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ABossy's avatar

Aw geez. So difficult to read through, one hardly knows where to begin. He had a serious conversation with world-renowned intellectual Rosanne Barr? In your opinion, is the guy seriously deranged or a cynical seeker of power? I’d like to say he’s low IQ, but like Trump he seems to have a crafty instinct for attracting dissidents and discontents.

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Justin Ling's avatar

I dunno about IQ — the many certainly has a memory for facts, dates, and events, to the point where many of his interviewers look a bit bored.

But I do think he believes it all. And I genuinely think he started down this path because he thought he was helping people. I really don't have a good explanation for how he's radicalized in this way — though, I'll be honest, a literal brain parasite does strike me as a tidy answer.

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Roy Brander's avatar

There are the three of them that have lost it while the whole world was watching: Naomi Wolf, https://newrepublic.com/article/162702/naomi-wolf-madness-feminist-icon-antivaxxer

Lara Logan: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/07/lara-logan-60-minutes-correspondent-conspiracy-theories/674168/

, and him. In his case, it would appear to be organic brain failure, early-onset dementia 11 years ago:

https://www.gregpalast.com/i-was-on-the-phone-with-rfk-jr-when-he-lost-his-mind/

...I greatly respect Greg Palast, who nailed the first of three "stealings" of the Florida 2000 vote, their voter suppression program. He was a writing partner with BK2 ten years later, had done a lot of good work together, when Kennedy abruptly lost memory of doing something a few days earlier, and began going into nonsense. Palast promised his partner that he'd cut all ties and not be near when Kennedy flamed out, and did so, now thankful.

Whether the "organic" failure is an actual worm, or just plaque in the brain, is probably not relevant.

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werdnagreb's avatar

My opinion (which isn’t worth very much) is that he comes from one of the most privileged families in history. His expectation has always been that people would listen to him *because* he’s a Kennedy. When that stopped happening since he was too crazy, he had to dig deeper to find people who would support him.

I think he’s both a true believer and someone with a fragile ego who needs people telling him how smart and insightful he is.

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