Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brings independent presidential campaign to the Cincinnati region

WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio – Dozens of people traveled to a suburban community just north of Cincinnati to hear from a scion of one of the nation's most prominent political families.

Some who showed up voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Others, Joe Biden. One person told The Enquirer he hasn't voted for president since Ronald Reagan.

They packed a small room in the Marriott Hotel in West Chester to hear what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had to offer with his independent campaign for president.

Kennedy unfurled an hourlong speech in which he assailed the military-industrial complex, implied it may have had something to do with the assassinations of his uncle and father and blamed corporations for homelessness and the housing crisis. He railed against the United States' involvement in wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Kennedy a week earlier had split from the party of his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., and uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, when he switched his presidential campaign affiliation from Democrat to independent.

Crowd wanted a third-party candidate

That switch to an independent campaign appealed to attendees like Tyler Scott, who described himself as a moderate Republican who voted for Trump in the past two elections. Trump is too divisive, Scott said.

"He is very far right, not like Nazi right, obviously, I don't think that," Scott said, referring to Trump. "But he's more farther right than most, and then Biden and others are a little far left. And I feel like we need someone a little more in the middle."

He doesn't know who he's voting for now. The 26-year-old Cedarville resident said he would love a third-party candidate to have a shot for the presidency, but he's not sold on Kennedy.

Jason Doublett also wanted another option for president. The 30-year-old West Price Hill resident voted for Biden in 2020 and said he regrets it.

"Just didn’t expect things to turn out how they are now," Doublett said. "Just on a macro scale, things seem less safe, more wars. ... Probably going back, I probably would have voted third-party again. Some people say it's a waste, but for me, I prefer to vote for someone I actually like."

Doublett describes himself as an independent. He voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in 2016. He's leaning toward voting for Kennedy because of Kennedy's opposition to sending money to Ukraine and other conflicts around the world.

Kennedy invokes his family

Kennedy, in his speech Tuesday, invoked his uncle, John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy told Ben Bradlee that "the principal job of the president of the United States was to keep the country out of war," Kennedy said.

At this point, someone in the audience yelled "Yes!" followed by loud applause from the audience.

"He didn’t want little kids in Africa and Asia and Latin America when they heard the of the United States of America to think of a man with a gun," Kennedy said.

Kennedy has attracted a different crowd than other Kennedys

Kennedy's base is different than his father's and uncle's. He has gained support among some far-right figures. He appeared on Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's channel and spoke at the Christian nationalist ReAwaken America Tour.

He's expressed distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine, specifically around debunked views that vaccines are linked to autism.

He's suggested AIDS may not be caused by HIV and touted questionable claims that chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender and anti-depressants are to blame for school shootings.

On Tuesday, Kennedy didn't talk about any of this. He focused his ire on business and war.

Theories on the Kennedy assassinations

He talked about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and his father, former Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, implying their opposition to the Vietnam War may have played a motive. He said that John F. Kennedy's assassination came a month after he ordered the U.S.'s withdrawal from Vietnam. According to the U.S. Department of State, Kennedy on Oct. 5, 1963, approved the recommendation of the military to remove 1,000 troops from Vietnam.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s revival of conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination have drawn condemnation from experts and other Kennedy family members.

"My father ran against that war in '68, he won the Democratic primary and that day he was assassinated," Kennedy said. Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and said his motive was Kennedy's support of Israel. "Martin Luther King, who would become a peace activist, was assassinated two months before. These traumas, my dad's murder, my uncle's murder, my father's murder, Martin Luther King's murder, the Vietnam War itself, 9/11 and COVID, those traumas all pushed us down a little further."

BlackRock the main villain of Kennedy's speech

Kennedy then launched into a polemic against the military-industrial complex, a term coined by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to describe the network of institutions, individuals and businesses that provide military technology.

The multinational investment company BlackRock played the main villain in Kennedy's speech. He blamed the company for buying up housing and causing home prices to rise. This, Kennedy argued, has led to rampant homelessness in San Francisco and other areas. He accused the company of profiting off of the war in Ukraine.

"They're already arranging it so we will own nothing, because BlackRock is going to own everything," Kennedy said.

BlackRock has responded to these claims with a statement on its site that while it invests in the real estate market, it is not buying single-family homes.

Who benefits from Kennedy's candidacy?

Whether Kennedy's candidacy helps or hurts Trump or Biden remains a topic of debate in political circles. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in early October showed Kennedy with 14% of voter support, compared to 33% for Trump and 31% for Biden. Early polling shows a Kennedy candidacy could give Trump a slight boost, according to ABC News.

Dwight Quinn hasn't voted for a president since Ronald Reagan.

"It seems like people say what they want to say until they get in the office," Quinn, 70, of West Chester, told The Enquirer. "Then they backtrack."

He described himself as a libertarian. He wants a candidate strong against illegal immigration. He also supports reparations for slavery for Black Americans. Will Kennedy be the first president he's voted for since the 1980s?

"Possibly," Quinn said. "The country is hurting and we need to focus on a good candidate that can bring people together, all people."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denounces military-industrial complex in Ohio