Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched a longshot presidential campaign in the United States, running as a Democratic candidate who will oppose his party’s stance on issues ranging from vaccines to foreign policy and censorship.
Kennedy, the son of 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of assassinated former President John F. Kennedy, filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. He and self-help author Marianne Williamson are the first two Democratic candidates to enter the race, presumably to challenge 80-year-old Joe Biden, who has indicated that he intends to run for re-election despite being the country’s oldest president.
As the heir to one of America’s most famous political families, Kennedy, 69, will have name recognition on his side as he campaigns for the presidency. He has, however, come under fire for his opposition to Covid-19 vaccine mandates.
In recent weeks, Kennedy had hinted at a White House run, saying in a Twitter post last month that he wanted supporters to help him decide whether to challenge Biden. “If it appears that I can raise enough money and mobilize enough people to win, I’ll enter the race.” If I run, my top priority will be to put an end to the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and liberties. We can restore America’s democracy if we work together.”
Kennedy, a long-time environmental lawyer, author, and anti-vaccine activist, filed a class-action lawsuit against Biden, former Covid-19 czar Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other administration officials last month for forcing social media platforms to censor jab critics. He has called for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s release, saying, “There is no America without a Free Press.” There is no free press unless Julian Assange is free.”
Kennedy has also spoken out against the US Federal Reserve’s planned digital currency and accused the CIA of destroying evidence related to his uncle’s assassination in 1963. Earlier this week, he blamed the loss of US influence over Saudi Arabia on a policy of using military power to enforce global hegemony, as well as the Gulf monarchy’s new alliances with China and Iran.
“The Ukraine war represents the final collapse of the neocon’s ill-fated ‘American Century,’” Kennedy said. “The neocon projects in Iraq and Ukraine have cost $8.1 trillion, hollowed out our middle class, rendered US military power and moral authority a laughingstock, pushed China and Russia into an invincible alliance, destroyed the dollar as the global currency, cost millions of lives, and done nothing to advance democracy, win friendships, or influence.”
According to Kennedy, the military industrial complex has “sown [sic] chaos” around the world while obliterating America’s moral authority and impoverishing the middle class. “I want to bridge the toxic polarization that divides Republicans and Democrats and allows elites to capture our government,” he said.
