RFK Jr’s somewhat predictable flop at the Libertarian convention

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks to supporters in Austin, Texas The Constitution’s Bill of Rights, he told attendees, had no “pandemic exception”. His railings against the Trump administration’s “lockdowns” — which were actually instituted at the local level — earned him one of the loudest cheers of the night, one that was only overshadowed by chants of “Free Assange” that broke out after RFK Jr called the Wikileaks founder a hero and pledged to drop the DoJ’s case against him if elected. Set up directly next to the Kennedy campaign’s booth on the main floor of the convention was a booth hoping to raise support for a voting system known as “approval voting”, wherein voters mark numerous candidates instead of just one — while not ranking them by preference, as ranked-choice voting requires. “I don't know if the Kennedy effort is well enough organized to establish that.” Others who spoke at the party’s open comment forum on Friday were even less charitable towards party leaders for rolling out the red carpet to not just RFK Jr, who has said that he won’t run as a Libertarian, but for Donald Trump, the presumed 2024 Republican nominee, as well.