He has been praised by Steve Bannon and appeared in conversation with Dr. Jordan Peterson. He’s regularly appeared on Newsmax and can count Jack Dorsey among his supporters. He’s gotten a co-endorsement (with Ron DeSantis!) from David Sacks. He’s parroted Russian talking points in terms of US’ foreign policy while expressed a level vaccine skepticism that is only matches by Dr. Ladapo, Governor DeSantis and a handful of other public officials.

All of this makes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sound like an extremist that is seeking the GOP Presidential nomination. But in fact he’s running as a Democrat, trading on his family name and makes waves among progressives.

For the last three years, I’ve taken my lumps on social media for pointing out the drift of the far left, or alt-left as I now like to call them into territory the mainstream of the Democratic Party and liberal opinion think is the province exclusively of MAGA GOP voters. I’ve been accused of making up things and exaggerating the preference of many who call themselves progressives. But more often than not, I have in time been proven accurate.

As someone who likes to challenge my own personal preconceived notions, I spend more time talking to MAGA and progressive working class types than most Democrats – and I don’t watch MSNBC or really read The Washington Post any longer because they represent out-of-touch elite opinion, even if I agree with 95% of what is discussed there. This is why for example, I knew many Latinos were breaking against the Democrats before it showed up electorally and have not been surprised by the number anti-vaxers on the left.

I must say though, the lack of class awareness and consciousness among core liberals in this era bothers me and allows me to understand why several former political allies have drifted toward Trump or RFK Jr. Whether it’s all an act or not, many working class Americans of all races see the Democrats increasingly as a party of big business and one that’s more responsive to donors and wealthy suburban voters than to them. While President Biden, I believe has done really well in trying to lift up the working class and develop a stronger social safety net, much of the rest of the party has either no interest in this or no clue how to properly communicate these successes. Biden is a throwback to an era when Democrats were compassionate and cared. The next Democratic nominee for President, after Biden likely will not be as gifted in this manner.

The elites underestimated both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders twice. Now many are either ignoring RFK Jr, or trying to spin in a negative fashion why he is polling as well as he is among DEMOCRATS. The problem is in this era the more extreme and into conspiracy theories a candidate for office is, the more likely they are to appeal to the fringes on BOTH the left and right.

The more a candidate talks about the DOJ, FBI and CIA being “weaponized,” the more they discuss how American actions provoked Russian aggression (this in particular is laughable) and the more they say big tech is creating a regime of authoritarian censorship (though two of the leading figures in actually doing this are RFK Jr. supporters) the more support that candidate gets.

RFJ Jr. won’t be the Democratic nominee. But he and his supporters have the potential for shaking up the party and creating the elements for a Trump or DeSantis victory next November. Unlike Bernie Sanders who folded back into the Democratic mainstream and had a distaste for authoritarianism (hence why he’s a big Biden backer these days), RFK Jr. appears to be a skeptic of democracy and of the institutions of government.

For better or for worse, we must pay attention to RFK Jr. candidacy.