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.