RFK Jr.: Washington’s fears about political parties being realized

(NewsNation) — A bipartisan deal to pair border enforcement measures and Ukraine funding appears to be facing collapse, a scenario Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the nation’s first president foresaw when he warned about the dangers of political parties.

Senate Republicans are growing increasingly wary of an election-year compromise that Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, says is “meaningless.” Senate negotiators have been working for weeks to finish the carefully negotiated compromise, but now that negotiations have taken weeks, election-year politics and demands from Trump are intervening.

“During George Washington’s Farewell Address, he warned that this kind of cynicism would overrun partisan politics,” Kennedy said Thursday on “CUOMO.” “He didn’t want political parties because he thought that they would devolve into these these creatures of self-interest, where … the impulse of partisanship … would subsume the patriotic impulses that we have. I think that’s exactly what you see (here).”

The 70-year-old is running for president as an independent and is hoping his support from young voters can catapult him to an upset victory in November. He’s garnering about 20% support in various polls, a level not seen since 1992 when Ross Perot shook things up in the election that year.

Kennedy is fighting to get on the ballot in all 50 states, a feat he’s achieved in two so far. He believes an independent is the perfect candidate at this moment in history.

“I think that I have an opportunity to actually break that [partisan] logjam because right now, any issue that comes before Congress is siloed into the Republican or Democratic camps, and the other side can’t vote for it,” he said. “But I think if we have an independent president who plays it right down the line, that it will give permission to senators and congressman from both sides to actually do their job … to vote on bills that actually make sense for our country without punishment from their own party.”

Responding to criticism from Democrats who argue he is hurting Joe Biden’s chances of beating Trump, Kennedy said he doesn’t think Biden “needs my help” losing to Trump. He argued the president has no real campaign strategy for winning.

“I think what they’re gambling on is that maybe these court cases are going to work and take Trump out of the race,” Kennedy said.

Now 10 months out from the election, Kennedy is confident he can continue gaining enough support to have a real shot at winning.

“I feel like I have a path to victory, and that’s why I’m in the race,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.