This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long feared by Joe Biden supporters as a major challenge in the 2024 presidential race, now has announced he'll run as an independent, meaning Biden will not be able to dispose of his candidacy before election day, if then.
The Washington Examiner reported Kennedy confirmed Monday he'll switch from the Democratic Party, where he was up against Biden, to an independent bid for the White House.
"During a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, speech which his campaign billed as a 'historic announcement,' Kennedy, 69, spoke in front of a sign that read 'declare your independence,'" the report said.
"I'm here to declare myself an independent candidate," he said.
"That's not all. I'm here to join you in making a new declaration of independence for our entire nation. We declare independence from the corporations that have hijacked our government. We declare independence from Wall Street, from Big Tech, from Big Pharma, from big [agriculture], and the military contractors and their lobbyists," he added.
And he singled out one industry.
"We declare independence from the mercenary media that is here to fortify all of the corporate orthodoxies from their advertisers and urge us to hate our neighbors and to fear our friends. We declare independence from the cynical elites who betray our hope and amplify our divisions."
Just days ago, Politico had reported on the fears among Biden supporters of this very move, and how they were scheming to remove such challenges.
It was Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, who "convened a Zoom call with 30 other like-minded donors this week to address a persistent fear among national Democrats: Third-party candidates who could undercut Joe Biden’s campaign."
There's also a political group called No Labels that actively has been petitioning to be added to ballots across the country.
Participants in the call reportedly worried that independent candidates would inevitably hurt Biden.
Matt Bennet, of Third Way, claimed, "Biden wins a head-to-head with Trump, so as long as we can hand him that, he can win. But [third-party candidates] will make it very hard."
Politico reported those fears are flooding into the Biden campaign.
"It’s not just No Labels that has gotten their attention. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is another potential spoiler for Biden — should he run as an independent, as anticipated — along with recently-minted independent candidate Cornel West," the report said.
Multiple polls show President Trump leading Biden in a two-way race now too, following congressional investigations uncovering what was a Biden family scheme to sell access to Joe Biden to foreign nations in return for payments of tens of millions of dollars.
Further, the White House repeatedly has claimed the American economy, which has caused concern for a vast majority of Americans, actually is improving their lives. Biden's economy, of course, has included inflation as high as 9.1%, costing American families thousands of dollars more just to keep their ordinary lifestyles.
The Examiner reported that Kennedy, the son of late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, already has cut into Biden's Democratic primary support, collecting 17% of the support in a recent poll, to Biden's 70%.
The report noted, "A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos last week showed that he could hypothetically secure the votes of 1 in 7 voters in a matchup between himself, former President Donald Trump, and Biden. In a poll between the three, he garnered 14%, while Biden had 31% and Trump had 33%."
The Hill reported his announcement "theoretically puts him closer to voters who are unhappy with both political parties, hyper-partisan politics, and want an alternative to the expected Biden-Trump options next November."
