Constitution
Despicable denial
The despicable denial of Secret Service protection to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stems from petty fear – and possibly a desire for war.
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 29th day of September in the year of our Lord 2023. I will be talking about the refusal of Joe Biden to provide Secret Service protection to his rival for the Democrat nomination for the office of President of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. That denial is unprecedented and considering the family history of Mr. Kennedy I call it despicable.
Before I get started, I need to tell you that the 11th of next month is my 75th birthday. My wife has two weeks of parties planned to celebrate my life with her. Then I have the Constitution Party National Committee Meeting to attend. So I will not be able to continue this effort for the next three weeks.
Who gets Secret Service protection, and who doesn’t?
I have investigated the rules of the Secret Service as I have been able because it is, after all, Secret. The secrecy of the Secret Service is understandable given the job of protecting the highest value targets for every terrorist and political nut job in this world. I was able to determine some basic rules or policies as far as who gets the protection and who doesn’t. It seems that a general rule is that if a candidate requests protection he or she gets it.
My understanding is that within 120 days of a presidential election each candidate with 15% of the vote is entitled to protection. Outside the 120-day deadline it is at the pleasure of the president of the United States, through the person we now refer to as the secretary of Homeland Security. I’ve never liked that name, by the way, “Homeland Security” because it sounds so German, or Russian.1 But no one asked me when the name was chosen.
In the present case of RFK, Jr., my understanding is that he has three times gone to the Secret Service and has three times been refused. The most recent time he requested protection was after he had a very credible death threat from a credible and armed intruder. So, an armed intruder threatened him. But the Secretary of Homeland Security said that he had determined the candidate had not demonstrated a need for protection.
The denial came from the President
My understanding is that the Secretary works directly for the president and the president makes the decision. So President Biden decided that Robert Kennedy would not get the protection. It is hard for me to find a reason for the denial that is not despicable. Terms like petty, and vindictive come to mind, but the best term is despicable. How many despicable acts does a person have to commit before we are willing to call him a despicable person? I don’t have to remind you that his uncle and father were each assassinated. So his name alone makes him a target.
He has hired private security and in the video interview I saw of him explaining who and why he hired the firm he chose, he said that the firm is headed by the most respected name in Washington private protection. I’m told that he now spends 30% of his campaign budget on private security. Which of course is another reason President Biden has chosen not to allow protection. His only current challenger for the nomination is forced to spend 30% of his budget to protect his life. That makes it more difficult to speak and make people aware of his views.
Kennedy has the audacity to challenge a sitting president. So in his most petty and despicable way the president denies the challenger the protection that might possibly save his life. Said another way the President of the United States doesn’t really care if Robert Kennedy is murdered in his efforts to gain the presidency. That’s the man holding the office of president and the leader of the free world. Who would want such a petty, vindictive man in the smallest office let alone the largest?
A common tactic – bleed your opponent dry
The tactic of bleeding your opponent’s campaign funds is a common one for officials of both major parties up and down the line. It is currently very publicly used against Donald Trump to distract him and bleed his campaign dry with dozens of criminal indictments.
Perhaps the best example is the legislators of the various states. They control who has access to the ballot in their states and who does not. And they continually stack the laws in their own favor. In many, if not most states, it is difficult or impossible for third parties to gain access to the ballot without the expenditure of vast sums of money that they typically do not have. Third parties are normally made up of ordinary Americans, not rich Americans and rich foreigners. I know, foreign money is illegal, but guess what, they take it anyway. In a typical presidential election Democrats and Republicans will each raise and spend more than a billion dollars.
A rigged process
People and organizations who provide that level of funding usually want something in return. Therefore it would be fair to conclude that politicians in both parties are bought and paid for. Third party candidates don’t have to worry about Secret Service protection because none can ever achieve 15% of the polls. A poll showing a third party with 1% would be considered a major achievement for that party. That is one of many reasons why third parties are always seeking a “big name” as their candidate. It is to their benefit, they think, to have a candidate most people have heard of regardless of the quality of that candidate.
Rumors persist that if Kennedy concludes that the nomination process is so rigged that he cannot get a fair chance he would consider his chances in a third party. He has said that he wants to show his supporters, his donors, a path to victory. That would make him more than just trying to make a point. The chances of gaining the presidency from a third party are so small that they could almost be zero. But the chances of affecting the outcome of the election from a third party are not so small.
Horrors! A spoiler! Does that explain the denial?
Apparently, I am not the only one to think that a third party with the right candidate could make things difficult for President Biden’s reelection campaign. Rumors are flying and these rumors contain words like fear. There seems to be a growing fear inside the Biden campaign that the greatest threat to his reelection might be a third party rather than the Republican Party. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone voting to reelect this vindictive, petty, and not to mention demented man. But I suppose that many people would.
Perhaps his obvious mental problems are affecting his personality. Perhaps a mentally alert Joe Biden would not have denied Secret Service protection to Robert Kennedy. I’m certainly no mental health expert, but I’ve read that in many cases dementia causes the patient’s true personality to come out rather than changing his personality so that his weird actions cannot be attributed to him. So, maybe this petty, vindictive man I’ve been describing is who Joe Biden really is. This all comes on top of recent polls showing Biden falling behind Trump head-to-head. The same polls show Biden even more behind if a third party enters the equation.
More third party movements
Even the Green candidate Cornel West, is shown as cutting into Biden’s vote let alone what Kennedy could do. A group calling itself No Labels is well funded and has the goal of attracting a candidate who will appeal to moderate voters. Cornel West is a black academic and could hurt his base at least a little bit. So there is valid reasons for concern. Apparently, it is not just Biden who is concerned because rumors are flying that Hillary Clinton dropped by for a private meeting with Biden to emphasize to him how dangerous a third-party effort could be for him.
Democrats spend a lot of time talking about “our democracy.” But apparently the will of the people doesn’t fit into that equation. In that sense, both Kennedy and Trump are viewed that same way by Democrats. When I say Democrats, I am referring to whoever makes the decisions for the figurehead in office, not Democrat voters. Kennedy and Trump both generate fear because they are different. Both at least give off the vibe that they are not down with the cause. There is at least a belief that these two men would not play the game as it is usually played.
Warmongering
For example, both political parties appear to be trying to get the voters to accept that:
- We will be at war with Russia for a long time, and
- War with China is inevitable and just around the corner.
Both Kennedy and Trump reject those views.
Regarding China, in January of this year Air Force General, Mike Minihan sent a memo to the officers he commands telling them that the U.S. would be at war with China within two years. He said that “my gut tells me we will fight in 2025.” If Joe Biden is reelected or if another of the possible Democrats such as Gavin Newsom, or Michelle Obama replace him then the General’s gut might be an accurate oracle. If Donald Trump wins, who knows. My guess is that the chances of an unnecessary war are less with Trump than any Democrat. But that is just my gut playing oracle.
When we ask about Robert Kennedy, that’s where it gets interesting. Kennedy said that indications are that:
- The Chinese leadership does not want a military confrontation with the U.S., and
- The U.S. should not want that either.
He has criticized U.S. military provocations of China by putting military bases in the South China Sea. He referred to the decision to do that as a mistake.
Kennedy says back off from war with China
Kennedy’s words reflect a strong divergence from the constant saber rattling of the White House and even the Republican leadership. It’s as if they are all afraid to say we don’t need another stupid, and pointless war right now.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping says he wants a win-win cooperative strategy in which the U.S. and China work together to advance their national interests. I know what you must be thinking, but no I would not be fooled by Communist promises either. I would not, however, unnecessarily provoke them with an obvious strategy of encircling them with military bases. Many accusations against China, however, appear to be baseless. Even the Chairman of the joint chiefs acknowledged that the so-called Chinese spy balloon of earlier this year was “baseless.” However, he refused to answer the question of if it is not a spy balloon, then what is it.
Kennedy says that he is opposed to the constant provocations and constant brinkmanship. He is opposed to turning Taiwan into an island that is essentially a U.S. military base in order to use it for a proxy war, a la Ukraine. He would “back off militarily” and let them work it out for themselves. The military-industrial complex does not like statements like the ones Kennedy made. Therefore, they do not like Kennedy. That is one more and perhaps the biggest reason to provide Secret Service protection to him.
Denial of Secret Service protection is of a piece…
He referred to the U.S. weapons transfer to Ukraine as a money laundering scheme. He said it takes wealth out of the hands of taxpayers and puts it into the pockets of Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and Raytheon which are in turn owned by Wall Street Hedge Funds Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard. The Southeast Asia buildup is the same and he stands opposed to that too. We’ve been down this road before folks and it is all too familiar. His message would resonate with voters if they had the opportunity to hear him and to vote for him.
Finally, folks, the efforts of the Biden Administration directed against Donald Trump and its refusal to provide Secret Service Protection to Robert Kennedy are obviously intended to drain their attention and resources. The effects of those actions convey to the world that we have become a banana republic which no longer recognizes a rule of law and we are not even ashamed of it.
At least that’s the way I see it.
Until the 27th of October folks,
God willing, I will talk to you then,
This is Darrell Castle.
Editor’s Notes
This article comes from CastleReport.us and appears here by permission.
1 Actually, make that National Socialistic, or Bolshevik. Or perhaps Roman. Gaius Julius Caesar Filius Octavianus Augustus invented the concept “intelligence agency.” After him, Lucius Aelius Sejanus invented the concept “internal security.”
Darrell Castle is an attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, a former USMC Combat Officer, 2008 Vice Presidential nominee, and 2016 Presidential nominee. Darrell gives his unique analysis of current national and international events from a historical and constitutional perspective. You can subscribe to Darrell's weekly podcast at castlereport.us
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