The Future Starts Now – with Nicole Shanahan?
Bobby Kennedy, Jr. surprises with Shanahan announcement
When the March 26, 2024, announcement came that Nicole Shanahan would be Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s vice-presidential running mate, the collective response from across the political landscape was, “Who?!” That was pretty much the Meet Me in the Middle reaction as well. We were… underwhelmed. However, we also see Mr. Kennedy as the only candidate that is capable of meeting in the middle on, well, pretty much anything. So, giving him some benefit of the doubt, we began seeking to understand who Ms. Shanahan is and what she brings to the Kennedy campaign.
Additional immediate reaction was that this VP selection was a bust since Ms. Shanahan brings no apparent political merit to the campaign. On the surface, it seems that she bought the nomination through donations and, by being on the ticket, is now free to spend more of her personal wealth on the campaign. We wanted to find out if there is more to her than what we see on the surface, so we dug a little deeper.
The daughter of a Chinese immigrant, Ms. Shanahan ascended from a poor household to become extremely successful in the tech industry. And while she is certainly most famous for her previous marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, it only takes a little research to realize she is indeed much more than just an ex-wife to a tech billionaire. She is an attorney. She is a philanthropist. She is an investor. She is a traveler. She is an intellectual. And she is a mother.
What drew her to the campaign? In her words, “This campaign is so much more than politics. This campaign is about what is sacred. And what is sacred is our health, and our families, and this land, this beautiful land that deserves much greater attention and care than we’ve given it.”
Why Announce Now?
One side of the opposition already has a running mate (sorry Joe, it looks like you are stuck with cackling Kamala), while the other side has yet to tip his hand on his running mate (gotta do better than Pence this time, Don). So, why was there urgency for Kennedy to announce his VP running mate now?
It seems that the timing mostly has to do with ballot access. Each state has its own requirements for getting on the Election Day ballot. For a candidate to appear on the ballot in any given state, he/she must gather enough signatures in that state to meet the state’s requirements. In many states, it is required to announce a VP before petitioning for signatures can begin.
The earlier the announcement, the earlier petitioning can ensue. That seems to account for the early VP announcement relative to his Republican opponent, who does not face ballot access challenges due to his party affiliation.
What Does She Offer to a Presidential Ticket?
VP running mates should complement the Presidential candidates, help them access voters who were otherwise out of reach, and help put them in a better position to win. So, what does Ms. Shanahan bring to the table?
One of the more obvious answers is: Money! It is our understanding that she is quite wealthy. She reportedly contributed $4 million to help pay for RFK Jr’s Super Bowl ad, although that does not appear to show up on her reported donations. Reports also claim that she is RFK Jr’s largest donor. Funding is important, and she brings that much needed support to the Kennedy campaign. She is showing a willingness to leverage her personal wealth into this campaign, which speaks volumes about her convictions and commitment to winning. You have to spend money to run a successful presidential campaign. And given that RFK Jr and Ms. Shanahan are taking on big tech/censorship, big pharma, big agriculture, big food, big war machine, big banking — all the big money that affects all of the biggest parts of our lives and is so influential in helping other presidential candidates — this campaign needs money from somewhere. It looks like Ms. Shanahan can help with that.
While her ability to spend money now is a big part of the story, her history of poverty helps her connect with the regular working-class American. She is the daughter of an immigrant mother and of a father embattled by substance abuse issues. She managed to get a quality education and achieve business success. Eventually, while her personal wealth grew on its own merit, she also married (and later divorced) Google co-founder Sergey Brin which boosted her wealth.
If she gets elected, she will be the youngest VP in history. Is that a positive or a negative? Well, there are certainly issues [artificial intelligence (AI) or cryptocurrency, for starters] at play in the modern world that someone who grew up in the digital age might be better equipped to handle than, say, a guy who grew up in the 1940’s and ‘50’s and was nearly as old as Ms. Shanahan is now when Apple was founded in 1976. Youth and, more importantly, the relevant experience of someone from a younger generation could prove to be a big benefit if the campaign plays those cards to their greatest advantage.
She is a mother of autistic child. She is very open about her parenting experience. And she discusses research into the rising incidences of ASD. While RFK Jr has developed a reputation for being anti-vax (a misplaced reputation), her take on the research makes her an intelligent running mate. So, first of all, RFK does not actually present himself as anti-vax. He discusses the poor regulation of the pharmaceutical industry that permits heavy metals and other toxins to enter into some batches of vaccines and other medications. He does connect the dots, as heavy metals are correlated with ASD, according to increasingly mounting evidence coming from exhaustive research. Heavy metals and toxins are what he actually condemns. And addressing pathways for toxic substances into the human body seems like a pretty good idea, does it not? Ms. Shanahan points to environmental toxins, which she says come from pharmaceuticals, toxins in our food and environment, and factors that are electrochemical in nature.
Ms. Shanahan worked for the Stanford CodeX group just after law school and she is now a fellow at CodeX. Codex is a center that brings together the expertise of Stanford’s law school and computer science program to solve the problems that exist where these professional fields intersect. One of the group’s focus areas is building ethics into AI, and her expertise in this field gives her a better understanding of the challenges of ethical application of AI than the vast majority of mankind. The group incorporates the expertise of professional ethicists. She explains that the biggest challenge is how to take our understanding of ethics and make it computational. The strategy is to take professional thinkers, bring them into computational AI fold, and build computational ethics groups that what will translate into the regulatory bodies that will oversee AI. With AI being a budding but powerful tool for humanity, it will be incredibly beneficial to Americans to have someone in the White House with actual hands-on experience and a truly deep understanding of these challenges.
It would be difficult to argue against the claim that Ms. Shanahan is the best candidate in the field for tackling tech issues. With all kinds of complex and challenging technological issues that have recently emerged (things like AI, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and even surgical implantation of microchips in human brains), it will be helpful to have someone in a leadership position in the government who can speak fluently in discussions about these and other emerging technologies. In addition to her CodeX background, she has litigation experience as an attorney in the big tech realm, so she knows how to dig into challenging tech topics. She also happens to have immediate access to a cryptocurrency expert in her partner, Jacob Strumwasser, who is well-connected in the field. The Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is the best positioned team for addressing the tech issues of the day. Are Ms. Shanahan’s experiences with tech issues more important than what any of the other Presidential candidates or VP running mates bring to the table? There is certainly a case to be made that they are.
Having lived and worked abroad, Ms. Shanahan brings the promise of a steadying hand to potentially rocky relationships with one global superpower, in particular: China. Per the FBI, China is seen as “a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States.” Ms. Shanahan has a very personal connection to this rival country. Her mother immigrated from China in 1983 and Ms. Shanahan has traveled with her mother to visit her home province. She speaks Mandarin. Right after graduating she earned a certificate in trade law from the World Trade Organization during a summer program in Geneva, Switzerland. Following the program in Geneva, she moved to Beijing to work in a Chinese intellectual property lawyer’s office. So, she understands international trade. She understands international intellectual property issues. She understands Chinese culture. These are tools that might serve Americans well in navigating critical international relationships. For Meet Me in the Middle, these details of Ms. Shanahan’s background were actually a very welcome surprise.
Shanahan was a producer for a documentary called Kiss the Ground. Kiss the Ground documents how the Earth’s soil is a living thing, but mankind’s farming practices have been killing soil for generations. The documentary delves into how the soil micro-biome works and how soil is responsible for food quality and food health, how if food isn’t healthy then it can’t nourish us well, and how poor nourishment cannot support our immune system to fight off chronic disease. Kiss the Ground also emphasizes the importance of regenerative agriculture, which stands to renew the dying soil and offers the potential to extract and capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and consequently promote global cooling. She also produced a follow-on film called Common Ground, which “unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system” and “reveals how unjust practices forged our current farm system in which farmers of all colors are literally dying to feed us.”
It may not be one of her most notable qualifications, but it should also be known that she was formerly the Global Joy Officer at Sloomoo Institute, a company that provides a “slime” experience for kids. She invested in the company after her family visited Sloomoo in New York. It is not clear what a Global Joy Officer does, but there is no doubt that we need more joy in this world of ours.
So, she brings wealth but she also brings appeal to the working class based on her upbringing in a poor household with a father suffering from substance abuse problems. She embodies the significance of education and hard work and how they can help to escape difficult economic conditions. She also offers appeal to the moms of the nation and to the increasing number of families affected by autism. For those on the end of the political/cultural spectrum that obsesses over race, she checks their racial minority box. She brings an understanding of the complexities of issues surrounding emerging technologies, a history of litigation in the technology sphere, and a background in international intellectual property rights and international trade. She demonstrates a passion for practical solutions to improve the perceived climate crisis and she invests heavily in improving the health of the world. All of this is in addition to her experience in “Global Joy,” so it would seem that she brings an awful lot to this campaign.
On the Prevalence of Autism
Ms. Shanahan shared this during her introductory video: “I gave birth to a healthy baby girl in November of 2018. That was the happiest day of my life. From time of birth until seven months, she smiled, she giggled, she paid attention, she hugged, she grasped for things. She had a great appetite. At around ten months, things had changed dramatically. She wasn’t engaging as much, and her energy didn’t seem as high. And her muscle mass seemed weak. I would sit her to just sit on her own, and she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up when previously she could. She wasn’t speaking, she wasn’t pointing. She seemed, kind of, you know, in her own world. And the evaluator clearly identified symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder. And it was then and there in 2020 that my life changed forever.”
During her speech, Ms. Shanahan passionately conveyed her very personal story about how her daughter was identified to have symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She cited statistics of how U.S. autism rates have increased in recent decades. Specifically, she stated that rate of children with ASD was about 1 in 10,000 children in the 1970s, a statistic reported by a variety of sources – although others suggest that this number is skewed by a lack of diagnoses prior to the 1980s. In the state of California, Ms. Shanahan said the rate has increased to 1 in 22. Meet Me in the Middle confirmed this statistic with data published by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, which is a program funded by the Center for Disease Control. The rising ASD rates are alarming and cannot be attributed only to better diagnosis. Among American children born in 1992, the ASD rate is 1 in 150 according to the ADDM data. For children born in 2002, the rate increased to 1 in 68. For children born in 2012, that rate increased to 1 in 36. This trend is shocking.
Are we at Meet Me in the Middle the only ones who find it refreshing to hear this subject being addressed by presidential and vice-presidential candidates? It would also be nice to see this team bring solutions for supporting families affected by ASD. Failure of government policy is suspected to have been a major contributor to the conditions that have resulted in the rising trend. These families deserve better.
On Chronic Disease
During her introductory video at her VP announcement, Ms. Shanahan said, “Chronic disease in children is due to environmental disruptors that cause inflammatory symptoms, which then reduce the child’s ability to heal. I’ve learned that the top environmental health exposures are really in three categories. There’s endocrine disruption, which is caused by various chemicals, chemicals in our consumer products, chemicals and preservatives in our foods. The second category of environmental exposures are electrochemical in nature. That electrical interference comes in the form of our wireless technologies, our devices, our cell phones. And we have no regulatory body currently in the United States keeping an eye on this. The third category of environmental exposures really is medications that we rely on for our healthcare system. And ironically, many of these medications are prescribed to help manage the symptoms related to exposures caused by categories one and two. It’s a band aid that actually poses new risks.”
During this introductory video, the headline of the following article is shown:
Chronic Disease in the United States: A Worsening Health and Economic Crisis by Tara O’Neill Hayes and Serena Gillian published by American Action Forum
The Executive Summary for this article includes the following bullets:
The prevalence and cost of chronic disease in the United States is growing and will continue to grow, not just as a result of the Baby Boomer generation aging but also due to increased disease prevalence among children and younger adults.
The prevalence of chronic disease varies greatly across the country with a higher concentration in the Mid-South region.
Those with chronic disease and their families face both direct and indirect costs: Direct costs primarily stem from longer and more frequent hospital visits and greater prescription drug use, while indirect costs arise from lost education and job opportunities.
When including indirect costs associated with lost economic productivity, the total cost of chronic disease in the United States reaches $3.7 trillion each year, approximately 19.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
These are serious and, quite literally, grave concerns. And the solutions are incredibly complex. It will take sweeping changes to American culture to achieve those solutions. Ms. Shanahan has identified the problem of chronic disease, but does she offer any solutions? Well, based on Kiss the Ground, the documentary that she helped produce, part of her tactical plan is to work towards renewing the health of the soil across American farmlands. Industrialized, subsidized farming is big business, but it also requires increasingly extreme methods to be successful; such methods include exposing the land, the water, and the crops with more and more chemicals. It is posited that these chemicals contribute to the rise in chronic disease. So, healthier soil will lead to healthier plants, healthier plants will feed healthier livestock, and then those healthier plants and livestock will contribute to healthier food on our tables. By eating healthier foods and limiting the environmental health exposures, Ms. Shanahan believes that the chronic disease epidemic can be halted and even reversed.
The idea of regenerative agriculture is an interesting topic that these candidates are bringing to the forefront of political conversations. This is a topic we plan to dedicate more time and energy to, but for now, let it suffice that the mere fact that RFK and Ms. Shanahan are fluent in the subject matter is a sign that they are thinking about changing the world in wonderful ways. The methods of regenerative agriculture aim to restore soil health, renew the ecosystem, and leave our environment and climate in better condition for the future. This should be enough to get a lot more excitement for their campaign.
During the introductory video, she also said, “I’ve spent my life in data and technology and I know there is a solution here to this problem. We have the tools today to get there. And if we are open to this conversation, we are on path to healing America. And that is a simple conclusion that I think any person in America can make once they have the information. We owe it to the American family to take these toxins out of our food, and out of our water, out of our medicines.”
Indeed, it would be interesting to have a champion for ending chronic disease in a White House administration and to see what such a champion could do against the mighty corporate forces that would be opposing her.
Is She Genuine?
She indicates in her speech that the Democratic Party that so many of the disenfranchised and disenchanted liberals grew up with was supposed to be the party of anti-war, pro-free speech, supportive of the regular American, in favor of the programs designed to elevate people out of poverty, and anti-big corporations. The current Democratic Party is none of those things.
After listening to different interviews and her introductory campaign speech, a few things are starting to become clear. First, she is not a politician – she seems to be approaching the Kennedy movement/campaign and the vice presidency almost as a philanthropic undertaking. She seems to align with Mr. Kennedy’s values and seems genuinely invested in his success. Second, she has a broad range of education, experience, and expertise. Third, her philanthropic work focuses on reproductive health, childhood wellness, and regenerative agriculture. Finally, she comes across as an incredible intellectual, which stands out in contrast to the cackling buffoon that is currently serving as VP.
Ms. Shanahan has put her money where her mouth is. She invests heavily to support the movements in which she believes. She is knowledgeable and passionate. Based on her past endeavors and her current messages, the initial Meet Me in the Middle assessment is that she seems to be the real deal.
Consideration for Independence
We have plenty of time to compare the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket to the other two major candidates, both of whom have had an opportunity to serve in the White House and whose presidencies each further exacerbated the fracturing of our nation. But let’s try to put a little context around the potential of an Independent candidate.
You have to go all the way back — well, not very far back at all — to January of 2021 to find a president with a higher disapproval rating than the current guy. That’s right, Trump left office with a massive 62% disapproval rating; Biden currently has a disapproval rating of 55%. Biden’s approval rating over the course of his tenure has almost mimicked Trump’s during his tenure — although Trump got a late surge of disapproval (associated with the insurrection rhetoric), while Biden’s disapproval has been in pretty much continuous decline over his entire time in office. Does it make any sense to vote for someone who has already had a chance to do the job, and that OVER HALF of the country disapproves of?
If Trump is your guy or if Biden is your guy, we will still respect you in the morning. But does this not seem like voting for more of the same? More of the same division and polarization? More of the same vitriol? More of the same personal attacks? More of the same wars? More of the same turmoil? Biden and Trump are two sides of the same coin. We can keep flipping that coin, but we will not get a new result.
So, if the disapproval trends hold up and either Biden or Trump win the next election, are we actually faced with a president starting the next term with over half the population disapproving? Looks like it… unless we give the independent alternative some due consideration.
If you traditionally vote Republican and feel like a vote for an independent is a wasted vote, just know that there are plenty of lefties who do NOT like Biden. If you traditionally vote Democrat and feel the same way, trust us, there are plenty of Republican voters who do NOT want to vote for Trump. We need voters to be brave, be bold, and be independent.
Also, if you are someone who does not want Trump back in office, you should know that Biden is trailing him heat-to-head in most of the “battleground” states, per an April 3 Wall Street Journal article. If you want to beat Trump, you might want to get behind someone other than Biden. Now is the time to start paying attention to a guy like Kennedy.
Bringing It On Home
It is early in the election season, but Nicole Shanahan has impressed thus far. Kennedy-Shanahan are different. Their priorities and their promises are different. Their message is different.
The Kennedy candidacy has been of particular interest because RFK Jr has a very Meet Me in the Middle kind of message. His approach aligns with the Meet Me in the Middle precept that “solutions” should have a hope of success. Part of his strategy thus far has been to get his voice and his message out there by way of independent media. It is no surprise that the partisan mainstream media is doing a thorough job of either trashing him in a dishonest manner or of just ignoring him. So, if you want to hear some truth about the guy, you might want to tap into some independent news sources (and break free from the poisonous and divisive mainstream media). We have been waiting to see who RFK Jr’s running mate would be. Now that we know, we are thirsty for more from this team.
When you take a look at what will make our quality of life better here in America — when you look at who is going to provide a better future for our children — is it going to be the establishment party guys (who have already had their chance) or the only candidate talking about healing our country? RFK Jr may not be a perfect candidate. No man or woman is perfect, and no one ever will be. But Kennedy-Shanahan is the only ticket that has policies for improving society, rescuing our culture, actually helping the climate, and reversing the health crisis that has plagued America for decades. RFK and Ms. Shanahan are both big on ending chronic disease and healing America – both the literal diseases of American citizens and the figurative diseases affecting American culture and politics.
But what about the quality of life in other countries? Well, war is a pretty big thing in other countries these days — not so much at the end of the Trump administration, but certainly today. In fact, nearly all of the active wars were extinguished during the Trump tenure in office. But Biden turned the war machine back on and passed up on opportunities to end wars and minimize deaths of innocents. Kennedy has a plan for peace. Read about it here. If you are a compassionate person and care about the suffering of the world’s citizens, do you think Biden has been helping? Do you think the more than half million dead and injured Ukrainians and Russians feel like Biden has been helping? On the other hand, does Trump reflect the compassion you want to see in the world? Kennedy-Shanahan appears to be the compassionate vote.
For this ticket to win, Mr. Kennedy will have to pull votes from both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum. He has already started doing that. One question that arises with his VP announcement is: Can Ms. Shanahan contribute to that? That might depend on much or how little the voters are prepared to learn about her. There are probably some traits to dislike, depending on one’s personal stance on issues. But there is not a lot to dislike — at least not yet. The more we at Meet Me in the Middle have learned thus far, the more impressed we are with Ms. Shanahan.
Keep an open mind. Keep a sound mind (don’t let the liars mislead you). Listen to your heart. Be free. Be independent.