RNC: The Mysterious Case of RFK in Milwaukee
VP rumors and a ride along in the Kennedy caravan
On our first day at the convention, Denise and I were watching the new Reagan movie in a lavish banquet-hall-turned-screening room at the Pfister Hotel when my phone started blowing up with messages about RFK's unexpected arrival in Milwaukee during the RNC. The Kennedy team — or at least those I spoke to — were equally in the dark, turning this plot twist into an enthusiastic sweep of speculation.
Bobby's presence, revealed to me the day before, had already stirred curiosity. That buzz turned viral when Trump announced he would name his VP pick later in the afternoon. One by one, familiar contenders were eliminated. In this mounting suspense the Kennedy theory quickly caught fire. Reality show antics only helped fan the flame. Could RFK be in town to reveal himself as his running mate? Had a secret deal been worked out last minute? Did the shooting change the course of everything? Was this the moment, the union, many had been hoping and praying for?
Months ago, Link Lauren drafted a passionate email read aloud to me by another staffer on the phone while I was parked at a gas station in Hawaii. In it, he urged Bobby to suspend his campaign and unite under Trump. The suggestion, while weighed by eloquence emotion and logic, was sure to rattle his base. Hardcore supporters would see it as the ultimate surrender, but a larger portion would view it as the ticket of a lifetime. It would get him in the White House, establish him as a robust force in power, and position him as a prime candidate for 2028. “Only four years,” was the repeated mantra attached to this alternative.
This unexpected turn of events sent me into a frenzy, rushing through the halls of the hotel, making calls, trying to piece together if these two iconic surnames might end up side by side on a bumper sticker come Tuesday. Call after call, everyone was ecstatic, thinking this could be it.
The excitement, however, was short-lived. Minutes later, Trump named JD Vance as his decided running mate. A choice I predicted here weeks before but hoped might change. The celebratory buzz charging all of my correspondences zapped before the Reagan credits rolled. “It's Vance,” my texts chorused. “He chose Vance.”
Hopes dashed, we filtered out of the theater in search of dinner. Even with all dazzling VP theories squashed, the peculiarity of RFK's presence grew more mysterious by the day. His appearances went unannounced. One reporter asked if I could confirm his dining with Tucker Carlson. “I can’t. I have no idea where he is or what he's doing here,” I responded.
Then there was a gym spotting, followed by a hotel clip on X showing him pacing the length of a balcony on an animated phone call.
The following day, we woke to news of that leaked phone call with Trump. The betrayal — or what seemed like a betrayal — felt entirely out of character for Bobby, though still intriguing in its oddity. What was the initial purpose of the call? Was Trump seeking his endorsement? Offering him a role in his administration? Or was he calling to connect on assassination traumas with the man whose last name embodies it?
The guessing game quickly morphed into an amusing subplot. “WHERE IS RFK?” became the Where's Waldo of the convention. By Thursday, when Trump was scheduled to take the stage, another flurry of texts flooded my phone asking if I could confirm Bobby would be taking the stage to endorse him. That, I knew for certain, would not be the case. By the time Trump went on, Bobby was settled back home in Los Angeles filming videos of the crows in his backyard.
Days later another photo was sent to me, taken from a couple of seats behind him in first class on his flight back from Milwaukee, in which his phone screen was visible. The text in large font — looked like a response addressing the Trump meeting, alluding to a deal gone wrong. From the looks of it, a single cabinet position was offered but denied.
“We're in it to win it,” the last line read.
RFK sightings on X became sport for political sleuths tracking his visit
Below is a visual recap of an afternoon Denise spent with Kyle Kemper and his crew on the road in Milwaukee for a Kennedy caravan he organized. I missed this ride (thanks to a migraine) but caught a shotgun view the day before. His lovely wife invited us in, handed us each a sparkling aperol spritz, and toasted the path of their beloved “long shot” candidate.
A few miles in, I swallowed a corner of a mushroom laced chocolate and sat relaxed and starry-eyed for the rest of the ride, handing out Kennedy-branded hats and buttons at stop lights throughout town. In the span of 24 hours I went from mingling with Boris Johnson, to shaking hands with Dennis Quaid, to carpooling with Justin Trudeau’s brother. The rhythm of the convention would continue this way, erratic and thrilling connections would arise organically by the hour to enliven otherwise unshaped plans.
The carpool ended about an hour out of town in some form of a church where Russell Brand was hosting an intimate crowd; rows filled with recovering addicts gathered to celebrate new sobriety and faith based healing. In the last row, we watched him unfold his brilliantly manic musings about American politics and his shift into Christianity under the purple glow of vibrantly carved stained glass windows. His thumb clicked through a slideshow of images leading up to the river baptism led by Bear Grylls in River Thames that turned his life around.
“Something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming. I felt changed, transitioned. I feel as if some new resource within me has switched on. My resources are coming from somewhere else and someone else now,” he told a room full of captive faces glued to the illuminated outline of his willowy frame. In a modern era, people like Brand with elevated voices and visions are inhabiting roles previously filled by preachers and prophets. Their truths, applauded by the people, all those desperate for well worded defenses to help awaken the masses to combat the evils of elite corporate capture shadowing this election and all the darker chapters that might unfold after it.
Kyle’s family on the road / quotes below are Kyle’s.
“Driving across America is the most incredible journey! We are bringing a message of unity and Americans are cheering, and honking, for Bobby “the remedy”, Kennedy. We’re doing our part to make sure that everyone knows that there is a 3rd option this year!”
"The response to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while driving around Milwaukee was amazing! Bobby is a unity candidate and I feel that every person present at the RNC will be stoked when Bobby takes the White House! In general the reaction to the bus is one of awe, excitement and amazement.”
"Russell Brand's advocacy for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential bid showcases the intersection of celebrity influence and political aspirations. Brand's spiritual transition adds a layer of depth to his support for Kennedy and echoes the quest for meaning and authenticity in today's world."
“I think we have to focus as best we can on outcomes and inclusivity. I know that things I believe in are the rights of ordinary workers to earn good money, the demonopolization of all corporate power; I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I think that you should be free to have a traditional lifestyle if that’s what you want or a progressive lifestyle. Increasingly, I think these barriers are falling away. When you get Noam Chomsky saying that Donald Trump is one of the only viable anti-war voices, when Tucker Carlson is one of the only people in the media that’s willing to talk about monopolization, you have a deep problem.
Those of us who have had affiliations with what was once known as the Left must acknowledge that the establishment is now using the aesthetics of liberalism in order to mask corruption. Bernie Sanders was right to go on Fox News and talk about Big Pharma. His doing that was inconceivable ten years ago, that a figure to the left of the center of the Democrat Party is appearing on what would have once been regarded as a right-wing outlet. Perhaps you still regard it as that — I don’t really care.
Look at the newly elected president Lula of Brazil: he just said stuff about [Ukrainian president Volodymyr] Zelensky that, if I were to say anywhere other than Rumble, I’d be a heretic. And I don’t really like the feeling of political vagrancy that’s been brought around, but I would rather be a vagrant than not be able to speak the truth. Those appear to be the options now. Frankly, I think that this is caused in part by the smearing of dissenters.
When we discuss Chris Smalls on our show, someone who’s heading up a unionization drive at Amazon, I do that because I believe that low-paid workers have the right to unionize. I’m against the collusion that’s taken place between the state and Big Tech and social media platforms during the last few years.
I’ve been through this giddy carousel of fame and accessed its abundance, its voluptuousness, the saccharine treats that it offers you.
I may be wrong from a spiritual perspective; I’ve tried to continually recognize if I don’t know what I’m talking about. I just want to be open and stay connected to what are called Sesame Street values: kindness, compassion, openheartedness. And there is no advantage in cutting other people out of the debate. I know that my heart is about democracy, that I don’t know what’s right for you and your community in your family. And I don’t even know what’s right for myself, sometimes. What I want is the ability to assess information openly and not to sense continually that there’s a thumb on the scale, that the only information that we’re given is information that will lead to advantages for elites.”
Are you able to tell us what happened with Tulsi for VP? I’m curious about both campaigns Trump and Kennedy. It’s crazy she is not on a ticket.
Family on the bus touring the US, that's the campaigning Kennedy should have been doing. Instead of '20 people on a sailboat' here and there. He just isn't reaching enough people. And it now seems that Kennedy's ego has kept him from possibly his best chance at approaching the Whitehouse. Why would he NOT take a cabinet position? He could have done everything he wants with the power of the ex branch behind him.