{"id":2192,"date":"2023-12-27T12:02:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T12:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2023-12-27T12:02:16","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T12:02:16","slug":"rfk-jr-s-campaign-of-conspiracy-theories-is-politifacts-2023-lie-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=2192","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr.\u2019s Campaign of Conspiracy Theories Is PolitiFact\u2019s 2023 Lie of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

As pundits and politicos spar over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election, one thing is clear: Kennedy\u2019s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked anger over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of covid-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic.<\/p>\n

Bolstered by his famous name and family\u2019s legacy, his campaign of conspiracy theories has gained an electoral and\u00a0financial foothold<\/a>. He is running as an independent \u2014 having abandoned his pursuit of the Democratic Party nomination \u2014 and\u00a0raised\u00a0 more than $15 million<\/a>. A political action committee pledged to spend between $10 million and $15 million to get his name on the ballot in 10 states.<\/p>\n

Even though he spent the past two decades as a prominent leader of the anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy rejects a blanket \u201canti-vax\u201d label that he\u00a0 told Fox News<\/a>\u00a0in July makes him \u201clook crazy, like a conspiracy theorist.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Kennedy draws bogus conclusions from scientific work. He employs \u201ccircumstantial evidence\u201d as if it is proof. In TV,\u00a0 podcast<\/a>,\u00a0and political appearances for his campaign in 2023, Kennedy steadfastly maintained:<\/p>\n

Vaccines cause autism.<\/li>\n

No childhood vaccines \u201chave ever been tested in a safety study pre-licensing.\u201d<\/li>\n

There is \u201ctremendous circumstantial evidence\u201d that psychiatric drugs cause mass shootings, and the National Institutes of Health refuses to research the link out of deference to pharmaceutical companies.<\/li>\n

Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were discredited as covid-19 treatments so covid vaccines could be granted emergency use authorization, a win for Big Pharma.<\/li>\n

Exposure to the pesticide atrazine contributes to gender dysphoria in children.<\/li>\n

Covid-19 is<\/a>\u00a0\u201ctargeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For Kennedy, the conspiracies aren\u2019t limited to public health. He\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0\u201cmembers of the CIA\u201d were involved in the assassination of his uncle, John F. Kennedy.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t<\/a>\u00a0\u201cbelieve that (Sirhan) Sirhan\u2019s bullets ever hit my father,\u201d former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.\u00a0 He insists<\/a>\u00a0the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democratic candidate John Kerry.<\/p>\n
News<\/a>\u00a0 organizations<\/a>, including\u00a0 PolitiFact<\/a>, have documented why those claims, and\u00a0 many<\/a>\u00a0 others<\/a>, are false, speculative, or conspiracy-minded.<\/p>\n
Kennedy has sat for numerous interviews and dismissed the critics, not with the grievance and bluster of former President Donald Trump, but with a calm demeanor. He amplifies the alleged plot and repeats dubious scientific evidence and historical detail.<\/p>\n
Will his approach translate to votes? In\u00a0 polls\u00a0since November<\/a> of a three-way matchup between President Joe Biden, Trump, and Kennedy, Kennedy pulled 16% to 22% of respondents.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s movement exemplifies the resonance of conspiratorial views. Misinformers with organized efforts are rewarded with money and loyalty. But that doesn\u2019t make the claims true.<\/p>\n
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign based on false theories is PolitiFact\u2019s 2023 Lie of the Year.<\/p>\n
How an Environmental Fighter Took Up Vaccines<\/strong><\/p>\n
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a \u201cFire Drill Friday\u201d protest against climate change in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15, 2019.(John Lamparski\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Kennedy, the third of 11 children, was 9 when he was picked up on Nov. 22, 1963, from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., because Lee Harvey Oswald had shot and killed Uncle Jack. He was 14 when he learned that his father had been shot by Sirhan Sirhan following a victory speech after the California Democratic presidential primary.<\/p>\n
RFK Jr., who turns 70 in January, wouldn\u2019t begin to publicly doubt the government\u2019s findings about the assassinations until\u00a0 later in his adulthood<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As a teenager, he\u00a0 used drugs<\/a>. He was expelled from two boarding schools and\u00a0 arrested\u00a0at 16<\/a> for marijuana possession. None of that slowed an elite path through higher education, including Harvard University for his bachelor\u2019s degree and the University of Virginia for his law degree.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0 was hired<\/a>\u00a0as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan in 1982 but failed the bar exam and resigned the next year. Two months later, he was arrested for heroin possession after falling ill on a flight. His\u00a0 guilty plea<\/a>\u00a0involved a drug treatment program, a\u00a0 year of probation<\/a>,\u00a0and volunteer work with a local anglers\u2019 association that patrolled the Hudson River for evidence of pollution that could lead to lawsuits.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s involvement with Hudson Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council ushered in a long chapter of environmental litigation and advocacy.<\/p>\n
An outdoorsman and falconer, Kennedy sued companies and government agencies over pollution in the Hudson River and its watershed. (He joined the New York bar\u00a0 in 1985<\/a>.) He earned a master\u2019s degree in environmental law at Pace University, where he started a\u00a0 law clinic<\/a>\u00a0to primarily assist Riverkeeper\u2019s legal work. He helped negotiate a 1997 agreement that protected upstate New York reservoirs supplying New York City\u2019s drinking water.<\/p>\n
In 1999, Kennedy founded the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international group of local river and bay-keeper organizations that act as their \u201ccommunity\u2019s coast guard,\u201d he told\u00a0 Vanity Fair in 2016<\/a>. He stayed with the group\u00a0 until 2020<\/a>, when he left \u201cto devote himself, full-time, to other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Joe Rogan\u2019s podcast in June, Kennedy said that virtually all of his litigation involved \u201csome scientific controversy. And so, I\u2019m comfortable with reading science and I know how to read it critically.\u201d<\/p>\n
PolitiFact did not receive a response from Kennedy\u2019s campaign for this story.<\/p>\n
He became concerned about mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants;\u00a0methylmercury\u00a0can build up in fish<\/a>, posing a risk to humans and wildlife. As he traveled around the country,\u00a0 he said<\/a>,\u00a0women started appearing in the front rows of his mercury lectures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would say to me in kind of a respectful but vaguely scolding way, \u2018If you\u2019re really interested in mercury contamination exposure to children, you need to look at the vaccines,\u2019\u201d Kennedy told Rogan, whose show\u00a0 averages\u00a011 million listeners<\/a> an episode.<\/p>\n
Kennedy said the women sounded \u201crational\u201d as they explained a link between their children\u2019s autism and vaccines. \u201cThey weren\u2019t excitable,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they had done their research, and I was like, \u2018I should be listening to these people, even if they\u2019re wrong.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He did more than listen. In June 2005, Rolling Stone and Salon co-published Kennedy\u2019s article \u201cDeadly Immunity.\u201d Kennedy told\u00a0 an alarming story<\/a>\u00a0about a study that revealed a mercury-based additive once used in vaccines, thimerosal, \u201cmay have caused autism in thousands of kids.\u201d Kennedy alleged that preeminent health agencies \u2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization \u2014 had colluded with vaccine manufacturers \u201cto conceal the data.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s premise\u00a0 was<\/a>\u00a0 decried<\/a>\u00a0as inaccurate and missing context. He left out the ultimate conclusion of the 2003\u00a0study<\/a>, by Thomas Verstraeten, which said \u201cno consistent significant associations were found between [thimerosal-containing vaccines] and neurodevelopmental outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy didn\u2019t clearly state that,\u00a0 as a precaution<\/a>, thimerosal\u00a0was not being used\u00a0in childhood vaccines when his article was published. He also misrepresented the comments of health agency leaders at a June 2000 meeting, pulling\u00a0certain\u00a0portions of a 286-page transcript that\u00a0appeared to support\u00a0Kennedy\u2019s collusion narrative.<\/p>\n
Scientists who have studied thimerosal have found no evidence that the additive, used to prevent germ growth, causes harm, according to a\u00a0 CDC\u00a0FAQ<\/a> about thimerosal. Unlike the mercury in some fish, the CDC says, thimerosal \u201cdoesn\u2019t stay in the body, and is unlikely to make us sick.\u201d\u00a0 Continued<\/a>\u00a0 research<\/a>\u00a0has not established a link between thimerosal and autism.<\/p>\n
By the end of July 2005, Kennedy\u2019s Salon article had been appended with five correction notes. In 2011, Salon\u00a0 retracted\u00a0the article<\/a>. It\u00a0 disappeared from Rolling Stone<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Salon\u2019s retraction was part of a broader conspiracy of caving \u201cunder pressure from the pharmaceutical industry,\u201d Kennedy told Rogan. The then-Salon editor\u00a0 rejected this<\/a>, saying they \u201ccaved to pressure from the incontrovertible truth and our journalistic consciences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy has not wavered in his belief: \u201cWell, I do believe that autism does come from vaccines,\u201d he\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Fox News\u2019 Jesse Watters in July.<\/p>\n
David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, interviewed\u00a0Kennedy\u00a0for a July story<\/a>. Noting that Kennedy was focusing more on vaccine testing rather than outright opposition, Remnick asked him whether he was having second thoughts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve read the science on autism and I can tell you, if you want to know,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cDavid, you\u2019ve got to answer this question: If it didn\u2019t come from the vaccines, then where is it coming from?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tEmail Sign-Up\t\t<\/a>
\n\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tSubscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
How Covid-19 Helped RFK Jr.\u2019s Vaccine-Skeptical Crusade<\/strong><\/p>\n
In 2016, Kennedy\u00a0launched\u00a0the World Mercury Project<\/a> to address mercury in fish, medicines, and vaccines. In 2018,\u00a0 he created<\/a>\u00a0Children\u2019s Health Defense, a legal advocacy group that works \u201caggressively to eliminate harmful exposures,\u201d its website says.<\/p>\n
Since at least 2019, Children\u2019s Health Defense has supported and\u00a0 filed lawsuits<\/a>\u00a0challenging vaccination requirements,\u00a0 mask mandates<\/a>,\u00a0and social media companies\u2019 misinformation policies (including a\u00a0 related lawsuit<\/a> against Facebook and The Poynter Institute, which owns PolitiFact).<\/p>\n
From the beginning, the group has\u00a0solicited\u00a0stories about children \u201cinjured\u201d by environmental toxins or vaccines. This year, it launched a national bus tour to collect testimonials. The organization also produces documentary-style films and books, including Kennedy\u2019s \u201cThe Wuhan Cover-Up and the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race\u201d and \u201cThe Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2020, Children\u2019s Health Defense and the anti-vaccine movement turned attention to the emerging public health crisis.<\/p>\n
Kolina Koltai, a senior researcher at Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group, had seen anti-vaccine groups try to seize on Zika and Ebola outbreaks, with little success. But the covid-19 pandemic provided \u201cthe exact scenario\u201d needed to create mass dissent: widespread fear and an information vacuum.<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s Health Defense\u00a0 published<\/a>\u00a0 articles<\/a>\u00a0in March and April 2020 claiming the \u201cviral terror\u201d was an attempt to enact the \u201cglobal immunization agenda\u201d and a \u201cdream come true\u201d for dictators. The group echoed these points in ads and social media posts and grew its audience, including\u00a0 in Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On X, then known as Twitter, Children\u2019s Health Defense outperformed news outlets that met NewsGuard\u2019s criteria for trustworthiness from the third quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by the German Marshall Fund think tank, even as Children\u2019s Health Defense published debunked\u00a0information<\/a>\u00a0about covid-19 and vaccines.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Children\u2019s Health Defense\u00a0reported\u00a0it had $2.94 million in revenue<\/a>, and paid Kennedy a $255,000 salary. Its revenue grew 440% through 2021, according to\u00a0 IRS filings<\/a>, hitting $15.99 million. Kennedy\u2019s salary increased to $497,013. (Its 2022 form 990 for tax disclosure is not yet public. Kennedy has been on leave from the organization since he entered the presidential race in April.)<\/p>\n
On social media, the message had limits. Meta removed Kennedy\u2019s personal Instagram account in\u00a0 February 2021<\/a>\u00a0for spreading false claims about covid-19 and vaccines, the company said, but left his Facebook account active. A year and a half later, Meta banned Children\u2019s Health Defense\u2019s main Facebook and Instagram accounts for \u201crepeatedly\u201d violating its medical misinformation policies.\u00a0 Several<\/a>\u00a0 state<\/a>\u00a0 chapters<\/a>\u00a0 still<\/a>\u00a0 have<\/a>\u00a0 accounts<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As the group\u2019s face, Kennedy became a leader of a movement opposed to masks and stay-at-home orders, said David H. Gorski, managing editor of Science-Based Medicine and a professor of surgery and oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic produced a new generation of anti-vaxxers who had either not been prominent before or who were not really anti-vax before,\u201d Gorski said. \u201cBut none of them had the same cultural cachet that comes with being a Kennedy that RFK Jr. has.\u201d<\/p>\n
$\"A$
Demonstrators listen as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is shown on screen speaking at an anti-vaccine mandate rally on Jan. 23, 2022, in Washington.(Eric Lee\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Rallying a crowd before the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 23, 2022, Kennedy protested covid-19 countermeasures alongside commentator Lara Logan and anti-vaccine\u00a0 activist\u00a0Robert Malone<\/a>. The crowd\u00a0 held<\/a>\u00a0 signs<\/a>\u00a0reading \u201cNuremberg Trials 2.0\u201d and \u201cfree choice, no masks, no tests, no vax.\u201d When Kennedy took the stage, mention of his role with Children\u2019s Health Defense prompted an\u00a0 exuberant cheer<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In his speech, Kennedy\u00a0 invoked the Holocaust<\/a>\u00a0to denounce the \u201cturnkey totalitarianism\u201d of a society that requires vaccinations to travel, uses digital currency and 5G, and is monitored by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates\u2019 satellites: \u201cEven in Hitler\u2019s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Days later, facing criticism from\u00a0 his wife<\/a>, the actor Cheryl Hines,\u00a0 Jewish advocacy groups<\/a>, and Holocaust memorial organizations, Kennedy issued a\u00a0 rare apology<\/a>\u00a0for his comments.<\/p>\n
Asked about his wife\u2019s comment on\u00a0 Dec. 15 on CNN<\/a>, he said his remarks were taken out of context but that he had to apologize because of his family.<\/p>\n
Recycle. Repeat. Repeat.<\/strong><\/p>\n
When he\u2019s asked about his views, Kennedy calmly searches\u00a0his rhetorical laboratory for recycled talking points, selective research findings, the impression of voluminous valid studies, speculation, and inarguable authority from his experience. He refers to institutions, researchers, and reports, by name, in quick succession, shifting points before interviewers can note what was misleading or cherry-picked.<\/p>\n
There is power in repetition. Take his persistent claim that vaccines are not safety-tested.<\/p>\n
\n
In July, he told \u201c Fox & Friends<\/a>,\u201d \u201cVaccines are the only medical product that is not safety-tested prior to licensure.\u201d<\/li>\n
On\u00a0 Nov. 7<\/a>\u00a0on PBS NewsHour, Kennedy said vaccines are \u201cthe only medical product or medical device that is allowed to get a license without engaging in safety tests.\u201d<\/li>\n
On Dec. 15, he\u00a0 told CNN<\/a>\u2019s Kasie Hunt that no childhood vaccines have \u201cever been tested in a safety study pre-licensing.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This is false. Vaccines, including the\u00a0 covid-19 vaccines<\/a>, are\u00a0 tested for safety and effectiveness<\/a>\u00a0before they are licensed. Researchers gather initial safety data and information about side effects during phase 1 clinical trials on groups of 20 to 100 people. If no safety concerns are identified, subsequent phases\u00a0 rely on studies<\/a>\u00a0of larger numbers of volunteers to evaluate a vaccine\u2019s effectiveness and monitor side effects.<\/p>\n
Kennedy sometimes says that some vaccines weren\u2019t tested against inactive injections or placebos. That has an element of truth: If using a placebo would disadvantage or potentially endanger a patient, researchers might test new vaccines\u00a0 against older versions<\/a>\u00a0with known side effects.<\/p>\n
But vaccines are among \u201cthe most tested and vetted\u201d pharmaceutical products given to children, said Patricia Stinchfield, a pediatric nurse practitioner and the president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.<\/p>\n
Kennedy encourages parents to research questions on their own, saying doctors and other experts are invariably compromised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are taking as gospel what the CDC tells them,\u201d Kennedy said on Bari Weiss\u2019 \u201cHonestly\u201d\u00a0podcast<\/a>\u00a0in June.<\/p>\n
Public health agencies have been \u201cserving the mercantile interests of the pharmaceutical companies, and you cannot believe anything that they say,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n
Experts fret that the Kennedy name carries weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he steps forward and he says the government\u2019s lying to you, the FDA is lying to you, the CDC is lying to you, he has credence, because he\u2019s seen as someone who is a product of the government,\u201d said Paul Offit, a pediatrics professor in the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia\u2019s infectious diseases division and the director of the hospital\u2019s Vaccine Education Center. \u201cHe\u2019s like a whistleblower in that sense. He\u2019s been behind the scenes, so he knows what it looks like, and he\u2019s telling you that you\u2019re being lied to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy name-drops studies that don\u2019t support his commentary. When speaking with Rogan, Kennedy encouraged the podcaster\u2019s staff to show a particular 2010 study that found that exposure to the herbicide atrazine caused some male frogs to develop female sex organs and become infertile.<\/p>\n
Kennedy has repeatedly invoked that frog study to support his position that \u201cwe should all be looking at\u201d atrazine and its impact on human beings. The researcher behind the study\u00a0 told PolitiFact<\/a>\u00a0in June that Kennedy\u2019s atrazine claims were \u201cspeculation\u201d given the vast differences between humans and amphibians.\u00a0No scientific studies in humans\u00a0link atrazine exposure to gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n
In July, Kennedy floated the idea that covid-19 could have been \u201cethnically targeted\u201d to \u201cattack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.\u201d The claim was\u00a0 ridiculously wrong<\/a>, but Kennedy insisted that it was backed by a July 2020 study by Chinese researchers. That\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0didn\u2019t find that Chinese people were less affected by the virus. It said one of the virus\u2019s receptors seemed to be absent in the Amish and in Ashkenazi Jews and theorized that genetic factors might increase covid-19 severity.<\/p>\n
Five months later, Kennedy invoked the study and\u00a0 insisted\u00a0he was right<\/a>: \u201cI can understand why people were disturbed by those remarks. They certainly weren\u2019t antisemitic. \u2026 I was talking about a true study, an NIH-funded study.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I hadn\u2019t said them, but, you know, what I said was true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy answered using scientific terms (\u201cfurin cleave,\u201d \u201cACE2 receptor\u201d), but he ignored\u00a0explanations found\u00a0in the study. He didn\u2019t account for how the original virus has evolved since 2020, or how the study emphasized these potential mutations were rare and would have\u00a0little to no public health impact.<\/p>\n
Public health experts say that racial disparities in covid-19 infection and mortality \u2014 in the U.S., Black and Hispanic people often faced more severe covid-19 outcomes \u2014 resulted from\u00a0social and economic inequities, not genetics.<\/p>\n
Kennedy says \u201ccircumstantial evidence\u201d is enough.<\/p>\n
Antidepressants are linked to school shootings, he told listeners on a livestream hosted by Elon Musk. The government should have begun studying the issue years ago, he said, because \u201cthere\u2019s tremendous circumstantial evidence that those, like SSRIs and benzos and other drugs, are doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts in psychiatry have told\u00a0PolitiFact<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 other<\/a>\u00a0 fact-checkers<\/a>\u00a0that there is no causal relationship between antidepressants and shootings. With 13% of the adult population using antidepressants, experts say that if the link were true they would expect higher rates of violence. Also, the\u00a0available data\u00a0on U.S. school shootings shows most shooters were not using psychiatric medicines, which have an anti-violence effect.<\/p>\n
Conspiracy Theories, Consequences, and a Presidential Campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n
The anti-censorship candidate frames his first bid for public office as a response to \u201c18 years\u201d of being shunned for his views \u2014 partly by the government, but also by private companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re protected so much from censorship if you\u2019re running for president,\u201d Kennedy\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0conservative Canadian podcaster and psychologist\u00a0Jordan Peterson in June.<\/p>\n
In June, Kennedy\u2019s Instagram account was\u00a0reinstated\u00a0\u2014 with a verified badge noting he is a public figure. Meta\u2019s rules on misinformation do not apply to active political candidates. (PolitiFact is a partner of Meta\u2019s Third Party Fact-Checking Program, which seeks to reduce false content on the platform.)<\/p>\n
In July, he was invited\u00a0 to testify<\/a>\u00a0before the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. He repeated that he had \u201cnever been anti-vax,\u201d and railed against the Biden White House for\u00a0 asking Twitter<\/a>\u00a0to remove his January 2021 tweet that said Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron\u2019s death was \u201cpart of a wave of suspicious deaths among elderly,\u201d weeks after Aaron, 86, received a covid-19 vaccine. The medical examiner\u2019s office said Aaron died from unrelated natural causes.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives to testify during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on what Republicans say is politicization of the FBI and Justice Department on July 20 in Washington.(Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Throughout 2023, alternative media has embraced Kennedy. He has\u00a0 regularly appeared on<\/a>\u00a0podcasts such as Peterson\u2019s, and has also participated in profiles by\u00a0 mainstream TV<\/a>,\u00a0 online<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0 print<\/a>\u00a0 sources<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re like, \u2018But you\u2019re talking right now. I\u2019m listening to you. I hear your words. You\u2019re not being censored,\u2019\u201d said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon who researches how news media covers conspiracy theories and their proponents. \u201cBut a person can believe they\u2019re being censored because they\u2019ve internalized that they\u2019re going to be,\u201d or they know making the claim will land with their audience.<\/p>\n
Time will tell whether his message resonates with voters.<\/p>\n
Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Kennedy may be a \u201cplaceholder\u201d for voters who are dissatisfied with Trump and Biden and will take a third option when offered by pollsters.<\/p>\n
The only 2024 candidate whose favorability ratings are more positive than negative? It\u2019s Kennedy<\/a>, according to\u00a0FiveThirtyEight. However, a much higher percentage of voters are unfamiliar with him than they are with Trump or Biden \u2014 about a quarter \u2014 and Kennedy\u2019s favorability edge has decreased as his campaign has gone on.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, third-party candidates historically finish with a fraction of their polling, Kondik said, and voters will likely have more names and parties on their fall ballots, including philosopher Cornel West, physician Jill Stein, and a potential slate from the\u00a0 No Labels<\/a>\u00a0movement.<\/p>\n
Kennedy was popular with conservative commentators before he became an independent, and he has avoided pointedly criticizing Trump, except on covid-19 lockdowns. When NBC News asked\u00a0 Kennedy in August<\/a>\u00a0what he thought of Trump\u2019s 2020 election lies, Kennedy said he believed Trump lost, but that, in general, people who believe elections were stolen \u201cshould be listened to.\u201d Kennedy is one of them. He still says that the 2004 presidential election was \u201cstolen\u201d from Kerry in favor of Republican George W. Bush,\u00a0 though it wasn\u2019t<\/a>.<\/p>\n
American Values 2024 will spend\u00a0 up to $15 million<\/a>\u00a0to get Kennedy\u2019s name on the ballot in 10 states including Arizona, California, Indiana, New York, and Texas. Those are five of the toughest states for ballot access, said Richard Winger, co-editor of Ballot Access News.<\/p>\n
Four of Kennedy\u2019s siblings\u00a0called\u00a0Kennedy\u2019s decision to run as an independent \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201cperilous\u201d<\/a> to the nation. \u201cBobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,\u201d the group wrote in a joint statement.<\/p>\n
Kennedy brushes it off when asked, saying he has a large family and some members support him.<\/p>\n
On her podcast, Weiss asked whether Kennedy worried his position on autism and vaccines would cloud his other positions and cost him votes. His answer ignored his history.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me where I got it wrong,\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019ll change.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a campaign constructed by lies, that might be the biggest one.<\/p>\n
PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.\u200b<\/em><\/p>\n
PolitiFact\u2019s source list can be found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\tRelated Topics\t\t\t<\/h3>\n
\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tContact Us\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tSubmit a Story Tip\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n