There are very few scenarios where J.D. Vance is not the Republican nominee for president in 2028. Donald Trump has flirted with illegally running for a third term, but he will be, at the time of the next election, 82 years old. He is very unpopular. While seizing the Republican nomination for a fourth consecutive time is not out of the realm of possibility for a politician as brazen and corrupt as he is, it is, at this point, highly unlikely. Vance is the sitting vice-president, the polling leader among non-Trump candidates, and someone that even potential rivals like Marco Rubio, the secretary of State, have effectively blessed for the next election.

Yet there is one intriguing potential challenger who has said he is not running — for now, at least. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary and scion to a Democratic dynasty, kicked off a national “Take Back Your Health” tour with a rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol. Kennedy said at this rally that he is not a presidential candidate, but the appearance had all the trappings of a political venture. Some in the crowd wore MAGA hats. Near him was a poster of his new upside-down food pyramid with the message he has said he wants all Americans to hear: “Eat real food.” At the rally, Kennedy lauded Trump for fighting to lower drug prices and praised legislatures in Republican states that have reformed school lunches to include whole milk and barred low-income people from using their SNAP benefits to buy sugary sodas and candy. Nearly 20 states have obtained waivers from the federal government allowing them to impose restrictions on how SNAP recipients can use their benefits........

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