Cops Bust Octogenarians Clashing Over Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Farmer's Market
A political difference got heated.
Going to a farmer's market, you generally find low-key individuals who appreciate organic, sustainably raised fresh produce, meats, and other foods. Sometimes there is even live folk music or other types of entertainment. Generally, the vibe is overall very gentle and holistic. However, this week a fight nearly broke out in one Hudson Valley, New York farmer's market that didn't exactly fit the profile.
Last week, people gathered at a farmer's market in Rhinebeck, New York. The event became a politically charged showdown when a senior citizen got up in arms about politics.
The democratic party had a table set up in support of Joe Biden. However, an 83-year-old Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporter wasn't happy about it and decided to cause trouble.
The Daily Beast reported that Frank Stoppenbach set up a table for Kennedy next to the Biden table without permission. "When people came up, he talked to them about, you know, vaccines are bad, and masking is bad, and all the stuff that RFK says," claimed Larry Cox, a member of the pro-Biden group.
The Biden supporters weren't happy because people mistakenly associated them with the man. "The problem is that, being right next to us, people were thinking that he was part of us," added Cox.
Eventually, things got so heated that the Rhinebeck police department, a part-time force, had to get involved.
"I simply park where people come by," Stoppenbach argued. "I guess there may have been some people not happy with having a Kennedy appearance at the market."
"We asked him to move some other place so that people wouldn't be confused, which he didn't want to do," Cox said. "We don't want to be associated in any way with RFK, Jr., and especially with his views, which we all agree are abhorrent and crazy," Cox explained.
When the Biden supporters held up an anti-RFK Jr. poster, which blocked some of Stoppenbach's signage, "he got very agitated about that," said Cox. "It wasn't any sort of, as far as I know, any physical confrontation. Just an old guy with crazy ideas. Which, you know, there's no shortage of in the United States these days."
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Stoppenbach may return to the farmer's market next week. "I'm 83 years old, so I don't quite have the energy I did when I was a young guy running for Congress," he said. "But," he added. "You never know."
