Paul Kengor: RFK Jr. deserves Secret Service protection

Last week in Downtown Pittsburgh, the Institute for Faith & Freedom at Grove City College hosted a fascinating talk by Dr. Gene Kopelson. Kopelson is an oncologist, with credentials that include an M.D. from Columbia University, residency at Harvard University’s Department of Radiation Oncology, an affiliation with the Yale University School of Medicine and more. He is also a presidential historian with unique expertise on Ronald Reagan and Robert F. Kennedy.

That expertise brought Kopelson to Pittsburgh. Among the intriguing aspects of his presentation, Kopelson spoke movingly of Reagan’s response to the tragic shooting of RFK in Los Angeles in June 1968. Reagan was governor of California, and his old rivalry with RFK was cast aside as he and Nancy dashed to Good Samaritan Hospital to show their concern as the 42-year-old took his final breaths. Reagan was aghast.

I say this as pretext to the rivalry shaping up between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Joe Biden. And more specifically, the outrage of the Biden administration reportedly refusing Secret Service protection to RFK Jr.

This story began unfolding months ago. “Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me,” RFK Jr. wrote in a tweet in July.

Most outrageous, this has persisted even after an armed man accused of impersonating a police officer managed to get into an RFK Jr. rally in — of all places, chillingly — Los Angeles.

That major breach prompted Kennedy’s team to renew calls for Secret Service protection. Campaign manager Dennis Kucinich wrote an open letter to Biden circulated to the press: “​​Although it is a well-known historical fact, apparently, in your case, it bears repeating: Mr. Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Mr. Kennedy’s father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated while a presidential candidate.”

The media ought to be up in arms about this. The situation gets occasional coverage by conservative outlets, but it isn’t getting the attention it ought to from the mainstream media. In fact, some sources, like CNN.com, from the outset tried to dismiss RFK Jr.’s claims.

Imagine this scenario instead: Incumbent President Donald Trump is being challenged in the Republican primary by an upstart Republican making waves. That upstart asks Trump and his administration for standard Secret Service protection but is refused. Can you imagine how CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times would explode?

Trump would be accused of wanting his challenger dead.

Keep in mind the crucial context with RFK Jr.’s challenge of Biden: As I’ve written about here, Trump has a ceiling of about 46% of the vote. The only way he wins in 2024 is a third-party challenger who pulls enough votes from Biden. RFK Jr. has that potential. Biden knows it.

The Biden refusal of RFK Jr. came up during the Q&A session of Kopelson’s talk in Pittsburgh. It was the first question, and I wasn’t surprised by the very troubling suspicions raised by the questioner.

Suspicions aside, this is an outrage. Biden has one Democrat challenger, a man whose famous father and uncle were both assassinated. He and his team are begging for Secret Service protection. With all the gazillions the Biden administration and federal government spends on everything else, is this asking much? No, it isn’t.