EDITORIAL: Politics as usual? No, even worse than usual.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew from the presidential race too late to have his name removed from the Wisconsin ballot. He will undoubtedly get a few hundred throwaway votes, or maybe a few thousand, from voters who either missed the news about his dropping out or want to show their disapproval of the two major candidates.

Kennedy’s name on the ballot will have significance for other voters as well—as a symbol of the wretched depths to which political hypocrisy can descend.

Kennedy entered the presidential race as the savior for independent voters, flaunting the celebrity of his family name to engage supporters yearning for an alternative to the two-party system that has disappointed so many Americans. He rallied volunteers in the states to gather nomination signatures. He solicited, and received, tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions, in small amounts from thousands of individuals, and in very large amounts from PACs and mega rich donors.

And then it was revealed that he wasn’t really running to be president. He was running to accrue political capital to buy his way into the potential administrations of either the Democratic or Republican candidate.

Kennedy met in person with Donald Trump at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee to offer to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Trump in exchange for a place in the Trump cabinet or another prestigious position.

He attempted to meet with Kamala Harris for similar negotiations about a role in her administration. When she ignored him, Kennedy announced he was ending his candidacy and promptly endorsed Trump.

These sordid goings-on were reported in detail by news organizations, as were comments Kennedy made about Trump before he endorsed him.

Shortly before the RNC opened in Milwaukee, Kennedy said, “Donald Trump was a terrible president.” In a text message he called Trump “a terrible human being” who was “probably a sociopath.”

Kennedy also: called Trump a “bully,” said his ideas on foreign policy were “absurd and terrifying,” said Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election was “appalling,” described his performance in office as “buffoonery at a high level,” and called Trump an “example of what a disaster democracy’s become.”

Kennedy is now telling his betrayed supporters to pay no mind to that and vote for Trump.

In a speech announcing his sudden embrace of Trump, Kennedy also trumpeted his conversion from registered Democrat to sworn enemy of the Democratic Party (the subject of several recent letters to editor in praise of Kennedy). If the Democratic Party’s candidate had made an offer besting Trump’s, it’s safe to assume Kennedy’s speech, in keeping with his malleable loyalties, would have been a condemnation of the Republican party.

Trump made an initial payment to Kennedy by naming him co-chairman of his transition team and has said he would consider appointing him to head the Health and Human Services Department.

That would be an interesting choice considering Kennedy’s unusual views on health. Kennedy’s previous claim to fame was his reign as one of the world’s most prominent anti-vaccination conspiracy theorists. He has made a career of falsely claiming in speeches, published statements and books that vaccines cause autism and warning parents that it is dangerous to have their children vaccinated against diseases such as measles and polio.

Fortunately, the medical and scientific communities and most of the public dismiss Kennedy’s thoroughly debunked claims as crackpot ravings and know that childhood vaccinations have kept the country and much of the world safe from deadly diseases.

Too bad there isn’t a vaccine for political hypocrisy.