Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says childhood vaccines are linked to autism and that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) killed his uncle. He wonders aloud whether exposure to Wi-Fi leads to cancer. Some of the big stars in the technological world are supporting his campaign for president, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Silicon Valley loves the opposition, which is why some tech industry luminaries supported Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. This time, it’s Democrat Kennedy who gets the endorsement of the big names in the tech world.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey recently expressed his support for Kennedy, who is facing off against President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy is also backed by a number of other tech leaders, including SPAC kingpin Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sachs, founder of PayPal and a trusted confidante of Elon Musk. Mark Gordon, founder of the now-defunct file-sharing website LimeWire, even created a PAC that supported Kennedy.
They say they like his willingness to go against the status quo.
“Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is about the future, not the past,” says former congressman and Kennedy campaign manager Dennis Kucinich. “People in the technology community want a president who is forward-looking, who wants to strengthen America’s role in technology, who respects data privacy and is extremely creative in his approach to government.”
Polls usually put Kennedy significantly behind. Silicon Valley power brokers such as LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings are backing Biden, who is expected to be the party’s official nominee.
Still, the attention surrounding Kennedy, combined with his popular last name, complicates the process for Democrats.
“As Americans learn more and more about his extreme and unpopular views, his support will continue to decline,” said a Biden adviser.
Kennedy said last week that Covid-19 is targeting black and white people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and people of Chinese descent, according to information first reported by The New York Post.
His comments caused a public outcry. Kennedy issued a statement indicating that he had been slandered as an anti-Semitic.
The tech industry is often portrayed as a group that favors progressive candidates, but that’s not always the case.
The government’s response to the pandemic, including the lockdowns, was a tipping point that led some tech voters to become more conservative on social issues, said Neil Malhotra, a professor of political economy at Stanford University’s business school. Kennedy expressed doubt about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines and opposed blockades.
Read the entire analysis at Investor.bg
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2023-07-30 19:00:00
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