Notes from the Campaign Trail

When friends ask me how I got to be the Director of Communications for the Kennedy Campaign, it usually triggers a flashback to David Byrne, the lead singer of The Talking Heads, in one of my favorite music videos. It’s 1981—the year my generation was blessed with the invention of MTV—and Byrne sings:

…And you may find yourself in another part of the world

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile

And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife

And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

I may, someday, write a book about how I see life as a series of miracles. If you’ve ever watched my online talk show, The HighWire, or seen me speak on a stage, you’ve probably heard me share that I view even the tragedies in my life as miracles. My experiences have led me to believe that I was born with a destiny. And because it is my belief that the universe is fair and honorable, I believe we all have a destiny. It is more important than ever, in these incredible times, to connect with that guidance inside each one of us and seize it. In my case, I credit a divinely-organized journey of disasters and triumphs for helping me find mine. 

When I read Bobby’s book, American Values, I reflected on the important role my family has played in my journey. In the book, Bobby tells the story of how his grandfather would give him a poem to memorize before dinner. Bobby couldn’t sit down to enjoy the meal until the poem was memorized and recited perfectly. I suppose such a practice might be met with raised eyebrows these days, but when you see Bobby answer a question in a public forum on any topic—from the war in Ukraine to the safety trials of a drug—his ability to recall names, historical dates, and intricate details to support his opinion is beyond anything we have witnessed in modern politics. Nice job, Grandpa.

I, too, was blessed with an amazing family and incredibly conscientious parents. We weren’t the Kennedys by any stretch of the imagination, but my two siblings and I were raised to believe that we could achieve anything we put our minds to. My parents also instilled in us the value of a clear, calm outlook; “You can’t put your mind to something if you can’t control your mind,” they’d say. To this end, my parents taught us to meditate at a very young age. My father was a minister, and our family business was the church. We were taught to lead by way of our connection to God, and this gave us an intuitive sense of what was right. In fourth grade, when my mother felt that I was letting peer pressure undermine my self-esteem, she pulled my sister and I out of school, declaring, “I will never raise children who care what other people think!” I ended up being homeschooled until tenth grade. 

At this point, it’s probably obvious that, yes, my parents were hippies. They raised us with the guiding principle to question everything—especially authority. They were dedicated to free speech, free religion, and the pursuit to end all war. They spoke often of the Kennedys, of the Vietnam war, and of their belief that the CIA used controlled opposition to infiltrate the march at the Chicago convention, which they attended and which erupted into violent chaos. Only by the grace of God did my parents narrowly escape being clubbed by the police that day.  

In some respects, sure, their parenting techniques could be construed as radical. Eating candy and drinking soda was strictly prohibited. We weren’t allowed to watch television or even listen to music. I remember when a family friend gave me a Sony Walkman for Christmas when I was fourteen. My mother snatched the Walkman away from me, saying, “If you want music, go play the piano.” So I learned to play the piano, and instead of watching television, I learned to make television. Mom: thank you.

One of the things I admire most in Bobby is his commitment to protecting our families. I often wonder if my parents could—would even be allowed to—raise us today the way they did when my siblings and I were young. Our government attempts to control so many aspects of our family life. It’s horrifying. From weaponizing social issues to dictating medical decisions, the sovereignty of our families are under attack from myriad directions. And I have watched for years as Bobby has fought in courtrooms, on the steps of state capitol buildings, and in so many places in between to keep the government and regulatory agencies out of our homes—all while being flogged mercilessly by a captured media empire.

I know a lot about that media empire because before I met Bobby, I was an Emmy-winning producer on the CBS talk show “The Doctors.” My obsession with truth and my insatiable journalistic curiosity had made me one of the show’s highest-rated producers. It wasn’t lost on anyone that I was pushing the envelope of daytime television with controversial topics: hospitals involved in medical kidnapping due to a misdiagnosed phenomenon in children, debates about the safety of Roundup— Monsanto’s cancer-causing weed killer—and more. (I didn’t care if Monsanto was one of the show’s sponsors; I cared about what that company was doing to people’s health.)  

In the case of Monsanto, I found out years later that footage from my episode on “The Doctors”—featuring Monsanto’s head toxicologist, Donna Farmer, debating the renowned GMO activist Jefferey Smith—was used as compelling evidence against the company during the trial. Internal emails revealed that Donna Farmer had lied on my episode, which left the jury stunned.* 

Bobby was one of the lawyers in that case against Monsanto. The case resulted in a multi-billion dollar settlement for the plaintiff, Dewayne Johnson—one of many, many victories Bobby has brought for people injured by corporate lies and deceit. It’s incredible to look back now and realize that Bobby and I were working together before we ever knew it. Destiny, you might say. 

Over the past several years, Bobby and I have grown close, in large part because of our shared mission to restore transparency to science and integrity to government regulatory agencies. Through the work of my nonprofit, Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), and his nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense (CHD), we’ve helped bring much-needed attention to the lack of proper safety testing in vaccine development. This was exemplified by the rushed release of the experimental Covid vaccine. We’ve even joined forces to bring lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),  including a landmark case that we won. But there has never been a more exciting or important collaboration than the one we are on now: to make Bobby the first independent president since George Washington. 

I’ve been in this campaign from the very beginning. I was deeply fortunate to be one of the first people called to a meeting when Bobby was just beginning to consider entering the presidential race. I was in the room when he made the incredible decision to officially run for president—without a dollar in a war chest or a single supporter’s email address. And I can tell you, with the utmost conviction, that no one has ever stepped into a journey of this nature with more faith than Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On a wing and a prayer, we’ve used the little that we have to mount the most formidable independent run in history. We currently can’t afford television ads, and we’re being shut out by most of the mainstream media who refuse to discuss Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—despite the fact that polls have shown he’s the most favored candidate in the country. In other polls, he’s been “first among voters under 35”; “leading among independents in battleground states”; and, now, “polling within single digits of President Trump and President Biden in battleground states.” 

As an athlete, I’ve always loved being the underdog. If this were a bicycle race, we’d be in third place, the peloton out of sight behind us, drafting off of the two leaders who are clearly struggling with the steep hill climb. With half a race still left to go, I cannot imagine Bobby being in a better position to win.

I wish I could say it was my unique talent at creating powerful media that got us here.  Maybe that played a small part. And perhaps a bit can be attributed to the work of my incredible teammates: Charles Eisenstein, Gavin DeBecker, Amaryllis Kennedy, and several others who form the backbone of inspired thought leaders that are deeply committed to this historic campaign. The truth is, we’re all consistently humbled by the charisma, integrity, and wisdom of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a shining star that is drawing the attention of the world.  

Make no mistake: this assembled team is the stuff that movies are made about. I have known from the very beginning that we can win. As Bobby surges in the polls, every news agency in the country is grappling with the reality that, any day now, they will be forced to admit that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can win.  

I’ll be frank: the thing we need most right now is Bobby’s supporters and their financial contributions. While President Trump and President Biden are busy collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations and special interest groups, our campaign faces the challenge of needing to raise tens of thousands of dollars from hard-working people. Average Americans—though there is nothing average about a single one. And, as if they don’t have it easy enough, Trump and Biden are automatically on the ballot—whereas Bobby has to go from state to state raising funds and collecting signatures to get on the ballots in all fifty states. It is no small feat, and it requires manpower and money.   

And so, I ask everyone reading this to envision a deeply unsettling sort of world, one only slightly in the future. A world in which your children are no longer raised by you, but by your government. Where decisions about pharmaceutical interventions for your kids, such as anti-depressants and stimulants, are mandated without your involvement, without your say. A world where simply trying to guide your child to wait before undergoing a life-altering surgery could be grounds to have them taken from you. A world where social credit scores—in my mother’s words, “what other people think of you”—decides if you can board a bus, get a job, or buy a house.

Imagine a government-controlled digital currency that blocks you from eating meat, or a tracking system that bans you from entering a hospital to see a loved one in their final hours. Imagine a world that censors any communication that doesn’t support the government, no matter how far that censorship strays from the Constitution. Imagine a world where you are told it’s illegal to breathe the air without wearing a mask.  

Not only are the technologies currently in place to slingshot this world into reality, but President Trump and President Biden have and will continue to take dramatic steps toward this dystopian nightmare.

Now, imagine you’re standing in the middle of this almost inevitable future. Close your eyes and consider how hard you’d pray for a miracle that would allow you to go back in time to the moment you could have acted to alter this reality. What would you be willing to do? What would you be willing to give?  

It is this thought that has made me work the most insane hours I could have ever imagined. It is this reality that has me thanking God every day for the hardships that shaped me and the experiences that honed my talents for this moment. I only have to look into my children’s eyes to know that I cannot give up hope while we still have time.  I am deeply inspired and more motivated than I’ve ever been in my life. And I fervently hope that, with these words, you will be inspired to tell everyone you know to lend their support while we still have a chance. I truly believe we were born for this. And I know, deep in my bones, that this is our destiny.

So, as it turns out:

I do find myself in another world
I find myself behind the wheel of a large automobile
I have a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
I have two beautiful children 
and I am the director of communications
for the greatest presidential candidate in my lifetime.
How did I get here?  

I don’t know. But I know what I’m going to do about it. The question is: do you?  

All the best,

Del Bigtree

*“The Doctors" episode featuring Monsanto’s head toxicologist, Donna Farmer, debating the GMO activist Jefferey Smith. Watch on YouTube