One of many many weaknesses Democrats have is their incapability to know the opposition.
This was most evident following former President Donald Trump’s upset victory towards Hillary Clinton within the 2016 presidential election.
Democrats had been left shell-shocked and bewildered as a result of they only didn’t get Trump’s attraction, nor did they comprehend how repulsive the previous secretary of state was to bizarre Individuals.
Nonetheless, it appears they could get one other crack at studying this lesson within the 2024 presidential race, if MSNBC host and former White Home press secretary Jen Psaki is any indication.
She appropriately recognized the menace a robust third-party candidate presents to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid when commenting on a New York Times piece with the identical warning.
Nevertheless, Psaki repeated her get together’s errors by dismissing the opposition and misunderstanding the candidate’s attraction, this time with the darkish horse unbiased Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Talking with Mika Brzezinski on “Morning Joe” Monday, Psaki revealed the main menace to Biden’s 2024 re-election prospects.
“These third-party candidates are a huge, huge, huge problem, and there’s a number of them,” Psaki stated.
The “Inside With Jen Psaki” host went on to say Kennedy particularly, noting his title recognition in locations like “Georgia … where the Kennedy name is beloved.”
Psaki claimed that he might slip by within the battleground state as a result of voters “may just not know a lot about the fact that he is an anti-vaxxer, who’s a conspiracy theorist.”
She added that the Democratic Nationwide Committee is making an attempt to get the phrase out concerning the perceived issues with Kennedy, an outspoken environmental lawyer who initially introduced his candidacy as a Democratic challenger to Biden.
“But it needs to be broad, people need to be shouting it from the rooftops, because this is one of the biggest threats to Joe Biden being re-elected, is these third-party candidates,” Psaki stated.
Journalist Tom Elliott underscored Psaki’s dismissal of Kennedy as an “anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist” within the caption accompanying the clip of her he posted to social media platform X Thursday.
WH/MSNBC’s @jrpsaki: Third-party candidates like “anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist” @RobertKennedyJr “are a huge problem” pic.twitter.com/3Tig95w6OZ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 21, 2024
A minimum of Psaki is appropriately terrified, however she’s lacking the mark as to why Kennedy issues particularly.
It’s true that there has but to be a viable third-party candidate in trendy instances, however they’re usually sufficient of a nuisance to sway the election for the primary candidates.
In keeping with the Occasions, Inexperienced Get together candidate Ralph Nader in all probability siphoned sufficient votes from Democrat Al Gore to value him the 2000 election.
The identical could have occurred in 2016 when Inexperienced Get together candidate Jill Stein diverted votes from Clinton in states the place she misplaced to Trump by few votes.
However whereas Kennedy is presently polling round 13 % and is considered capturing Republican and Democratic votes equally, he’s a distinct type of third-party candidate — and it’s clear that Psaki and her ilk don’t perceive that.
Vaccine hesitancy, as soon as considered a fringe stance, has develop into extra mainstream following the pandemic, as childhood vaccination charges reached a 10-year low in 2023, in keeping with CBS News.
What was as soon as off-putting could now be the very factor that attracts voters to Kennedy. The candidate has additionally joined the fray throughout an unprecedented race that pits a preferred however troubled one-term president towards an unpopular incumbent president in a repeat matchup.
Voters who’re anti-Trump however can’t deliver themselves to drag the lever for Biden will discover Kennedy to be a protected harbor — and Psaki can’t wrap her thoughts round that.
She is probably going satisfied that Trump is too extreme and Kennedy is only a crackpot, however by doing so, she misses the purpose that that is uncharted territory for the American citizens.
Trump’s base is fiercely loyal and able to see this subsequent election by means of to the tip. In the meantime, Biden’s document of making distress and poverty is off-putting even to diehard Democrats who would in any other case maintain their noses and vote for him anyway.
These voters may have elsewhere to go together with a third-party candidate like Kennedy, who’s prone to be a palatable various for Biden’s left-leaning base.
Democrats are too blinded by their very own ideology to see the attraction of males like Trump and Kennedy, so they are going to by no means mount an efficient opposition to them.
As soon as once more, Psaki and the remaining simply don’t perceive what precisely they’re up towards — however they definitely will come November 2024.
This text appeared initially on The Western Journal.
