The JFKA, RoJo, and 21st Century U.S. Political History

[W. Niederhut]

       Forum administrator, Sandy Larsen, has invited me to start a separate thread on the subject of U.S. Senator Ron Johnson's recent public interest in the JFKA.

       I want to begin by mentioning that this forum has had an understandable, singular focus on an event that happened 60 years ago.   Forum researchers have occasionally started threads about contemporary political figures-- especially RFK, Jr. -- but, when anyone tries to discuss these politicians in the broader context of 21st century history and contemporary politics, some forum members cry, "Foul!" and the thread is promptly shunted off to the Water Cooler or Political Discussion board.  So, most informed discussions about recent history and current events are consigned to the "Water Cooler"-- a term that, IMO, tends to trivialize important contemporary issues.

      Interestingly, Joseph McBride's old 56 Years thread was a rare example of a thread on the JFKA board that allowed discussions about the broader context of American history during the past 60 years, and current events, and the thread was quite popular on the forum before it eventually devolved into a repository for redundant MAGA spam-- e.g., repetitious posts denying that Donald Trump had attempted to overturn the 2020 U.S. election, etc.

     RFK, Jr. has inspired multiple redundant threads on the forum in 2023, based on his historic public commentaries about the CIA and the JFKA.  But the people who have started these threads are always adamant about prohibiting any discussions about RFK, Jr. in the broader context of 21st century American political history and current events.

     The same thing has happened this week in relation to Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson's public comments about the CIA and the JFKA.  Any contextual discussions about RoJo's political career are, apparently, off limits.   We're supposed to drive this vehicle looking only in the rearview mirror, without trying to understand why people like RoJo, Tucker Carlson, and RFK, Jr. are the sole public advocates of JFKA truth in 2023.

      Certainly, JFKA Truth needs all the public advocacy it can get.  But why Tucker Carlson?  Why RoJo?   Are these promoters of the 21st century Koch Tea Party, trickle-down tax policies, climate change denial, and Trump's MAGA movement mainly interested in undermining public confidence in a regulatory, utilitarian U.S. government?

      One thing that these two men have in common is their 21st century involvement with climate change denial and the Koch-funded GOP Tea Party after 2010-- a plutocratic, astro-turf movement organized in opposition to the Obama Presidency.  They have both also been closely aligned since 2016 with Trump-ism and Trump's multi-faceted efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. election.

      People who are unfamiliar with RoJo's history should take a few minutes to read his Wiki biography. 

      In addition to his climate change denial, RoJo opposed Obama's Keynesian Stimulus Recovery Act of 2009, and supported the 2017 Trump tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.

      He has also called for the abolition of Obamacare.

      Like Trump, Tucker Carlson, and RFK, Jr., RoJo also promoted disinformation about COVID during the pandemic.

Ron Johnson - Wikipedia

      A staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Johnson voted for Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, supported Trump's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), launched investigations into his political opponents and promoted false claims of fraud in relation to Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election. He has rejected the scientific consensus on climate change. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted for the CARES Act, resisted stay at home orders, used his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses who promoted fringe theories about COVID-19 and spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations.

 

Environment, climate change and energy

Johnson rejects the scientific consensus on climate change,^[7] describing it in 2021 as "bullshit."^[34] In a 2010 interview, he called attributing global warming to manmade causes "crazy," saying the theory is "lunacy," and attributed climate change to causes other than human activity.^[35] Johnson also suggested carbon dioxide was good for the environment, as it "helps the trees grow."^[7] In dismissing the effects of climate change, Johnson falsely claimed that Greenland was green when it was discovered and had become white and snow-clad over time as a result of cooling temperatures.^[7] In August 2015, Johnson baselessly claimed that "the climate hasn't warmed in quite a few years. That is proven scientifically," although record world temperatures were reached that year and in 2014.^[36] Johnson co-sponsored the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would block the EPA from imposing new rules on carbon emissions.^[37] In an October 7, 2022, Senate campaign debate, Johnson said, "The climate has always changed and always will change, so I don’t deny climate change",^[38] repeating a similar statement he made in February 2016.^[39]

     

Health care

Johnson opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare") and has voted to repeal it.^[65] In 2013, Johnson declined to support efforts to tie funding the federal government to defunding ACA, noting that such efforts were highly unlikely to succeed given Obama's opposition.^[66] In 2014, he criticized Congress's ability to continue using pretax employer contributions to help pay for their medical care and filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block ACA exemptions to members of Congress and their staff.^[67] The suit was dismissed for lack of standing, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal on appeal.^[68][69]

In an August 2017 interview, Johnson said of Senator John McCain's "thumbs-down" vote that killed the Republican bill to repeal the ACA, "He has a brain tumor right now. The vote occurred at 1:30 in the morning. So some of that might have factored in."^[70] A McCain spokesman called the statements "bizarre and deeply unfortunate." Johnson later said he was "disappointed I didn't more eloquently express my sympathy for what Sen. McCain is going through."^[71]

In 2022, Johnson said that Republicans should repeal the ACA if they take control after the 2022 elections.^[72]

      

      

Edited December 22, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Paul Brancato]

Why lump RFK Jr in with Johnson and Carlson? His advocacy couldn’t possibly be from the same place. You know that. I presume you can’t get past his vaccine stance. But he is not MAGA. 

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

Why lump RFK Jr in with Johnson and Carlson? His advocacy couldn’t possibly be from the same place. You know that. I presume you can’t get past his vaccine stance. But he is not MAGA. 

Paul, 

     You raise a valid point.  I should have left RFK, Jr. out of this RoJo discussion.

      But aren't Fox News and right wing plutocrats promoting RFK, Jr.'s Libertarian Party candidacy, to sabotage the Democratic Party in 2024?

      I wonder what JFK and RFK would think about their nephew and son being a torch bearer for misanthropic "libertarianism"-- a political movement predicated on getting "big" government out of the role of regulating corporate greed, pollution, and exploitation of the working class.

Edited December 22, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Paul Brancato]

RFK Jr is not to my knowledge running as a Libertarian. He is running as an independant without party affiliation. Thanks to the Fox wing early promotion of him, and complete dissing by liberal media he is more likely to draw votes from Republicans than Democrats. 

[W. Niederhut]

59 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

RFK Jr is not to my knowledge running as a Libertarian. He is running as an independant without party affiliation. Thanks to the Fox wing early promotion of him, and complete dissing by liberal media he is more likely to draw votes from Republicans than Democrats. 

Paul,

    I would have more confidence in RFK,Jr.'s commitment to the progressive liberal agenda of his father and uncles if he ran for office as a Democrat, like our true progressives-- Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, et.al.

    By going on a third party ego trip, RFK,Jr. is jeopardizing the political legacy of his great family.

    Does he realize that 21st Republicans have already passed two House budget bills, since 2011, that would have essentially abolished Ted Kennedy's Medicare program?

[Roger Odisio]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

Paul, 

     You raise a valid point.  I should have left RFK, Jr. out of this RoJo discussion.

      But aren't Fox News and right wing plutocrats promoting RFK, Jr.'s Libertarian Party candidacy, to sabotage the Democratic Party in 2024?

      I wonder what JFK and RFK would think about their nephew and son being a torch bearer for misanthropic "libertarianism"-- a political movement predicated on getting "big" government out of the role of regulating corporate greed, pollution, and exploitation of the working class.

I think the Kennedy brothers would say, in this age of domination by two corrupt, warmongering parties in virtually total control of the electoral process, get votes wherever you can, son, if it means relieving people of the awful choice between Trump and Biden. *As long as you retain your core principles in doing so*.

 

Unfortunately in his support for Israel and its war, Junior has violated that requirement. But one will search in vain for politicians without flaws.

[W. Niederhut]

50 minutes ago, Roger Odisio said:

I think the Kennedy brothers would say, in this age of domination by two corrupt, warmongering parties in virtually total control of the electoral process, get votes wherever you can, son, if it means relieving people of the awful choice between Trump and Biden. *As long as you retain your core principles in doing so*.

 

Unfortunately in his support for Israel and its war, Junior has violated that requirement. But one will search in vain for politicians without flaws.

Roger,

     Your argument is a variation on the false premise that there are no substantive differences between the two major parties-- something which simply isn't true, at least when it comes to tax policy, Social Security,  healthcare, pollution control, climate change mitigation, voting rights, reproductive rights, and LGBT rights.

     I agree with your point in matters relating to our imperial military-industrial complex.  Although Republican Presidents launched the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq Wars, Democrats have also been enmeshed with the MIC.  It's a major reason why I have supported Bernie Sanders in recent years.

    But I don't think JFK and RFK would agree with RFK, Jr. undermining the Democratic Party, especially given the rising tide of anti-democratic proto-fascism in the U.S. today--e.g., J6, GOP voter suppression, and the stacking of the courts with right wing ideologues.

     When Ted Kennedy ran against President Carter in 1980, he remained loyal to the Democratic Party.

Edited December 23, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Bill Fite]

Sorry, I don't know if this question is permitted, if not, feel free to delete / ignore.

What is the make up of the group of voters that would vote for  RFK Jr.?   Surely, the relatively small number of people concerned with the JFKA records aren't the problem.

If either / both of the 2 parties feel that their candidate is so shaky that their main argument is that a vote for a 3rd candidate or non-voting is a vote for the other party - it's on that party to nominate a better candidate.

Adding: And the connection to the JFKA seems to be that in the 1964 election the vote against the other guy strategy seems to have started being significant.  I seriously doubt JFK would have employed or have had to employ this strategy wrt Goldwater who was a friend.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Bill Fite
clarity

[Paul Brancato]

RFK Jr made the decision to go independant after the Democratic Party completely dissed him. Not sure if anyone saw his appearance when republicans called him to testify about censorship, something he had personally experienced. His treatment by Democrats at that hearing was repugnant. They literally lied about his statements and would it give him the time to rebut or clarify. Republicans have him lip service but likewise censored him and would not give him the time to clarify or defend himself against the scurrilous attacks. The California Democratic Party actually sent me a petition to keep him off the California ballot - as a Democrat. He didn’t abandon the party, they abandoned him. 
I agree with Roger about RFK Jr.’s unwillingness to speak out about the Israeli response to Hamas attack. The entire US government is guilty on this account. 

[Kirk Gallaway]

Great post, W.!

Paul: I agree with Roger about RFK Jr.’s unwillingness to speak out about the Israeli response to Hamas attack.

Unwillingness to speak out?  I haven't seen such a full throated defense of Israel's prosecution in it's  War in Gaza from any politician, as I have from RK.