Should Catholics Vote for JFK JR?

After all, they call him a conspiracy theorist too.

Disclaimer: I like him. He thoughtfully asks questions we aren't supposed to ask. Oh, and he can do push ups in jeans at the age of 70. Both valuable qualities, to be sure.

But should Catholics give RFK JR a serious look, or is Trump still the guy?

I’m going to go ahead and give it away…I’m sticking with Trump. Not because I think he’s perfect…far from it. But because Kennedy only left the democrat party to be an independent because he couldn’t get the nomination any other way. That matters, because 90% of his policies still align with the left.

My attempt here will be to stick to the issues. I really don't want to play the "dig up old clips/tweets/quotes" game, because, well, frankly people are human. They make mistakes, they change, and sometimes so do their views. However, here’s your reminder that not a single on of them will ever be our savior.

Long live Christ the King, amiright??

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Ok. Issues.

Number one for me, and I believe for all Catholics, should be the right to life.

So who’s more pro life?

Trump isn’t solid in this area personally. He recently dismissed the Desantis ban on abortion at 6 weeks as “horrible.” Although, in my opinion, that was primarily to dunk on Desantis, the reason doesn’t really matter. However, IN PRACTICE, Trump was the most pro life president we've ever had. While he may not personally be as solid as we'd like, his actions speak differently.

It's been suggested to me that his motive was to please his constituency. Great! I don’t actually care what his motivation is, as long as he does it.

RFK JR would not feel the same pressure to be pro life to please his constituency, and has openly stated multiple times that he is pro choice. Remember how he said he would support a 15 week abortion ban? That’s being used to equate his views to Trump. Except RFK JR walked his statement back a few weeks later citing the importance of “bodily sovereignty.”

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Let’s talk medical freedom.

I love that RFK JR is willing to talk about this at the risk of being publicly ostracized. Big Pharma, of course, must not be questioned.

And yet, he does. It’s a siren call for every one of us who had the experimental shot shoved at us, and every parent who has been shamed or refused service for making “alternative” decisions.

Trump, on the other hand, was the driving force behind the Covid vaccines. He has yet to disown or apologize for them, and if I had to guess, due to his ego, never will. That said, I think it’s really important to remember that he is NOT the one who made them mandatory.

Here’s my main concern on this issue with RFK JR. Upon a deeper dive…he seems simply to want more testing. His own website repeats this multiple times. How does one test childhood vaccines? Well, on children I think. I have a lot of questions when it comes to that. A lot. 

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Ok. A few more RFK JR concerns.

1) He has waffled one the 2nd amendment. This isn’t something I believe we can be unsure about.

2) climate change/activism has been a huge part of his career. He’s an environmental lawyer, in fact. He and his son Connor were arrested protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline. There is a video floating around where he says he believes “big oil” CEO’s should be JAILED for what they’re doing to the environment.

3) He is pro reparations for Native Americans and African Americans. I really can’t think of anything less practical and helpful than reparations.

4) Part of his inflation reduction plan is to raise minimum wage. No thank you.

These issues, and many others remind us of what we should already know. He’s a liberal. Yes, less crazy than the progressive wing (ok who isn’t??) But he’s a KENNEDY my friends.

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Lest you are left thinking, “But Bridget, the orange man is ALSO bad, very very bad,” let me clarify.

I disagree with many things he’s said, and some that he’s done. There actually is not a politician that I wouldn’t say that about. I won’t lay out his list of sins, because everyone already has one of those in their mind thanks to the media.

However, I’d like to remind you of a few things.

Without his Supreme Court Justice picks, Roe v Wade is not overturned.

Without his leadership, the border is overrun (we have watched this play out in real life.)

He started/involved us in zero foreign wars.

Without his economy, folks can now barely buy a house.

The list goes on. Point is, his actual track record is really good overall. And hey. Maybe he can’t do push-ups in jeans, and I CERTAINLY hope he keeps his shirt on, but that man keeps up an insane schedule while thriving on Big Macs. Maybe I’m even more impressed by the stamina that takes than I am by Bobby ;)