Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. chose Nicole Shanahan — a Silicon Valley insider’s insider — as his vice presidential running mate. An attorney and the former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Shanahan is said to have a personal fortune of nearly a billion dollars.
In her first one-on-one big interview as a vice presidential candidate (below), Shanahan — who has never held public office — said she’s qualified to serve as Commander-in-Chief (if something were to happen to Kennedy) in part because she “understands how we build batteries around the world” and has “spent most of my spiritual life studying world religions.”
.@NicoleShanahan has her Sarah Palin moment.
Says she’s qualified to be commander in chief because she “understands how we build batteries around the world” and “spent most of [her] spiritual life studying world religions.” pic.twitter.com/dQosEqhRUO
— Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) June 21, 2024
Democratic political strategist Lis Smith (author of Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story) responded to the interview by writing: “Nicole Shanahan has her Sarah Palin moment.”
Smith makes reference to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who had an equally modest national profile when she was thrust into the spotlight after her selection as GOP presidential nominee John McCain‘s 2008 running mate.
In Palin’s first big interview, she talked with ABC News journalist Charlie Gibson and famously implied that her foreign policy credentials were enhanced her ability to see Russia from Alaska. Palin was widely mocked for the comment, as seen below in a follow-up interview with Katie Couric.
Below is the entire Shanahan interview, which was filmed at Shanahan’s Malibu home and aired on Fox 11 in Los Angeles. Shanahan also spoke about vaccines, abortion rights, and Israel.
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison responded to the Shanahan interview: “How the hell does understanding batteries and semiconductors make you qualified to be Commander in Chief?! Make it make sense! These folks are playing around like this is some type of Model Congress while American freedoms are on the damn line!”