My Weird Night With RFK Jr.’s Most Devoted and Deranged Supporters
The weirdness of Kennedy’s base—Reagan Republicans and environmentalists holding hands with anti-vaxxers—makes it difficult to assess precisely what type of spoiler he is. With RFK on the ballot, a March Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found, Trump’s lead increases over Biden by 1 point. Trump scored 44 percent to Biden’s 37 percent, while Kennedy raked in 18 percent. Still, it’s also plausible that RFK Jr. could end up tossing the election to his former party, becoming a sort of Nader in reverse.
RFK Jr.’s big money funding comes from a smattering of tech evangelists, former Democrats—including tech attorney Nicole Shanahan, whom he named as his running mate on March 26, and who has been a major donor to his campaign—and entertainers, most well past their prime. Gavin de Becker, whose firm provides security for high-profile people, including the candidate himself, is the second-biggest donor to the RFK Jr. super PAC, American Values. Other backers include David Marcus, the former president of PayPal, and former Democratic financier-turned-Trump supporter Omeed Malik. RFK has also received support from some celebrities, such as Alicia Silverstone, Eric Clapton, and Oliver Stone. None of them got back to me to talk about their support.
A clearer picture of RFK’s base emerged at his L.A. fundraiser. For $1,500, the event promised “seating in the first few rows,” “a cool vibe and scrumptious bites,” and a chance to rub shoulders with RFK, Hines, and the comics. In case the Kennedy campaign denied my request for press access, I signed up my family for a raffle to attend. We all won tickets.