Inside RFK Jr’s White House bid launch

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came all the way from LA to his family’s hometown to launch his improbable bid for the Democratic Party nomination Wednesday at the Park Plaza Hotel.

His supporters, a mix of old-time Democrats dreaming of Camelot, Republicans, and anti-vaxxers came from as far as Vermont and Palm Beach to see the 69-year-old who’s been described by no less than the Boston Globe as someone who “without his name would be just another fringe-dwelling extremist.”

Inside the red, white, and blue bunting-draped ballroom at the Park Plaza Hotel filled with Secret Service-style security and bomb-sniffing dogs, Kennedy’s supporters held signs reading “Heal the Divide” and “Kennedy 2024.”

They were an eclectic mix of staid, NPR bag-clutching New England preppies, a few women brandishing anti-vaccination signs, and a more than a smattering of 50-ish California blondes in the vein of Kennedy’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines, 57.

“I’ve never seen so many hot MILFs in my life and they’re all flirting,” one man at the rally told The Post.

Many refused to speak to reporters but one, Ann, an 80-year-old woman from Poultney, Vt., who’d gotten up at 4 a.m. to drive down to Boston with her daughter, said she better be quoted correctly.

“I remember the day JFK was killed,” she said. “I was working at the hospital in one room and by the time I got to the next room he was dead. Then I saw Bobby Kennedy murdered on TV. They took them from us. I believe in RFK Jr. I like how he stands up to special interests and fights corruption. I think he’s the only one who can heal us.”

Boston artist PJ Szufnarowski, 56, carried anti-vax signs but she said it was “a slur” to call Kennedy “anti-vaccine.”

“He’s not anti-vaccine, he’s for vaccine safety,” Szufnarowski said. “He’s an honorable advocate for safety in the environment and global greenhouse. Do I think he has a chance? Not a snowball’s chance in hell. The world has gotten too corrupt for him. Look at me, I’m a lifelong Democrat but I’m basically viewed as a racist today just because I have white skin. I’m here because I feel desperate.”

Tony Lyons, a lawyer and the president of Skyhorse Publishing which released Kennedy’s 2021 book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” came up on the train from New York with other supporters Tuesday night for the launch.

“He’s fighting for free speech, fighting government corruption, resurrecting democracy in America,” Lyons said. “That’s what Kennedy’s campaign means to me.”

Elliot King, 39, of Falmouth, held his son, Colby, 9, in his arms as they watched Kennedy’s long speech, interrupted bizarrely by a voice that came over the emergency alarm system, telling us to all to evacuate.

“Nice try,” Kennedy said, as King and others laughed.

King was there, he said, because he no longer trusts the government or the media.

“I don’t think Bobby is beholden to anyone and he’s one of the few who tells the truth, even if he’s a flawed guy,” he said.

Perry Gregoriu, a professional investor from Palm Beach, invoked part of Kennedy’s speech about fighting corporate corruption after the rally.

“The biggest problem in the world is totalitarianism and that comes from collusion between the government and large corporations,” Gregoriu told The Post from the hotel coffee shop. “They are the threat to this republic and the individual sovereignty of everyone that lives in it. I like Bobby because he’s focused on the actual problem. which is that criminals have taken over society.”

Richard Anglin, 69, came in his wheelchair with his son from New York. A lifelong Democrat, he said he is a friend of the Kennedy family and believes in RFK Jr.

“I’m not that comfortable sitting for a long period and it was hard to get up here but I had to,” Anglin said. “We’re here for one word: hope Our generation has failed miserably. I think Bobby is the only one who can create real change and help us get out of this mess. He is not a Neanderthal. He’s not a TikTok punk. He has felt pain. The word is hope.”

Curtis Cost, who is from the Bronx and preferred not to give his age, maneuvered through the event on his scooter. Cost, who has written books on vaccines and said he has been researching them for decades, said Kennedy is a “brilliant researcher” and came to Boston because he supports his work.

“Kennedy is not afraid like the rest of them,” Cost told The Post. “That’s why I’m here.”

Kim Rossi drove up from Connecticut to see Kennedy but said she is still gathering information about various candidates.

“He understands that American is only as strong as the middle class and he understands the hard choices and the divide he has to heal just as his father and uncle saw it,” Rossi said. “He feels morally and familially obligated and is prepared to help.”

Rossi said she likes him but is not a Kennedy zealot.

“We are in such dire straits in this country that if you are a Biden supporter, I think you really need to take a look and see who can really heal the nation now – not just for us but for the younger generation and those who aren’t here yet.”

In a USA Today/Suffolk University poll published just before Kennedy’s launch, only 67% of Biden’s 2020 supporters said they would support the president for the Democratic nomination.

In the poll, Kennedy stands at 14%, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, a candidate for the nomination last time, is at 5%. Another 13% are undecided.

Kennedy recently finished a new book due to be released later this year and there are fund-raisers lined up in New York and Florida, according to campaign insiders.