COVID Conspiracies, January 6 Sympathies, and Disastrous Policies

RFK Jr. and the Story Behind the Latest Trump Campaign Colluder

In June of last year, my brother wrote a great article on the tragic fall of Robert F. Kennedy Jr,. “Once upon a time, RFK Jr. was a leading environmentalist.” Now, a dozen environmental organizations have called him “a dangerous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” (emphasis mine). Once upon a time, RFK Jr. took the charge in holding corporate polluters accountable. Now, he does the bidding of his large-dollar Trump donor base.

What can I say? Times have changed. “The Bobby we once knew” is gone. Take it from his once-mentors, his friends, and his family.

Yet some Democrats have concerns that the illustrious Kennedy name will cause many people to ignore RFK Jr.’s turn for the worse. People like ex-Bernie Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin, for example, worry that RFK Jr. will peel off Biden support from the Latino community and from young voters. Others wonder whether RFK Jr.’s will “appeal” to a much broader swath of the electorate with his “populist” messaging.

Count me a skeptic. Ultimately, RFK Jr.’s campaign positions are his own greatest enemies. Let me give just a few examples. As late as March 21, 2024, he has “[questioned] the need for a six-week ceasefire” in Gaza. To the contrary, he has said that “any other nation would ‘level’ Gaza if attacked like Israel [was] on October 7.”

Which makes it ironic that people like online political commentator Cenk Uygur say they support RFK Jr. because Biden is “funding a genocide” in Gaza. Unlike RFK Jr., the President has been pressing Netanyahu “to empower his negotiators to conclude a [ceasefire] deal without delay to bring the hostages home.”

Then there are RFK Jr.’s bizarre COVID-19 conspiracies. “The people…most immune” to COVID-19, he once said, “are Ashkenazi Jews and the Chinese.” He has compared COVID-19 vaccination efforts to the repression of the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. Last but not least, he has claimed the COVID-19 vaccine was “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine rhetoric has had real-life consequences. In 2018, he played an important role in creating “one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory.” Even today, his extensive misinformation campaigns may at least partially explain why U.S. measles cases are roaring back this year.

Though let’s not forget the many other conspiracy theories RFK Jr. has endorsed before or during his time on the campaign trail. He has “falsely linked” transgender identity to “chemical presents in water sources.” He has argued that antidepressants—and not America’s loose gun laws—are the reasons behind school shootings. He has expressed skepticism regarding the government’s official account of 9/11, and has “refused to say that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington DC.”

He says he endorses this baseless hogwash because he “does not always accept” “official explanations.” His broader problem, however, seems to be with common sense.

His choice of potential VPs reflected that well. One of them was fellow anti-vaxxer Aaron Rodgers, who also reportedly spread deranged conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook shooting. Another was ex-Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is now a potential running mate for Donald Trump. Finally, RFK Jr.’s actual VP pick, Nicole Shanahan, is both the wealthy ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and a woman with very little experience in elected office or electoral politics. Nepotism, meet oligarchy.

All that ought to be a word of warning to any reasonable progressive Democrat. On every single issue, RFK Jr. has failed to speak to progressive concerns. He is against ending the sufferings of innocent Gazans. He has downplayed the role that reasonable gun control should play in bringing down mass shootings (especially ironic given his own father’s support for gun control). And, to top it all off, he has garnered heavy financial support from Big Tech and fringe out-of-touch Hollywood celebrities.

He even talks “jibber jabber” on climate. He on the one hand acknowledges that climate change is real, and on the other declares “that ‘this [climate] crisis is being used as pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls.’” Again, what exactly is there to like about this guy?

Besides, RFK Jr.’s campaign has made clear where its allegiances stand in the Trump v. Biden rematch. With campaign rhetoric portraying Trump’s fellow January 6 insurrectionists as “martyrs,” is it any surprise that RFK Jr. somehow believes Biden is “a greater threat to democracy” than Donald Trump? RFK Jr. has indeed designed his entire third-party challenge to prop up Trump’s 2024 reelection bid. If you still have your doubts, a New York RFK Jr. campaign official just recently said the quiet part out loud.

As I have said many times, “2024 is a year of choices.” The choices we make this cycle will be ones we tell our children and grandchildren about.

And do we really want to tell them we chose to vote for RFK Jr.?