Episode 039 – The Controversy Behind Kennedy’s VP Pick: Why Nicole Shanahan?

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Note: This blog post serves as an accompaniment to the corresponding podcast episode of A Changed Mind, where we’ll distill down the core ideas of this week’s theme, along with additional distinctions and insights. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, you can go here to do so.  Enjoy.

We might say it about every presidential election in history, but I truly believe that the upcoming election is the most important election of our lifetime. More information than ever has been disclosed about what the government is actually doing, not doing, hiding, colluding, and corrupting.

Because of that, more people are “waking up” to the many dysfunctional components of the people, entities, systems, and structures that govern us, represent us, and that are supposed to have our best interests in mind.

With that in mind, I have some thoughts about a move my candidate of choice – RFK Jr. – recently made regarding his vice presidential pick.  So today I’m going to unpack why I believe Kennedy’s VP choice might be his death blow.  I’m going to take a first principles look at what’s going on in the world of politics and how everyday Americans are reacting and responding to it.  

I’ll share what I would be doing differently if I were RFK Jr. or the guy managing his campaign.  What follows are just my opinions, but I know a lot of people share them and want to see some serious change take place in the United States (and in the world).  Together, let’s explore if we have a chance of seeing that happen in the wake of the upcoming election.

Is the United States Ready For RFK Jr.?

From a first principles standpoint, I believe that the individuals who are showing up for this election are just reflections of our individual and collective consciousness.  That applies to both the candidates who are running and the citizens who are voting for them.  

I have doubts about whether or not humanity has developed itself internally enough to put into place new systems that will represent the greatest and best of what we’re capable of.  I think to do that, we have to do a lot more work.  Until we can get to a place where we’re able to have conversations and disagreements without activating triggers within us as a result of unresolved traumas, we’re still going to see that trauma expressing itself externally.

With that said, as much as I like RFK Jr. and what he stands for, I’m not so sure that we’ve developed ourselves to a level of deserving him as our president – yet.

Who The Heck is Nicole Shanahan?

Unlike the incumbent Biden and the wildcard contender Trump, who’ve both been flying somewhat under the radar despite being the frontrunners for the election, I believe Kennedy has played his campaign perfectly.  He’s all over social media, he’s leading in the polls with voters under the age of 45, and he’s put a tremendous amount of time, energy, and resources into expanding his base across the country.

But then seemingly out of nowhere, he chose Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate.  A lot of Kennedy supporters don’t understand his choice.  They speculate that he only did it because of her money.  They call her a George Soros lackey.  My understanding is that Shanahan was not Kennedy’s first choice for VP.  According to multiple sources, he initially entertained the idea of Jesse Ventura, Aaron Rogers, Tulsi Gabbard, and even Tony Robbins.

In my opinion, only having the former would’ve been a game-changer for this upcoming election.  Tony Robbins has advised multiple presidents, he’s a well-respected businessman, he’s got a massive audience that would’ve brought a fresh new crop of voters, but existing contracts and commitments prevented him from accepting the offer.

When I hosted my private dinner with Kennedy a couple of months ago, he didn’t reveal the name of his most recent choice for VP, but he told me that “America is going to fall in love with her.”  So when Nicole Shanahan was publicly announced, I was looking forward to that promise coming true.

However, pretty much the only interview I’ve been able to find with her is from a Rick Rubin podcast that was recorded before the announcement.  Here we are nearly two months after the announcement and almost no information has become available on the woman who could potentially be our next vice president.

More Questions Than Answers About Shanahan

Considering how well Kennedy was running his campaign prior to the Shanahan announcement, one would assume that there would be a well-thought-out plan to make America fall in love with her as Kennedy expressed.  Maybe there is.  Maybe I’ll eat my own words at some point in the future as the plan unfolds.  

But right now, it doesn’t seem like Kennedy is living up to the promise and people have more questions than answers about Shanahan.  From an entrepreneurial lens, I look at it as though Kennedy has to “sell” Shanahan to the American people and he needs to be prepared to overcome the objections that people will have to her.

One of those objections is that Shanahan seems to be a part of the progressive left.  She lives in San Francisco, a notoriously liberal city, and rubs shoulders with a lot of left-leaning Silicon Valley players.  She was previously married to Sergei Brin, one of the co-founders of Google, a notoriously progressive company.  

Shanahan herself was a successful attorney and had a legal tech startup company that she ultimately sold.  I don’t know exactly what her net worth is, but she’s definitely got money.  With that money, she’s funded some pretty noble endeavors.  But she’s also funded the people who’ve supported the whole ‘Defund the Police’ movement across the country, like George Gascogne, who has ties with George Soros.

For that reason, you’ve got a lot of people pulling their votes for Kennedy because they believe Nicole Shanahan is a George Soros lackey.  Is it true?  Who knows.  But the Kennedy campaign hasn’t done much to clear the air.  Kennedy went on Fox & Friends recently and was asked a question about Shanahan’s ties to some of these people, and his response was simply “You’ll have to ask Nicole about that.”

What I’d Do If I Were Running The Kennedy Campaign

If you’re anything like me, you’ve heard Kennedy’s talking points and learned about his policies and plans and you agree with what he has to say and offer.  But when it comes to Nicole Shanahan, I really think Kennedy needs to lean in more – to answer the questions and concerns people have about her and what it would potentially mean if they were to become elected.

For the first month or two after she was announced as VP, which we’re already well into, Shanahan should’ve been going onto major shows and creating more of a presence and awareness about who she is and what she stands for.  I would’ve scheduled her for the top 10 podcasts and specifically had her address the major concerns people have had about her.

I would’ve taken every issue and looked through the lens of voter objection and iterated and fine-turned her responses until it was dialed in.  A big question that has yet to be answered is can Nicole Shanahan be the president of the United States.  Considering that two Kennedy politicians have been assassinated and now we’ve got another one who could potentially take office, it’s an issue that’s an elephant in the room.  So could Shanahan step in if the not-so-unthinkable were to happen?

I would make sure that Shanahan had a coach – someone who could coach her on public speaking and on the personality and image she needs to adopt to be such a prominent figure in the public eye.  The question has yet to be answered by Kennedy himself nor Shanahan if she could do the job – a case has not been made for her potentially becoming the president of the United States.

Is Time Running Out?

I still think there’s an opportunity for the Kennedy campaign to course-correct all of this.  There is time, but it’s running out.  Kennedy is already an underdog candidate, but his pick for VIP creates a lot of speculation as to whether or not he’s going to be able to capture the votes of a significant number of swing voters out there.  

As someone who’s sat down and talked with RFK Jr. for two and a half hours, researched his history and record, and spent a lot of my own money into his campaign, I have a lot of confidence in his ability to lead this country in a new direction and I’d love for him to become our next president.  But I do know there’s been a significant mishandling of his pick of Shanahan when it comes to garnering the support he needs to stand a chance of winning.

Why Am I Sharing All This?

For the most part, people have been appreciative of me sharing my opinions on politics lately.  I do my best to look at these things from the lens in which I view all things, with a metaphysical, root cause, first principles understanding.

I’m sharing these things because more and more people are waking up to the propaganda of the media, the corporate capture of major industries, the influence of the military-industrial complex, down to the need for election reform and the people we elect to govern us.

Ultimately, there’s not much we can do about these things as they are external to us.  But what we can do – and what I aim to inspire with the people who listen to what I have to say – is set aside our egos and not take things personally.  We have to have healthy conversations and look at things we care about in constructive ways.  

At the end of the day, regardless of whether you lean left, right, or independent, there’s not much that separates us other than our egos.  But I believe that most of us hold the same values and want the same things for our country, our lives, and our children.  So as long as people listen, I’m going to keep talking about how, as individuals, we can cultivate the personal power within ourselves to create the changes we want to see in our lives and in the world.