I’ll confess, I did not have this one on my Bingo card: Though he hasn’t yet made his own bid for re-election official, President Joe Biden is facing another Democratic challenger for the 2024 race. On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission indicating his intention to run for president. (Marianne Williamson has also declared her candidacy.)
The 69-year-old son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy was 14 years old when his father was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan on June 5, 1968, during his own run for president. RFK Jr. graduated from Harvard College in 1976 with a B.A. in American History and Literature. He obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia, followed by a Master of Laws from Pace University.
Kennedy served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and later moved into environmental law as an advocate for environmental justice. He is also a New York Times best-selling author.
In recent years, he has become best known for his anti-vaccination advocacy — so much so, that he was at the center of the federal government’s censorship push on Twitter, brought to light by the Twitter Files. Sister Toldjah described a contentious exchange between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) during a recent subcommittee hearing:
“We’re here talking about Twitter. Twitter,” Goldman whined. “And even with Twitter, you cannot find actual evidence of any direct government censorship of any lawful speech. And when I say lawful, I mean non-criminal speech because plenty of speech is non-criminal.”
Jordan countered him with the following remarks:
“I’d ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the following email from Clark Humphrey, Executive Office of the Presidency, White House office, Jan. 23, 2021, that’s the Biden administration, 4:39 a.m., ‘Hey, folks,’ … this goes to Twitter… ‘Hey, folks wanted to’ — they use the term Mr. Goldman just used — ‘wanted to flag the below tweet, and then wondering if we can get moving on the process for having it removed, ASAP.”
The e-mail in question:
Though a scion of one of America’s top political families, Kennedy has been shunned by many of his fellow Democrats for his unpopular stances. Surely his announced entry into the presidential race will be welcomed by some on the left, but not by the Democratic establishment. The AP already has the whole thing framed, starting with their headline: Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024. From their article:
But more than 15 years ago, he became fixated on a belief that vaccines are not safe. He emerged as one of the leading voices in the anti-vaccine movement, and his work has been described by public health experts and even members of his own family as misleading and dangerous.
Kennedy had been long involved in the anti-vaccine movement, but the effort intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic and development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
His anti-vaccine charity, Children’s Health Defense, prospered during the pandemic, with revenues more than doubling in 2020 to $6.8 million, according to filings made with charity regulators.
His organization has targeted false claims at groups that may be more prone to distrust the vaccine, including mothers and Black Americans, experts have said, which could have resulted in deaths during the pandemic.
And, perhaps his worst sin, Kennedy had the temerity to challenge Dr. Anthony Fauci, writing a 2021 book highly critical of the former NIAID director and chief medical advisor to the president:
Kennedy released a book in 2021, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” in which he accused the U.S.’s top infectious disease doctor of assisting in “a historic coup d’etat against Western democracy” and promoted unproven COVID-19 treatments such as ivermectin, which is meant to treat parasites, and the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
Kennedy’s advocacy prompted his association with unsavory insurrection-y types, as well.
His push against the COVID-19 vaccine has linked him at times with anti-democratic figures and groups. Kennedy has appeared at events pushing the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and with people who cheered or downplayed the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The article goes on, but you get the point. While many Democrats don’t appear to favor another Biden run, RFK Jr.’s challenge may not be the path forward they were hoping for.