Why the Biden-Trump Debate May Boost RFK Jr

On Thursday night, independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. stood alone on a stage in a small studio in Los Angeles answering the questions posed to his rivals at the first presidential debate 2,000 miles away in Atlanta.

A livestream behind the scenes showed dozens of people hooting, clapping, and chanting "Bobby!" from plastic chairs in a dark studio as Kennedy stood behind a lit-up blue podium with a screen behind him reading "The Real Debate." He faced Jon Stossel, a libertarian media personality, who served as a moderator of sorts as he frequently cut Kennedy off to return to CNN. The livestream on X—which presented a split-screen of Kennedy, President Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump —initially hovered around 70,000 viewers, despite being promoted by Elon Musk, who tweeted a link telling his 188 million followers to "Watch this."