A Kennedy wants to be president – that alone makes headlines in the USA. But the son of the murdered Bobby Kennedy is spreading wild conspiracy theories. It’s tricky for Democrats, but it could also appeal to Republicans.
Pumps for the Presidency? No problem for Robert F. Kennedy Junior. In tight jeans and shirtless, he does a push-up and pushes himself up. Once, twice – the eighth time he starts panting, after the ninth time he stops and sits up.
Fit, muscular and tanned, not bad for a 69-year-old man: This is how he is shown in a mobile phone video that has now been viewed more than 15 million times.
Robert F. Kennedy is fit and toned. At least that’s what the high-profile physical exercise should show (screenshot).
Application for candidacy for US Democrats
No question: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the murdered Bobby Kennedy and nephew of the murdered John F. Kennedy, has been attracting attention – at least since he announced in early April that he wanted to run for the Democratic Party as a US presidential candidate.
The stately appearance, the sonorous name and the legendary family are not the only things. For decades Kennedy has made a name for himself as an environmental and minority advocate. He has fought against oil companies, chemical giants, meat plants and the military.
representatives wilder conspiracy theories
But since the pandemic at the latest, “RFK Jr.” mainly through conspiracy theories. Allegedly, for example, the middle class has been eradicated since the early 1980s. “The coup de grace was the lockdown,” he claims; that was the greatest shift in prosperity in human history.
He also repeatedly claims that the vaccines against Covid-19 are dangerous and could lead to autism in children. Antidepressants are to blame for school massacres and WiFi causes cancer.
Above all, however, the USA is on the way to fascism, an authoritarian country in which one can no longer hide from government attacks. Even in Hitler’s Germany, one could still cross the Alps or hide in an attic, like Anne Frank, Kennedy said at an anti-vaccination demonstration – a remark for which he later apologized.
A few days ago he followed up on the corona virus. It was ethnically designed to attack whites and blacks, while sparing Chinese and the majority of Jews. That was wrong and mean, said not only the spokeswoman for US President Joe Biden, but also a number of family members who have moved away from him.
Up to 20 percent in polls
And yet polls put Kennedy at up to 20 percent. That certainly has something to do with the well-known name, says Todd Belt, a professor of politics at George Washington University.
But the approval rating isn’t unusual either. When people announce their application or play with it, they often jump to 10 to 20 percent in the polls. “This means that not everyone in the party is satisfied with the work of the incumbent president,” says Belt.
Attractive to Republicans
At the moment, Biden has only two challengers in his party: In addition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Marianne Williamson, a book author who is eight percent in polls, is applying. Professor Belt believes that Biden can prevail against the two and become the Democratic front-runner: “As the primaries approach, the question of eligibility becomes paramount. And then we will see them fall out.”
But Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a well-stocked campaign fund, and what he says makes him attractive to Republicans as well. Fox News keeps inviting him over, and Donald Trump thinks he’s a “smart, good guy.” Even if Kennedy might not be able to win this time, he won’t disappear from the stage anytime soon.