When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his independent bid for the US presidency, it sent shockwaves through the Beltway and beyond. Will the scion of the Kennedy clan merely play spoiler, or does the political upstart carry the clout to win the White House?

If there is one thing the Democrats and Republicans despise more than anything, it’s when a meddling independent or third-party candidate joins the political fray, threatening to disrupt the two-party duopoly that has ruled with an iron fist over Washington, DC since 1853 (Millard Fillmore was elected president under the Whig Party banner in 1850; after that, the Oval Office has been owned by either a Democrat or Republican). That’s what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done after bidding farewell to the Democratic Party and declaring his run as an independent.

Kennedy, 69, now finds himself walking a treacherous tightrope over the snake pit known as the US political system to enamor himself with members of both parties on several hot-button issues. To this end, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy – the US senator who was assassinated on June 5, 1968 while also making a presidential run – has borrowed heavily from the political playbooks of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The outcome is a mishmash of beliefs from both ideological camps, a risky move that has some merit.

Consider, for example, Kennedy’s position on Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. While the Biden administration has taken a wrecking ball to the US economy, dumping hundreds of millions into Kiev’s war coffers and stoking inflation, Kennedy has pointed to the US and NATO’s failure to heed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s past warnings on Western military expansion as the main cause.

“In 2019, actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate, winning the Ukrainian presidency with 70% of the vote,” Kennedy observed on X (formerly Twitter). “As Benjamin........

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