Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is an American lawyer, conspiracy theorist, former Democratic Presidential candidate for the 2024 election who only appeared on right-wing podcasts (big brain move),With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. interview, Musk again uses Twitter to promote candidates aligned with his views by Brian Fung (5 June 2023) CNN.Democrats Declare RFK Jr. The Enemy (Jul 21, 2023) The Ben Shapiro Show Ep. 1771, YouTube (archived from August 8, 2024). and current Secretary of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump.RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections, Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR 13 February 2025 Aside from his involvement in the Trump administration, he is most known for his role in the anti-vaccination movement,Covid vaccine: Social media urged to remove 'disinfo dozen' (March 26, 2021) BBC News.RFK Jr. and his 'I’m not anti-vaccine' rejoinder to being confronted with his past antivax statements: A primer by David Gorski (December 18, 2023) Science-Based Medicine.RFK Jr. Incorrectly Denies Past Remarks on Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness by Jessica McDonald (November 8, 2023) FactCheck.org. the cause to which he has dedicated most of his energy in recent years. Kennedy didn’t know anyone with peanut allergies as a kid,The Peanut Allergy Epidemic by Heather Fraser, forward by Robert Kennedy Jr. (2017) Skyhorse Publishing. . so it must be the vaccines. By the way, if you are seeing this on a computer, throw it away immediately! It uses Wi-Fi which destroys the brains of its users!Joe Rogan STUNNED By WiFi Cancer Claims From RFK Jr. from The Joe Rogan Experience] (Jun 20, 2023) The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder Excerpt from Joe Rogan Experience via YouTube.
He is the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. However, while he is a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, his incessant prattling about anti-vaccine conspiracy theories has caused many to go public with their opposition. According to a Vanity Fair exposé:RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets. by Joe Hagan (2024 July 2) Vanity Fair.
In October 2023, he dropped out of the Democratic Party and announced that he was running as an independent, much to the chagrin of Donald Trump, who was propping him up in the hopes that he'd weaken Joe Biden and subsequently faced a spoiler candidate who always appealed far more to Republicans than he did his erstwhile fellow Democrats.[Robert F Kennedy Jr announces independent run for 2024 US election by Richard Luscombe & Adam Gabbatt (2023 October 9) The Guardian.Team Trump readies attacks on RFK Jr. as spoiler anxiety grows by Shelby Talcott (2023 October 6) Semafor. To reduce any doubt that RFK continues to be a spoiler candidate after his running as an independent, as late as March 2024, the largest donor to RFK's campaign was also a major donor to Trump's campaign, billionaire (heir to the Mellon family fortune).A Reclusive Heir Is Giving Millions to Help Trump and RFK Jr.: Tim Mellon has handed out more than $150 million to causes and candidates in recent election cycles by Tarini Parti (March 16, 2024 5:30 am ET) The Wall Street Journal.Bobby's brain worms story is just more evidence he’s a terrible, terrible person by Jason Sattler (May 11, 2024) I Know How Much You Care. On August 23, 2024, Kennedy Jr.'s mask fully dropped: Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump for president.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he’s suspending his presidential bid and backing Donald Trump by Jonathan J. Cooper et al. (2024 August 230 AP News. As an apparent quid pro quo of sorts, that put him on track to set national health policy.Trump says he’ll let RFK Jr. ‘go wild’ on health and food in potential second term by Brett Samuels (10/27/24 8:30 PM ET) The Hill.Ted Kennedy Jr. expresses concern about Trump’s ‘flagrant disregard’ for public health by Sarah Owermohle (November 1, 2024) STAT News. In November 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated to join the Trump Administration in 2025 as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, and was confirmed on February 13, 2025.Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary by Jill Colvein & Amanda Seitz (2024 November 14) Associated Press.RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections by Selena Simmons-Duffin (February 13, 2025 11:33 AM ET) NPR.
==A house divided…==
===RFK Sr. vs. RFK Jr. on vaccination===
===JFK vs. RFK Jr. on the polio vaccine===
===Ted Kennedy vs. RFK Jr. on HIV/AIDS===
===Other family===
When he tried to run for the 2024 Democratic nomination, most of his notable family members openly endorsed President Biden, and only a handful of his children and grandchildren even bothered to show up when he launched his campaign.The Kennedy campaign the Kennedys don’t want to see by Lisa Kashinsky (04/19/2023 04:37 PM EDT) Politico. In 2023, his brother, Chris Kennedy, pretended not to know Robert Jr. was running for president, and his sister, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, outright refused to discuss him.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can’t count on family support to take on Biden by Edward-Isaac Dovere (6:17 AM EDT, Sun April 16, 2023) CNN.
His own wife, actress Cheryl Hines, has at times expressed her disapproval of his anti-vaccine activism, although she had publicly stated that she supports her husband for president.The Kennedys Really Hate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Maybe they're on to something. by Heather Schwedel (June 11, 2023) Slate. This family tension isn't new, either. In 2019, Kathleen, Kathleen's daughter Maeve, and Joe Kennedy II co-authored a Politico article expressing their "heartbreak" over Robert Kennedy Jr.'s harmful preoccupation with spreading misinformation.
The harshest words came from JFK's grandson Jack Schlossberg, who said:
JFK's last living child, Caroline Kennedy, also spoke on it after Trump announced he would nominate RFK Jr. to be his HHS Secretary:
==Crimes==
In 1984, RFK pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of heroin possession in South Dakota, and was sentenced to probation.Robert Kennedy Jr. Admits He Is Guilty In Possessing Heroin (Feb. 18, 1984) AP via The New York Times. In 2002, he was also convicted of criminal trespass at the Vieques, Puerto Rico military base for his part in a civil disobedience action against pollution of the island by the military.United States, Appellee, v. Rafael Ayala Ayala, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dennis Hickey Rivera, and Armando Torres Ortíz, Defendants, Appellants, 289 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2002) (Heard March 4, 2002; Decided April 29, 2002) Justia. For this, he was incarcerated for 30 days either in jail (as most news sources have reported) or in a maximum security prison by his own account.Freddie Sayers by Freddie Sayers (May 3, 2023) UnHerd. He was temporarily relieved of his during his incarceration.RFK’s sex diary: His secret journal of affairs by Isabel Vincent & Melissa Klein (Published Sep. 8, 2013; Updated June 20, 2023, 7:33 a.m. ET) New York Post.RFK Jr. Was a Compulsive Womanizer, and Yes, We Should Care: The presidential candidate might be the political outcast of his family, but he inherited his father’s and uncle’s disregard for women. by Nina Burleigh (August 1, 2023) The New Republic.
===Dumping a bear carcass on public property===
In 2014, a bear cub was found dead beneath some bushes that had a bicycle sticking out in the middle of Central Park in New York City. Many residents were disturbed by this occurrence, and as it was unlikely that a bear cub would wander so far into an urban area the NYPD was investigating this as animal cruelty, but the mystery wasn't solved and the case vanished from the public's memories.Bear Cub Found Dead In Central Park; NYPD Investigating As Animal Cruelty (6 October 2014) CBS New York. That was until a decade later, the New York Post was about to publish a story about the mystery including a photo of Kennedy with his hand in the dead bear's mouth.Graphic pic shows RFK Jr. posing with dead bear cub before dumping it in Central Park by Ronny Reyes (Aug. 5, 2024, 11:54 a.m. ET) 'New York Post. Kennedy decided he needed to get ahead of the story and so preemptively admitted that he was responsible in an interview with fellow-kook Roseanne Tries to Distance Herself From RFK Jr.’s Dead Bear Cub Confession by Eboni Boykin-Patterson (Aug. 05, 2024) The Daily Beast. According to Kennedy, when he was going in upstate New York, he saw a bear cub get hit by someone else's car and decided to put the carcass in the back of the van so he could eat it later, but as he was running late to catch a plane, he decided instead to dump the carcass in Central Park alongside a bicycle he wanted to get rid of in order to make it look like the cub was killed in a cycling accident.RFK Jr. admits putting dead bear cub in New York City's Central Park nearly 10 years ago (5 August 2024) CBS News.RFK Jr admits dumping bear carcass in New York's Central Park by Phil McCausland (July 5, 2024) BBC News. These offenses of possession of a bear without a tag and illegal disposal of a bear would have been worth $250 in fines, but he could no longer be charged as the statute of limitations had passed.Can RFK Jr. be charged for dumping dead bear in Central Park? Here's what NYSDEC says by Chris McKenna (5 August 2024) lohud. Bears can host parasitic worms, and RFK Jr. made the unlikely speculation that he may have gotten his brain worm from the bear, unlikely because he did not eat the bear.RFK Jr. admits to dumping a dead bear in Central Park, solving a decade-old mystery by Rachel Treisman (August 5, 202410:16 AM ET) NPR. Was his pre-existing worm seeking a mate?
==Riverkeeper==
Prior to becoming an antivaxxer, Kennedy worked for the Riverkeeper environmentalist organization as an attorney. He helped to win lawsuits against polluters and brought large donations to the organization from his celebrity connections. He was also known as a serial fabricator among his colleagues, even going so far as to lie about founding Riverkeeper on his resignation letter. More damaging though was his hiring of a convicted wildlife smuggler to serve on the organization, which caused the actual founder and several board members to resign. A former treasurer of Riverkeeper who had resigned with the other board members believed that Kennedy had not changed from his time at Riverkeeper to his time as antivaxxer, by his use of omitting and distorting facts to manipulate people.How RFK Jr. hiring a bird smuggler threw his environmental group into turmoil by Peter Jamison (March 2, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post.
Officially, Kennedy Jr. resigned from Riverkeeper in 2017. In reality, Riverkeeper staff, increasingly tired of Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccination bullshit, revolted when Kennedy Jr. met with Donald Trump in January 2017 and afterwards claimed that Trump asked him to chair a "commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity" (a claim denied by Trump officials). Under pressure, rather than being forced out of the organization, Kennedy Jr. agreed to resign instead. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccination stances had previously led to similar conflicts and resignations with other environmental groups (such as the ) prior to this event.
==Anti-vaccine activism==
At one point, Kennedy co-hosted a liberal talk radio show called Ring of Fire, syndicated by Westwood One. Any of his broadcasts from before the pandemic had the exact same message, just in a more broadly palatable way with all of the less-savoury stuff firmly sandwiched in deniability.ROF Responds to the Corporate Media’s Anti-Vaxxer Attack on RFK, Jr. by Gary Bentley (January 11, 2017) The Ring of Fire Network. Kennedy departed from the show sometime in 2018.About Us The Ring of Fire Network (archived on 2018 April 4).About Us The Ring of Fire Network (archived on 2018 October 31).
Many of Kennedy's previous court cases involved claims of product safety violations and pollution by corporations. Since 2005, he has succumbed to vaccine hysteria and makes the sad mistake of peddling false hope regarding the vaccine/autism conspiracy theory, a stance which initially earned him the chair of Donald Trump's "vaccination safety" committee, before Trump changed his mind in 2018.Trump appears to abandon vaccine sceptic group denounced by scientists: Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed to be leading a review of links to autism – a widely debunked claim – but now says he hasn’t heard from the White House in months by David Smith (21 Feb 2018 07.15 EST) The Guardian.What RFK Jr. Gets Wrong About Autism by Kate Yandell (August 10, 2023) FactCheck.org. This is the point where his family members distanced themselves from him.Robert F Kennedy Jr's family slam his anti-vaccine views in wake of measles outbreak: 'He is spreading dangerous misinformation' Stevenson, C. (May 8, 2019) The Independent. In addition, Kennedy endorsed the conspiracy theory that the Republicans rigged the 2004 election.Was the 2004 Election Stolen? by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (15 June 2006) Rolling Stone no. 1002, pp. 46-114 (archived from June 14, 2006). He is one of the "Disinformation Dozen", who are the twelve people behind 65% of all vaccine misinformation shared on social media.Just 12 People Are Behind Most Vaccine Hoaxes On Social Media, Research Shows by Shannon Bond (14 May 2021) NPR.
Kennedy's anti-vaccination group Children’s Health Defense (CHD) (formerly called the World Mercury Project) was one of the top two groups that spread misinformation about vaccines on Facebook via anti-vaccination advertisements in 2019.Majority of anti-vaccine ads on Facebook were funded by two groups by Lena H. Sun (2019 November 15) The Washington Post. Facebook (sort of) finally started to crack down on groups that spread bullshit like this in 2020. CHD responded by suing Facebook for "censorship".Anti-vaccine group sues Facebook, claims fact-checking is "censorship" by Kate Cox (2020 August 18) Ars Technica. (Despite his prior experience as a lawyer, Kennedy somehow failed to recognize what long-established case law currently says. Generally speaking, what's protected by the First Amendment in this case is ). The damage by Facebook's laissez-faire attitude prior to 2020 had already been done however, Children’s Health Defense and three other antivax and COVID denialist groups profited and expanded enormously during the COVID-19 pandemic.Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation by Lauren Weber (February 21, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post. The three other groups were Del Bigtree's Informed Consent Action Network, and Simone Gold's America’s Frontline Doctors.
In 2022, Kennedy spoke a 2020 anti-vaxxer rally in Germany sponsored by the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany that included neo-Nazis and Hare Krishnas.Bibelsprüche, Trommeltanz und Faschisten: Zehntausende demonstrieren in Berlin gegen die Corona-Maßnahmen: Impfgegner und Neonazis, Trump-Fans und Hare-Krishna-Tänzer – gegen die Corona-Politik demonstrieren Menschen, die sonst wenig miteinander verbindet by Hannes Heine (29.08.2020, 19:23 Uhr) Tagesspiegel. In response to a Daily Kos blogger reporting about Kennedy's speaking at the rally,Anti-Vaxxer RFK JR. joins neo-Nazis in massive Berlin 'Anti-Corona' Protest by DowneastDem (August 29, 2020 at 3:06:44p PDT) Daily Kos. the blogger was bullied by Kennedy and by his lawyer, Robert Barnes.How ‘Free Speech’ Warrior RFK Tried to Bully a DailyKos Blogger: Robert Kennedy Jr. hired Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer to threaten a lawsuit against an anonymous writer who documented the anti-vaxxer’s appearance at a far-right German rally. by William Bredderman (Updated Sep. 08, 2023 2:23AM EDT; Published Sep. 07, 2023 8:03PM EDT) The Daily Beast. The duo had threatened a lawsuit against the blogger unless the blogger took down the article, and consequently put the lie to Kennedy being pro-free speech.
===Starting a measles outbreak in American Samoa===
Three years after Kennedy's disastrous presence in Samoa, he characterized the measles outbreak as "mild",Leading Samoa Medical Freedom Hero Goes Free After Court Case Dismissed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (02/18/21) Children's Health Defense. while cluelessly linking to the pro-vaccination UNICEF article about their response to combatting the outbreak with a vaccination campaign.Vaccination vital to protect Pacific communities against measles (06 November 2019) UNICEF.
In 2024, after Kennedy's nomination to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the director general of health for American Samoa's Health Ministry, said that should Kennedy lead the DHHS, he "will be directly responsible for killing thousands of children around the world by allowing preventable infectious diseases to run rampant."Global health experts sound alarm over RFK Jr., citing Samoa outbreak: Experts and officials said a 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa, which came after a visit by Kennedy, exemplified the dangers of his rhetoric. by Sammy Westfall & Lena H. Sun (November 15, 2024 at 6:58 p.m. EST) The Washington Post. Several other health and medical experts have also called the idea of Kennedy's appointment to lead the DHHS as disastrous not just for US health but for global health because the US Food and Drug Administration (part of DHHS) has been a global leader in health standards.
===Anti-epidemiology activism===
Although it can be accurately argued that his anti-vaccine activism is in itself a form of opposition to the research and treatment of infectious diseases, Kennedy is elsewhere quite explicit in that anyhow. He promised to order the National Institutes of Health to cease any research of infectious diseases for "about eight years" if elected president; he believes they should research obesity and diabetes instead (a view that presents this as a false dichotomy or zero sum game).RFK Jr. comes 'home' to his anti-vaccine group, commits to 'a break' for U.S. infectious disease research by Brandy Zadrozny (November 3, 2023) NBC News.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. comes home to his antivax roots…again by David Gorski (November 6, 2023) Science-Based Medicine. He also said in June 2023: "I do not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health." That pretty well speaks for itself. He has also attempted to tie the true cause of various diseases (even "Spanish Flu") to vaccine research, and has even promoted HIV/AIDS denialism.RFK Jr. Claims 'Vaccine Research' Likely Responsible for HIV and the Spanish Flu by Nikki McCann Ramirez & Miles Klee (June 27, 2023) Rolling Stone. The proposed end of infectious disease research essentially amounts to germ theory denialism, or at least serious callousness on his part, since significant numbers of deaths in the United States are due to infectious bacterial diseases (e.g., tuberculosis, salmonella, Lyme disease and meningococcal disease).Infectious Disease Centers for Disease Control. Infectious diseases also cause many deaths caused abroad.The top 10 causes of death (December 9, 2020) World Health Organization. Quote: "People living in a low-income country are far more likely to die of a communicable disease than a noncommunicable disease. Despite the global decline, six of the top 10 causes of death in low-income countries are communicable diseases." As confirmation of Kennedy's germ theory denialism, he was photographed walking barefoot out of an airplane toilet, and issuing a non-apology apology for doing this while he was barefoot in the airport waiting area.RFK Jr. Responds to Barefoot Plane Photo Debate, Doubles Down on Baring Toes (11/14/2023 11:34 AM PT) TMZ. Somebody tell him he might accidentally step on a vaccine needle, please.
==COVID conspiracy theories==
Unsurprisingly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy started regurgitating many of the other conspiracy theories that sprang up during that time period, such as conspiracy theories surrounding Bill GatesDebunked Bill Gates Conspiracy Gets A Boost From RFK Jr., Marla Maples by Carlie Porterfield (2020 August 15) Forbes. and 5G.How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Became the Anti-vaxxer Icon of America’s Nightmares by Keziah Weir (May 13, 2021) Vanity Fair. Kennedy's embrace of conspiracy theories extended to believing the COVID-19 hysteria story that Bill Gates was going to put microchips in vaccines.Debunked Bill Gates Conspiracy Gets A Boost From RFK Jr., Marla Maples by Carlie Porterfield (2020 August 15) Forbes. On September 29, 2021, Kennedy (along with fellow anti-vaccination advocate Joseph Mercola) was booted off YouTube for being a prominent spreader of anti-vaccination bullshit.YouTube bans all anti-vaccine misinformation by Davey Alba (September 29 2021) New York Times.
One of Kennedy's favorite rhetorical devices is to evoke Nazi analogies by comparing vaccines and other COVID-19 public health safety measures to Nazis and the Holocaust. On January 25, 2022, for instance, Kennedy was widely denounced for comparing vaccine-mandate opponents to Jews who hid from Nazis during the Holocaust, even implying that for some reason actually had it better than the so-called "fascism" that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) head was orchestrating. This was hardly the first time that Kennedy had used Nazi analogies in his remarks on the subject.RFK Jr. remarks on Anne Frank, vaccines draw condemnation by Michelle R. Smith (2022 January 25) Associated Press.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Apologizes for Referencing Anne Frank in Wild Anti-Vax Speech by Ken Meyer (2022 January 25) Mediaite.
===Feud with Fauci===
In mid-November 2021, Kennedy wrote The Real Anthony Fauci, a book of conspiratorial bullshit linking Gates, Fauci, and Big Pharma to some kind of "Global War On Democracy and Public Health",The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health (Children’s Health Defense) by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (2021) Skyhorse Publishing/Children's Health Defense. which earned Kennedy high endorsements from the conspiracy theorists and/or alternative medicine folks that you'd expect (e.g. Tucker Carlson, Mike Adams, Joseph Mercola, Sayer Ji, Sherri Tenpenny, etc.).
Later, in an interview done by in January 2022, Kennedy promoted the sort of conspiracy bullshit that fueled this book:The Outsider by Bob Guccione Jr (January 17, 2022 - 2:32 pm) SPIN.
* Kennedy made an unsupported conspiratorial claim that an early drug to treat HIV, (which he falsely claimed to be a drug), ended up causing "dramatically shortened" lives (also a false claim).Claims that people were being killed by zidovudine (AZT) instead of AIDS are unsubstantiated by Fernanda Ferreira (06 Sep 2021) Health Feedback. Naturally, since Fauci was involved in HIV drug research at the time, Kennedy uses these falsehoods to attack him as an agent of Big Pharma who conspired to promote expensive drugs at the expense of cheap generics in order to pad Big Pharma profits. To further this argument, he bizarrely stated that a medicine called was very effective against HIV. (Pentamidine does not treat HIV directly; it was approved by the FDA in 1989 to treat a condition largely seen (but not exclusively) in AIDS patients, and at present is far from the only drug available to treat this condition.Aerosolized pentamidine in HIV. Promising new treatment for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. by G. M. Sarti (1989) Postgrad Med. 86(2):54-6, 59-60, 63, passim. doi:10.1080/00325481.1989.11704352.Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP) (reviewed on 2021 December 4) WebMD.)
* Kennedy promoted hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, similarly believing that these drugs were being oppressed solely due to Big Pharma not wanting to promote out-of-patent medications. Contrary to the medical literature of the time, he also believed that these medications worked. To prove this, he cited high usage of these drugs in Africa and Asia, and low death rates per capita in many nations in these continents. (This, of course, completely ignores that perhaps other factors contributed to these low mortality rates, such as massive under-reporting in Africa,Why you’re not hearing about Covid-19 outbreaks in Africa by Annalisa Merelli (2021 October 26) QZ. and greater acceptance of public health measures such as face masks in many Asian countries.Is the Secret to Japan’s Virus Success Right in Front of Its Face? by Motoko Rich (2020 June 6) New York Times. This also ignores the high mortality rate in other countries that also use hydroxychloroquine to treat and ivermectin to treat such as many Latin American countries.Ivermectin against COVID-19: The unprecedented consequences in Latin America. by Marcelo Beltrão Molento (2021) One Health 13:100250. doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100250.) 
* He repeated an unproven theory,Did Fauci Fund ‘Gain of Function’ Research, Thereby Causing COVID-19 Pandemic? by Madison Dapcevich (2021 May 20) Snopes. often iterated and grossly exaggerated by Rand Paul and Tucker Carlson, that "gain of function" research in Wuhan may have been a factor in starting the pandemic.
* He insisted that the COVID-19 virus was man-made, citing a theory that linked the COVID-19 virus to the The Wuhan Cover-Up and the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (2023) Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781510773998. a theory which has been discredited in a January 2022 study.Frutos R, Javelle E, Barberot C, Gavotte L, Tissot-Dupont H, Devaux CA. Origin of COVID-19: Dismissing the Mojiang mine theory and the laboratory accident narrative Environmental Research 2022;204(Pt B):112141. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.112141
* He bizarrely compared Australian COVID-19 quarantine hotels, used to isolate unvaccinated travellers returning to the country for 14 days to reduce COVID-19 transmission risk,Quarantine in government-nominated accommodation Queensland Government (archived from July 30, 2022). to "concentration camps".
* He claimed, without any foundation, that COVID-19 public health measures were a "coup d'état against democracy".How a Kennedy built an anti-vaccine juggernaut amid COVID-19 by Michelle R. Smith (8:03 AM PST, December 15, 2021) Associated Press.
* To top things off, he endorsed the Epoch Times as the best source for "real news", if for no other reason than he gets voluminous favorable coverage there.Robert F. Kennedy Jr Epoch Times (archived from 20 Nov 2024 06:39:59 UTC).
When confronted by the interviewer with the fact that new COVID-19 cases at the time were overwhelmingly the un-vaccinated, he handwaved away this argument by claiming that this was the result of "crazy statistical gimmicks", citing a bit of his "statistical dancing" of his own imagination to "prove" this.
Fauci responded by calling Kennedy a "very disturbed individual" who was "just full of inaccuracies and distortions"."Fauci Rips ‘Very Disturbed’ RFK Jr.’s Attacks on His Career: ‘It’s a Shame’ Because He’s a Kennedy" by Jolie Lash (2021 December 22) The Wrap.
===Ethnic bioweapon===
On July 15 2023, the New York Post published a video at a press event in Manhattan, where Kennedy Jr. argued that COVID-19 was an "ethnically targeted" microbe ("COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.") with an implication that the virus was engineered.Watch: RFK Jr. Claims Covid ‘Ethnically Targeted’ — Says Jewish and Chinese People Most Immune by Daniel Kreps (July 15, 2023) Rolling Stone. These comments triggered significant backlash, with multiple organizations accusing Kennedy of antisemitism and racism/Sinophobia. Multiple members of the Kennedy family likewise condemned the remarks as "deplorable", "hurtful", and "wrong"."Family members join condemnation of Robert Kennedy Jr’s Covid remarks" by Richard Luscombe (2023 July 17) The Guardian.
Responding to the backlash, Kennedy took to Twitter to deny his seemingly antisemitic remarks. Instead, he claimed that what he meant was that he believed the United States and other governments were developing ethnically targeted bio-weapons.RFK Jr. denies comments on ‘ethnically targeted’ Covid-19 were anti-Semitic by Lucy Hodgman (2023 July 15) Politico."The @nypost story is mistaken. I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. I accurately pointed out — during an off-the-record conversation — that the U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races since the furin cleave docking site is most compatible with Blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns, and Ashkenazi Jews. In that sense, it serves as a kind of proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons. I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered. That study is here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32664879/" by @RobertKennedyJr (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) (2023 July 15) Twitter (archived on 2023 July 15). To "prove" his point, he cited a single study of a very narrow and specific topic (genetic susceptibility of COVID-19 due to various and New insights into genetic susceptibility of COVID-19: an ACE2 and TMPRSS2 polymorphism analysis. by Yuan Hou et al. (2020) BMC Med. 18(1):216. doi:10.1186/s12916-020-01673-z.) that hardly justified Kennedy's sweeping claims.RFK Jr.: A fart-filled argument gives way to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is an 'ethnically targeted' bioweapon by David Gorski (July 17, 2023) Science-Based Medicine.
Contrary to his idea, people of Chinese descent were among the most severely affected in New York in 2020. According to a study published in Public Health Reports, Chinese New Yorkers from March 1 through May 31, 2020 actually had the highest mortality rate (35.7%) of any ethnicity observed.Disaggregating Asian Race Reveals COVID-19 Disparities Among Asian American Patients at New York City's Public Hospital System by Roopa Kalyanaraman Marcello (2021) Public Health Reports 137(2):317-325. doi:10.1177/00333549211061313.South Asian, Chinese New Yorkers among the hardest hit by Covid, study shows by Vignesh Ramachandran (December 17, 2020) NBC News. That study didn't distinguish people of Jewish descent as a group, however Hasidic (a subcategory of Haredi Jews) communities in New York were noted at the time to have been hard-hit by COVID-19. One person in the community stated in April 2020, "There is not a single Hasidic family that has been untouched. It is a plague on a biblical scale."'Plague on a Biblical Scale': Hasidic Families Hit Hard by Virus" by Liam Stack (April 21, 2020) The New York Times.
==Presidential run==
In April 2023, Kennedy Jr. announced that he was running for US president in 2024 as a Democrat, in a long-shot attempt to primary Joe Biden.Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024 by Michelle L. Price (April 5, 2023) The Associated Press.Robert F Kennedy Jr to challenge Biden for White House by Chloe Kim (2023 April 6) BBC News. By and large, the rest of the Kennedy family strongly opposed his campaign, due to RFK Jr.'s conspiracy theories on vaccines and other topics.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can’t count on family support to take on Biden by Edward-Isaac Dovere (2023 April 16) CNN.
Kennedy's campaign has been described as a Democratic version of Trump, a "cynical mix of star power and misinformation" and a "dark strand of populism mixed with self-grandeur and self-created reality."His name is Kennedy. His campaign is pure Trump. by Matt Bai (May 15, 2023 at 7:15 a.m. EDT) The Washington Post. Kennedy has also been described as combining a smattering of progressive views (such as on wealth inequality) with positions more in line with MAGA (e.g. anti-vaccination stances, aminosity towards {Anthony Fauci, and Vladimir Putin boot-licking on the Russian invasion of Ukraine)RFK Jr. Blames Zelensky and U.S. ‘NeoCons‘ for Russian Invasion of Ukraine by Victor Swezey (2023 May 03) Daily Beast.Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appeal will also be his ruin by Zeeshan Aleem (2023 June 6) MSNBC.RFK Jr. says Russia 'acting in good faith' in Ukraine invasion, US in part to blame for war by Julia Shapero (June 22, 2023) The Hill. and libertarians (e.g. his first appearance as a presidential candidate was at a cryptocurrency conference).Robert Kennedy Jr. to make campaign debut at bitcoin conference" by Alex Seitz-Wald (2023 May 6) NBC News. 
In a sign of his heavy tilt, in defiance of his declared political affiliation, towards the crank side of Republicans, on June 20 2023, Kennedy Jr. was announced as a guest speaker at a gathering in Philadelphia that month of the anti-government extremist group Moms for Liberty,Moms for Liberty Southern Poverty Law Center.Conservatives Embrace Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Nick Reynolds (2023 June 21) Newsweek. a group who also made headlines that week when one chapter featured (and seemingly endorsed) an Adolf Hitler quote in their online newsletter.Moms for Liberty's Hamilton County chapter apologizes for quoting Hitler in newsletter (2023 June 21) Indianapolis Star. Tellingly, also appearing at the conference were many of the Republican 2024 primary election candidates (Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley),Far-right 'Moms for Liberty' promotes RFK Jr. as guest speaker at national event by Gideon Rubin (2023 June 20) RawStory. as well as other conservative figures such as Dennis Prager and Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. At the time of the announcement, Kennedy appeared to be the only Democrat scheduled to speak at this gathering.RFK Jr. Gives Away the Game With Decision to Speak at Moms for Liberty Summit by Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani (2023 June 21) New Republic. Prior to this, Kennedy had made appearances on podcasts hosted by other figures with a notable appetite for crankery, such as Joe Rogan, Steve Bannon, and Jordan Peterson.What the Powerful Men Boosting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Really Want by Jacob Silverman (June 20, 2023) Slate.
As a sign of his appeal to crank libertarians, Kennedy was endorsed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, most likely due to shared sympathies for cryptocurrencies.Jack Dorsey is backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an anti-vaxxer who called Anthony Fauci a fascist — for president by Aditi Bharade (2023 June 5) Business Insider.Have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and His Anti-vax Conspiracies Found a Home? by Caleb Ecarma (2023 June 5) Vanity Fair. Also, in early June 2023, the then-current Twitter owner Elon Musk (fresh off of a disastrously botched presidential launch for Ron DeSantis) boosted Kennedy with an online audio chat on Twitter. During this chat, true to form, Kennedy blamed Prozac for the rise of mass shootings in America, claimed without evidence that "COVID was clearly a bioweapons problem", and was outspoken against the US military support of Ukraine.Robert Kennedy Jr., With Musk, Pushes Right-Wing Ideas and Misinformation by Reid J. Epstein, Alyce McFadden and Linda Qiu (2023 June 5) New York Times.RFK Jr. crashes the techno-politics party by Derek Robertson (2023 June 7) Politico. Kennedy fielded questions during the chat from other public figures with similar stances to Musk and Kennedy, such as the Putin apologist Tulsi GabbardWhat is Tulsi Gabbard actually doing on Russia? by Chris Cillizza (2022 March 1) CNN. and the anti-progressive,Michael Shellenberger: How Progressives Ruined American Cities by Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller (2022 January 12) Reason. anti-woke,Biden’s ‘woke’ green energy is a joke that makes us dependent on China by Michael Shellenberger (2022 October 1) New York Post. anti-renewable energyAuthor Michael Shellenberger: The left's green agenda is an 'environmental nightmare' (2022 October 4) Fox News. and transphobic hystericMichael Shellenberger, who says progressives ruin cities, has alarming transphobic tweets by Tim Redmond (2023 April 3) 48Hills. "RFK Jr. Blames Anti-Depressants for School Shootings" by Miles Klee (2023 June 5) Rolling Stone.
In California, Kennedy and his running-mate Shanahan were on the American Independent Party ticket, which has long been associated with segregationists and racists, starting with its founder, George Wallace.RFK Jr. embraces California ballot nomination from party with history of far-right ties: The American Independent Party of California, which backed segregationist and former Alabama governor George Wallace in 1968, nominated Kennedy for president. by Meryl Kornfield (May 2, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT) The Washington Post. Kennedy has claimed that the party has changed since its founding, but the evidence seems otherwise: in the 2020 Presidential Election raging antisemite Ye was their Vice Presidential candidate, and as recently as 2022, they were promoting their former chairman Robert J. Walters' racialist book.
===Donors===
As of June 30, 2023, a plurality (38.5%) of his donors, among those who contributed the maximum individual amount (96 individuals total), were GOP donors. 19.8% were Democratic donors, 31.3% had no such history of recorded political contributions, 8.3% had donated to both parties, and 2.1% had donated to third parties.GOP donors fuel RFK Jr's presidential campaign by Judd Legum (July 17, 2023) Popular Information.RFK Jr. Sure Has a Lot of Skeezy GOP Donors for Someone Running as a Democrat by Tori Otten (July 17, 2023) The New Republic. The campaign reported that it had received about $6.3 million dollars in donations altogether, as of July 2023. At least $100,000 of that came from donors who were also Trump or DeSantis committee donors. Six notable big donors to RFK Jr.'s campaign, in particular, are hedge fund billionaire (also a Vivek Ramaswamy fan), former PayPal executive (an Elon Musk ally), billionaire Wall Street banking executive Omeed Malik, former Bank of America executive Joe Voboril, and apparently even racist English musician Eric Clapton, despite the fact that such donations from foreign nationals would be illegal according to CNBC.RFK Jr.'s secret fundraising success: Republicans by Jessica Piper (July 15, 2023) Politico.Investor Bill Ackman, David Sacks’ PAC donated to RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign by Brian Schwartz (July 14, 2023) CNBC.RFK Jr.'s Campaign Coffer Is Getting Stuffed to the Brim by GOP Donors: Report by Caleb Ecarma (July 17, 2023) Vanity Fair. 
On July 31, 2023, a super PAC supporting RFK Jr., American Values 2024, released its mid-year financial disclosures. This disclosed that more than half ($5 million) of the PAC's money for the first half of 2023 ($9.8 million) came from GOP megadonor Mellon has previously donated millions of dollars to pro-Trump groups. A further $4.7 million came from another individual, De Becker was previously a donor to US Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, although de Becker otherwise identifies himself as a Democrat.Takeaways from presidential super PACs’ mid-year financial disclosures by Melissa Holzberg DePalo and David Wright (August 1, 2023) CNN.Republican megadonor fuels pro-RFK Jr. super PAC by Bridget Bowman and Alexandra Marquez (July 31, 2023) NBC News.
Kennedy picked Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Prior to being picked, she had been a major donor to the American Values PAC that supported Kennedy.Super PAC raises $2.1 million after RFK Jr. announced his running mate: Half that came from the super PAC’s co-founder. by Brittany Gibson (03/28/2024 05:52 PM EDT) Politico. She is the former spouse of Google co-founder Sergei Brin. Shanahan is also an anti-vaxxer, but she tries to confuse people by denying this and claiming that she is just skeptical of vaccines.RFK Jr.’s running mate Shanahan shares vaccine skepticism by Nathaniel Weixel (03/29/24 9:42 AM ET) Politico.
===Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedys===
In September 2023, a man falsely impersonating a federal officer and wielding a loaded gun was arrested at an RFK Jr. event.Armed man impersonated U.S. Marshal at Robert Kennedy Jr. campaign event, police say by Alex Wigglesworth (September 16, 2023) The Los Angeles Times. The Kennedy campaign claimed the man asked to be "immediately" taken to Kennedy and erroneously claimed to be part of his security detail.Armed man arrested at RFK Jr. campaign event in Los Angeles charged with misdemeanors: LAPD by Abby Nicholas Kerr et al.(September 19, 2023) ABC News. It doesn't take a genius to figure out this joker may have wanted to become the next Lee Harvey Oswald.
===Switch to an independent run===
On October 9, 2023, Kennedy Jr. ended his primary challenge and announced that he was running for president as an independent.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces independent run for president, ending Democratic primary challenge to Biden by Aaron Pellish (2023 October 9) CNN. Reports suggest that by March 2024, Kennedy and his team had approached at least half a dozen people to serve as his running mate on an independent ticket, including Tulsi Gabbard, Rand Paul and Andrew Yang, but that only fellow cranks and Jesse Ventura had shown any interest.Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura Top R.F.K. Jr.’s List for Running Mate by Rebecca Davis O’Brien (March 12, 2024) New York Times. He received the nominations of the American Independent Party and the Reform Party.Reform Party Nominates Robert F. Kennedy for President by Nicholas Hensley (23 May 2024) Reform Party USA.
===Vanity Fair exposé===
On July 2, 2024, the magazine posted a long expose of Kennedy with several disturbing and bizarre allegations. Among the revelations were an allegation that he bragged about eating a dog in Korea; that Kennedy was sexually involved with dozens of women during his marriage to second wife Mary Richardson; that Kennedy had a habit of texting nude photos of women to friends during this same marriage; and that in the late 1990s, Kennedy sexually assaulted a babysitter. The article also detailed his involvement in the case, where Kennedy attested to the innocence of convicted murderer (and cousin) Michael Skakel with what Martha Moxley's mother Dorthy (and others) saw as a series of twisted truths and flat out falsehoods.
Kennedy denied the dog-eating allegation but brushed off other allegations in the article, calling the Vanity Fair article "a lot of garbage" but simultaneously stating "I'm not a church boy… I had a very, very rambunctious youth". Kennedy also refused to comment on the alleged sexual assault.RFK Jr. Doesn’t Deny Alleged Sexual Assault of Babysitter: ‘I Am Not a Church Boy’ by Charisma Madarang (2024 July 2) Rolling Stone.RFK Jr. says he has 'skeletons in my closet' after sexual assault allegation by Stephanie Kelly (2024 July 2) Reuters.
===There's a dead worm in my brain!===
In 2024, RFK announced that there was a dead parasitic worm in his brain, and that it was inoperable.R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain: The presidential candidate has faced previously undisclosed health issues, including a parasite that he said ate part of his brain. by Susanne Craig (May 8, 2024; Updated 5:15 p.m. ET) The New York Times. It was suspected to be a pork tapeworm, which is exceedingly rare in the United States, but that he may have picked up in his travels. He was also diagnosed with mercury poisoning apparently from his insatiable appetite for tunafish sandwiches, and with short- and long-term memory loss in 2012. He claimed to have recovered from the memory loss, but gave the wrong answer about the worm:
==Alliance with Trump==
===Dropping out to endorse Trump===
In August 2024, following the judicial ruling that Kennedy is a resident of California and thus he is not constitutionally allowed to run for the presidency with a vice president from the same state (Nicole Shanahan of California),RFK Jr denied NY ballot access over 'false' address, judge rules by Brandon Drenon (13 August 2024) BBC. the duo withdew from the race, and RFK Jr. endorsed Trump for president. His decision to endorse Trump came after an alleged attempt to arrange a meeting to negotiate with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, an attempt which was apparently (and justifiably) snubbed. Allison Novelo. RFK Jr. attempted to arrange meeting with Harris, sources say. CBS News. August 15, 2024. The announcement also followed Shanahan's public grousing that she had to pay $19 million of her own money to get them on the ballot of 50 (or 49 states).RFK’s VP confirms they may drop out and endorse Trump. Inflation DNC | Nicole Shanahan by Tom Bilyeu (Aug 20, 2024) YouTube.Nicole Shanahan spent almost $19 million on RFK Jr.'s failed presidential run but that's just a sliver of her fortune by Brent D. Griffiths (August 23, 2024) Business Insider via MSN.
His announcement of the endorsement included a litany of complaints against the Democratic Party, including but not limited to, "abandoning democracy," not taking him seriously, conspiring against his campaign, victimizing him with "legal warfare," and nominating Harris without holding a primary.Katherine Koretski, Ben Kamisar, Henry J. Gomez, Garrett Haake and Dasha Burns. RFK Jr. endorses Trump after weeks of back-channel courtship. NBC News. Aug. 23, 2024. The real reason behind his endorsement was that Trump's campaign had noticed that Kennedy was primarily taking votes from Trump and was therefore willing to reach out to him and negotiate for his leaving the race and endorsing Trump. 
Kennedy had previously lambasted Trump and his followers in 2016 on his "Ring of Fire" radio show, calling Trump's followers "belligerent idiots", suggesting some were "outright Nazis" and "spineless fellow travelers". Following Trump's victory in the 2016 election, Kennedy compared him to Hitler except that "Hitler was interested in policy."RFK Jr. compared Trump to Hitler and praised descriptions of his supporters as ‘Nazis’ by Andrew Kaczynski (November 21, 2024) CNN. So who's the spineless fellow traveler, now?
===Campaigning for Trump===
Pollster Nate Silver noted that Kennedy's endorsement coincided with a slight dip in Harris' polling and a boost for Trump. After teaming up with Trump, Kennedy frantically went about removing his name from the ballot in swing states to avoid cutting into Trump's vote share. His efforts were successful in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. His efforts notably failed in Wisconsin and Michigan, where he got into a legal slap-fight with both states due to their deadlines for ballot withdrawals having already passed. 
Kennedy also became a frequent campaigner for Donald Trump, appearing as an opening act in many of Trump's events alongside fellow idiot Tulsi Gabbard. On 4 September, Kennedy attacked Harris as being unworthy of the presidency, saying, "I think we need to have a president who can give an interview, who can articulate a vision, who can put together an English sentence, who can articulate her and defend her policies and her record and who can engage in a debate with, and regular debates unscripted appearances, president or vice president." The irony appeared lost on Kennedy that he said this while backing a gaffe-machine with serious memory problems.[ 
Whatever his many shortcomings, Kennedy proved effective at reaching the large cohort of voters who were expressing deep distrust towards the news media and government institutions. His strange beliefs and his alienation from his family contributed to Kennedy's image of being an outsider who threatened the establishment. Trump also adopted Kennedy's slogan "Make America Healthy Again."
===Role in the second Trump administration=== 
On 27 October, Trump promised that his second administration would let Kennedy "go wild" on health, food, and medicines. At the same time, Kennedy's health promises like reducing the amount of "ultraprocessed food" in the American diet ran counter to the actions the Trump administration had taken during Trump's first term. 
Shortly after his victory in the election, Donald Trump honored his agreement with Kennedy by announcing that he would nominate Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). For his part, Kennedy pledged to rid the department of "corruption" and improve "transparency." Placing an anti-vaxxer in charge of the HHS Department is essentially placing the inmates in charge of the asylum. Of course, electing Trump again is also placing the inmates in charge of the asylum, so this tracks. 
Although it is not legally possible for the Health Secretary to ban vaccines, Kennedy’s position could potentially allow him to withdraw vaccine recommendations, make changes in agencies that regulate vaccines, and restrict legal protections for vaccine manufacturers.
By late November, Kennedy was also rumored to have teamed up with Melania Trump to encourage the president-elect to eat "fewer Big Macs and less KFC, and more lean protein, salad and veggies for energy and to improve his overall well-being." The president-elect seemed to have retaliated by having Kennedy participate in a photograph of Team Trump dining on McDonald's food. Trump is known for his longtime and genuine love for McDonald's, and two of his top aides ( and ) have claimed that Trump's average meal from McDonald's consists of two Big-Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a chocolate milkshake. So Kennedy has a point on this one, though he shows hypocrisy with lack of follow-up in the photo.
In November 2024, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (part of DHHS) during the first Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb, warned senators against confirming Kennedy, saying that his confirmation would increase the likelihood of measles outbreaks and lead to the deaths of children.Trump’s former FDA commissioner warns RFK Jr. could ‘cost lives’ if confirmed: Scott Gottlieb said he’s worried that Trump’s pick to run HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will follow through on past antivaccine rhetoric. by Dan Diamond (November 29, 2024 at 4:05 p.m. EST) The Washington Post.
==But that's not all, folks!==
Kennedy is also against water fluoridation.The Children's Health Defense Team: Fluoridation Must End (January 9, 2019) press release, Fluoride Action Network, republished in Biospace, January 10, 2019.
===Chemicals are turning the frogs trans!===
Echoing the infamous "gay frogs" of Alex Jones, in an interview with Jordan Peterson in June 2023 (later repeated on a Joe Rogan podcast that same month), Kennedy theorized that certain chemicals in the "soup of toxic chemicals" in the water supply could be turning kids gay or transgender. Kennedy based this conspiracy theory on the same 2002 study that Jones used, which claimed that caused frogs to develop hermaphroditic characteristics. Kennedy's conspiracy theory is obviously bogus; aside from the fact that human biology and frog biology are quite different, later experiments have been unable to replicate the results of that 2002 study.YouTube Takes Down RFK Jr. Interview Suggesting Chemicals in Water Supply Might Feminize Children Like They Do Frogs by Dessi Gomez (2023 June 19) The Wrap.Did The New Yorker Botch Puff Piece On Frog Scientist Tyrone Hayes, Turning Rogue into Beleaguered Hero? by Jon Entine (2014 March 10) Forbes.
===Antidepressants cause school shootings! (And Elon Musk is great!)===
Surprising no one, the gullible Elon Musk had a positive view of Kennedy when he was running for President, and the two have traded praise. During Kennedy's campaign launch, Musk hosted a two-hour conversation with the candidate on Twitter, where the candidate issued some interestingly wacky statements like, "Prior to the introduction of Prozac," school shootings weren't a problem.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compares Elon Musk to patriots who died fighting in the American Revolution, blames anti-depressants for mass shootings by John Cook (Jun 5, 2023, 3:09 PM PDT) Business Insider. There is absolutely no scientifically established link between antidepressants and school shootings,The myth of school shooters and psychotropic medications by Ryan Chaloner Winton Hall et al. (2019) Behavioral Sciences & The Law 37(5):540-558. doi:10.1002/bsl.2429. and the conspiracy theory is notably widely spread by the Church of Scientology (who take an anti-psychiatry stance). Rather than address the school shooting crisis with common-sense gun control, Kennedy decided to take the Republican approach and endorse outfitting schools with metal detectors, bag screeners, and bans on sharp objects. Have fun sending your kids to class in a world like that.
Kennedy also spent the interview lavishing praise on Musk, comparing him to the Patriots of the American Revolution saying "What is it in your background that you think gave you such firm convictions where you'd be willing to take this huge, massive, unspeakable economic hit on behalf of a principle for a country in which you weren't even born?" How pathetic.
Kennedy has also advocated moving people who are on antidepressants into "government wellness farms."
===Drink raw milk!===
Kennedy is an advocate of raw milk even though (or because?) it is unsafe to consume, often containing infectious viruses and bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and listeria.10 RFK Jr. conspiracy theories and false claims, in his own words: Kennedy’s ascension to the nation’s top health job alarms medical experts. by Lauren Weber et al. (November 15, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post. He claims to personally drink raw milk, and he's attacked the FDA for its "aggressive suppression" of raw milk. 
===Stem cell therapy!===
Kennedy has advocated for stem cell therapy, which is not a problem in and of itself: some such therapies are effective treatments. It is doubtful given all of Kennedy's other crankery that he would be able to distinguish the difference. Some stem cell therapies have blinded patients. Paul Knoepfler, a professor of cell biology and human anatomy at the University of California at Davis and expert on the subject, has expressed concern about Kennedy's advocacy because there are many dubious stem cell therapies that are promoted on the web.
===Chemtrails!===
In 2024, just after endorsing rapist/felon Trump's campaign for president, he endorsed some random chemtrail nut on Twitter, writing, "We are going to stop this crime."https://ghostarchive.org/archive/kXxl9 by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (12:59 PM · Aug 26, 2024) Twitter (archived from 27 Aug 2024 16:44:03 GMT).
===The government is out to get us!===
In 2024, Kennedy told Fox News:
Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, responded:
===The 2004 election was stolen!===
Foreshadowing later, more dangerous claims by President Donald Trump, Kennedy spent years chasing his theory that George W. Bush rigged the 2004 election against Democratic candidate John Kerry. His conspiracy theory centered on Ohio, claiming that Republican state officials acted on orders from the White House to intentionally purge registered Democrats from the voter registration system, preventing them from casting ballots for Kerry.Was the 2004 election stolen? No. by Farhad Manjoo (June 3, 2006 12:00PM EDT) Salon. 
While there were a large number of voters, 129,543 to be exact, who encountered this problem at their polling places, audits and Democratic Party investigations found that the impacted voters were roughly evenly split between the two parties. Also, Kerry actually won more votes than Al Gore in many areas, including 88,500 more votes from Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is.Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Nut Job by Erick Trickey (August 27, 2008) Cleveland Magazine. Most damningly for the theory, Ohio elections are run at the county level by boards that are careful to have bipartisan makeup, so the various fuckups on Election Day were not a grand Republican conspiracy. Ohio pretty much did exactly what polls predicted: vote for Bush by a fairly narrow margin. Thus, there is no evidence to indicate that Kerry won Ohio either way. But a good conspiracy theorist never lets a debunking keep him down.
===The CIA killed JFK!===
Never one to miss a chance to further piss off his own family members, Kennedy has repeatedly claimed that the CIA orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. His theory, piggybacking on a broader cultural belief, claims that the CIA killed the president because he was refusing to embroil the United States in the growing crisis in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.Robert Kennedy Jr. sees ‘overwhelming evidence’ CIA involved in JFK assassination by Stephen Neukam (05/08/23 11:57 AM ET) The Hill. The CIA apparently wanted a war in Southeast Asia in order to fuel the military-industrial complex. Apparently, Kennedy ignores the fact that his uncle already was embroiling the United States in Vietnam at the time he was assassinated. As recently as 2023, RFK Jr. claimed the evidence is "overwhelming" that the CIA was responsible. Kennedy told Joe Rogan he "takes precautions" on the off chance that the CIA decides to gun for him.RFK Jr. tells Joe Rogan he takes ‘precautions’ to avoid CIA assassination by Brian Niemietz (June 19, 2023 at 4:04 PM EST) New York Daily News.
==His voice==
He began suffering from a rare voice disorder, in 2001. This causes his voice to sound strained.Kennedy's Voice Draws Attention to Rare Disorder by Lauren Cox (January 8, 2009) ABC News.What happened to Robert Kennedy Jr’s voice and when did it change? by Yasmine Leung (2022) HITC (archived from March 14, 2023).
==External links==
*Ring of Fire program website
*Articles tagged "Robert F Kennedy Jr." at Science-Based Medicine.
*RFK, Jr. peddling his conspiracies at a Green Our Vaccines rally
*Skeptico on Deadly Immunity article and Retraction Watch's coverage.
*Orac on RFK, Jr.
*A Daily Show interview that unfortunately questioned his vaccine hysteria not.
*Farhad Manjoo debunks Kennedy's claims of 2004 election rigging.
==Notes==
==References==
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