OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Once again, Twitter boss Elon Musk has proven his commitment to returning the platform to its intended use as a global public forum is genuine.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination against an obviously aging and mentally deficient President Joe Biden, but he noted on Twitter last week another major social media platform won’t allow him to share his campaign messages.
“Interesting… when we use our TeamKennedy email address to set up @instagram accounts we get an automatic 180-day ban,” Kennedy wrote Thursday on Twitter. “Can anyone guess why that’s happening?”
Musk then popped in with an offer: “Would you like to do a Spaces discussion with me next week?”
Notably, 2024 GOP presidential contender and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his campaign late last month during a live Twitter Spaces event, with Musk as a co-host. Musk has also said the technical glitches that marred DeSantis’ launch have been addressed and should not be a problem for Kennedy’s event.
Over the weekend, RFK Jr. announced that the Spaces event will be held at 1 pm EDT on Monday.
In addition to Kennedy, self-help guru Marianne Williamson is also running for the Democratic nomination. While she is polling in the single digits, Kennedy is drawing close to 20 percent support in some polls.
CNN reported that RFK Jr.’s Instagram account was suspended in February. “We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a representative of Meta, which owns Instagram, claimed at the time.
Meta is also the parent company of Facebook.
RFK Jr. took to Twitter to thank Musk for stepping up to help him.
“Twitter allows my campaign and me to have a voice. Thank you @elonmusk” he posted Thursday.
“To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic. Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?” he added in another tweet.
To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic. Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 2, 2023
During a campaign event last week in New Hampshire, RFK Jr. said the country is in need of significant changes.
“There are so many Americans who believe that the system now is rigged, the economic system, but also the political system, that the elections are fixed. And we ought to be, the Democratic Party particularly, ought to be making this election a template for democracy to our country and to the rest of the world,” he said, CNN reported.
“In the last three years, there’s been an all-out assault on the Bill of Rights. We now have for the first time, the government participating in censorship, of political dissent, of people who are criticizing federal policies,” he added.
Current polling indicates that a majority of Democratic voters are not supportive of Biden and believe his reelection would not be in the best interests of the country.
According to a newly released SSRS poll commissioned by CNN, fully two-thirds of respondents, or 66 percent, believe reflecting him would be tantamount to a “disaster or a setback” for the country as a whole.
But the Democratic National Committee has already announced that there will be no debates, which has sparked anger among some voters, including actor James Van Der Beek.
The “Dawson’s Creek” alum posted a video over the Memorial Day weekend blasting the DNC for its decision and claiming it’s extremely “undemocratic.”
“I mean, what the hell? How is this a democracy?” he said. “There’s no debate over an 80-year-old man who, if he lives, will be the oldest sitting president in the history of the country? And if he doesn’t live, has a vice president whose approval rating is worse than his?”
