JACK SHAFER: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Real Motive.

Kennedy’s candidacy has broadened the platform for his previously banned-by-Facebook-and-Instagram outré ideas about vaccines, not to mention his views on his father’s assassination, gender dysphoria and chemicals, antidepressants and school shootings, the CIA, and the “stolen” 2004 election. That adds to the considerable platform he has already built on his podcasts and his bestselling screed The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. The current campaign has and will continue to expand his exposure until he concedes the nomination to Biden.

Kennedy may have spent his career as an environmental activist and litigator on the political sidelines, but he’s well aware of the dividends that can be earned from running a long-shot presidential campaign. As laid out in a recent Insider article, the typical dark horse candidacy is mostly about climbing the rungs of power. Would former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg be the secretary of Transportation today if he hadn’t run in 2020? Would Kamala Harris, who polled below Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for almost the entire 2020 primary campaign, and frequently did worse than Buttigieg, have been tapped as Biden’s running mate if she had not run? Would Sanders possess his current clout if not for his two unexpectedly strong forays? Failed candidacies have produced book contracts, cable TV deals, paid speaking engagements, lobbying gigs and proximity to power.

There is a flip side though. As Glenn noted last night, “incumbents who face a serious primary challenge generally lose. RFK Jr. is polling around 20%. Compare to Eugene McCarthy in 1968.” And Ronald Reagan versus Jerry Ford in 1976, Teddy Kennedy versus Jimmy Carter in 1980, and Pat Buchanan versus George H.W. Bush in 1992.