered on by the opposing party and vocally hated by his own party. Or, as Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on July 20, RFK Jr. is a “a living, breathing, false flag operation.” 

This non sequitur is not just insane -- it's highly germane.

CLICKS RULE -- FACTS DROOL

For CNN, keeping RFK Jr. in the news queue and portal page generates far more clicks than that guy from North Dakota. Without RFK Jr. there is no named challenger to Biden and therefore, no upcoming Democratic presidential contest of any type. Bored now. So can't we prop up the squeaky bat a bit longer?