For years, anytime someone unfamiliar with the inner and sometimes sinister workings of governmental power would ask me what was wrong with our country, I would suggest they watch the 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
While that fictional movie, directed by Frank Capra, is now considered a classic, that was not the case when it premiered 84 years ago. Then, it was considered a highly controversial movie by some. Most especially certain members of Congress and the media who were worried — and even outraged — that it exposed a dark side of both institutions.
The film depicts Jimmy Stewart playing an idealistic but woefully naïve young man from rural America, who was handpicked by his state’s most powerful and corrupt political machine to replace a recently deceased senator in order to protect an illicit project known to certain members of Congress while being purposefully ignored by certain members of the media.
Eighty-four years later, if you colorize the film, it comes across to some as a spot-on documentary about what happens to those who try to rock the boat of unchecked power, fraud, waste, abuse and hedonism.
The populist Mr. Smith tries to stand up for the people and against the special interests and graft and is immediately ostracized, smeared and silenced.
Now, almost a century later, some believe another populist standing up for the people and against the entrenched elites is being ostracized, smeared and silenced by a powerful political machine acting on behalf of President Joe Biden.
Today’s populist being Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Last week, Kennedy himself called out the Democratic National Committee for “rigging” the primaries against him to benefit Biden. Said Kennedy, in part: “It’s pretty clear that the DNC does not want a primary … Essentially, they are fixing the process so that it makes it almost impossible to have democracy function. They’re effectively disenfranchising the Democratic voters from having any choice in who becomes president, the Democrat nominee.”
Kennedy next shook the pillars of the Democratic power base by hinting at something that could alter the outcome of the 2024 election. Said RFK Jr., in part: “If the DNC is going to rig it so that it is simply impossible for anybody to challenge President Biden, you know I need to look at other alternatives. Because I can’t go back to the people who support me and to my donors and say you know I’m in this to make a point. I need to show them a road to victory …”
“Other alternatives.” Boom goes the political dynamite.
In the film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” the corrupt “Taylor Machine” galvanized certain politicians and media outlets to smear and silence Smith before his voice of reason could reach the people.
In today’s world — as RFK Jr. himself has said — media outlets such as CNN and MSNBC refuse to have him on, while allies of President Biden continually assail his character and motivations. Why would they do so?
Some supporters of Kennedy would say it’s because he has been continually challenging narratives pushed by the entrenched elites — be they related to COVID-19, U.S. policy in Ukraine or the American people being voiceless in their own nation.
Another reason why a DNC with its thumb on the scale for Biden, powerful Democratic powerbrokers behind the scenes and certain media outlets advocating for Biden might be dialing up their attacks on Kennedy was outlined by a story in Axios headlined “Biden could lose first two ’24 contests to RFK Jr.”
Talk about embarrassing for the president.
Those contests are the traditional first-to-vote states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Or, as Kennedy campaign manager Dennis J. Kucinich described them, “States at risk of such disenfranchisement include New Hampshire, where Biden came in last in 2020, receiving zero delegates; Iowa, where Biden came in 4th in 2020.”
It is clear that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a Democrat and wants to run as one in the Democratic primaries. He has stressed time and again that the Democratic Party he once knew was all about helping the disenfranchised and those with the least among us.
But if the system is “rigged” and he is shut out of the Democratic primaries, does his quest become a lost cause?
Jefferson Smith in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” closed the film by speaking of the importance of lost causes. Said the character, “I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don’t know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for and he fought for them once. For the only reason any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain simple rule. Love thy neighbor. And in this world today of great hatred a man who knows that rule has a great trust.”
As the DNC, in conjunction with the Biden White House, continues to try to silence and ostracize Kennedy while punishing states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and Georgia — along with millions of potential primary voters — it certainly seems as if they don’t trust the people to speak for themselves.
The DNC and the Biden White House may quickly learn that it’s one thing to try to silence RFK Jr. It’s quite another to try and disenfranchise the votes of millions of Americans.
Lines are being drawn in the sand. Can the DNC and Biden see them?
Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.