Mad as a Hatter: NAJ screen shot

The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nothing shocks anymore.

What, you need podcast proof?

Does it seem normal to you that a 70-year old man who admits part of his brain was eaten by a worm would think he is qualified to run for president of the United States?

Where’s the outrage?

No outrage.

Just another day in America, another funny Facebook meme. Fodder for late night talk shows.

Robert Kennedy Jr. claims a worm hate part of his brain. So he’s running for president: NAJ screen shot

And the crazy followers show up and the campaign money flows.

Pick your favorite nutcase who shows up on TeeVee and vote to put them in charge of the world’s most robust economy with the most dangerous military. If you think this country is not already an idiocracy, like another funny movie, think again. The media has a field day.

Well, it helps if your name is Kennedy, even if that means all the other Kennedys will bash your for it on Twitter (X).

In case you missed all the funny memes, here are the facts, according to the New York Times, which broke the story this week.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of former Attorney General Robert “Bobby” Kennedy who was assassinated while running for president on June 6, 1968, says in 2010 he experienced a bought of memory loss and mental fogginess “so severe that a friend grew concerned he might have a brain tumor.” So he consulted top neurologists, many of whom had either treated or spoken to his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, before his death the previous year of brain cancer.

Doctors noticed a dark spot on Kennedy’s brain scans and concluded that he had a tumor too, Kennedy said in a 2012 deposition when he was involved in a divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. He was immediately scheduled for a procedure at Duke University Medical Center by the same surgeon who operated on his uncle.

But while packing for the trip, he said, he received a call from a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had a different opinion: He believed Kennedy may have had a dead parasite in his head. The abnormality seen on his scans “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy testified in the deposition.

Since he has now declared his intention to run as an independent candidate for president, his health is fair game, right? Also his intelligence.

Kennedy has portrayed his athleticism and relative youth (compared to Biden and Trump) as an advantage over the two oldest people to ever seek the White House. He has gone to some lengths to appear strong and healthy for an older person, sharing videos of himself skiing with a professional snowboarder and an Olympic gold medalist who called him a “ripper” as they raced down a mountain. A camera crew was at his side while he lifted weights, shirtless, at an outdoor gym in Venice Beach.

He has secured a place on ballots in Utah, Michigan, Hawaii, California and Delaware, his campaign says, and the Times indicates, “His intensive efforts to gain access in more states could put him in a position to tip the election.”

So far polls show he is drawing more support from Trump voters than Biden supporters, however, so he may be no real threat to the status quo.

But just for the fun of it, what if it is true that he got a tapeworm in his brain while eating under cooked pork while traveling in Southeast Asia?

Maybe Xi Jinping of China or Vladimir Putin of Russia had him followed, famous as he is and pro-environment too, and had the worm inserted like the Ceti eel worms inserted in the Star Trek crew members’ brains through their ears in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”?

Maybe Putin thought an independent Kennedy candidacy would help his buddy Trump beat Biden.

When Kennedy first announced that he was running as an independent, it seemed to worry the Biden camp, including many members of the Kennedy family who supported Barack Obama for president in 2008, 2012 and Biden in 2020.

According to an account at the time in the Times, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, called his older cousin “an embarrassment” and accused him of “trading in on Camelot” and spreading conspiracy theories “for personal gain and fame.”

Kennedy came out publicly against vaccines during the Coved pandemic, siding with some in the Trump camp.

“I know him,” Schlossberg said. “I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president. What I do know is his candidacy is an embarrassment. Let’s not be distracted, again, by somebody’s vanity project. I am excited to vote for Joe Biden in my state’s primary, and again in the general election.”

Using the story to drill down into Kennedy’s health problems, the Times also reveals that he suffered from atrial fibrillation and was hospitalized at least four times for related episodes. He claimed the condition magically disappeared in an interview with the Times this winter.

About the same time he learned of the parasite, Kennedy said, he was also diagnosed with mercury poisoning, most likely from ingesting too much fish containing the dangerous heavy metal, which can cause serious neurological issues.

“I have cognitive problems, clearly,” Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition. “I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”

So by all means, run for president. That’s all we need. More sensational tabloid clickbait.

Asked last week if any of Kennedy’s health issues could compromise his fitness for the presidency, Stefanie Spear, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy campaign, told the Times, “That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition.”

What’s hilarious is that he actually believes he has a chance.

Hours after the Times article was published, Kennedy tried to make light of the story with a post on Twitter (X).

“I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate,” he said. “I feel confident in the result even with a six-worm handicap.”

Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to help.

Questions about his health and intelligence don’t end there.

Kennedy is known as an environmentalist, who created a group called the River Keeper Alliance, who has railed against the dangers of mercury contamination in fish from coal-fired power plants. So you would think he would know better than to exist on a diet of tunafish, which is known to contain lead and mercury. Yet he told the Times that during the period when he was experiencing “severe brain fog” and had trouble retrieving words that he as eating lots of tuna sandwiches.

“I loved tuna fish sandwiches,” he said. “I ate them all the time.”

He claims to have had his blood tested, which showed his mercury levels were 10 times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.

Of course his campaign declined to make his medical records public.

But no matter. In America, anyone can toss their hat into the ring to run for president, even if they are mad as a hatter.

Maybe the madder the better. Look at Matt Gaetz, Majorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert or Kristi Noem, who thought announcing that she killed her dog Cricket was going to help her politically.

Remember, the phrase “mad as a hatter” refers to someone who is crazy or prone to unpredictable behavior. It alludes to a condition from the 18th century when people went mad with tremors and other nervous symptoms from exposure to the chemicals used in making felt hats.

King George III was considered by some to be mad as a hatter. That did not stop him from becoming King.

Maybe that’s what some in America want. Another mad king.

With social media obliterating timeliness as a news value and history itself, here’s a trivia question for you. Why did we fight the American Revolution again? To come to this?

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