One might have expected that the Kennedy clan, which counts in its ranks a former president – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, assassinated in 1963 in Dallas and uncle of Robert Jr –, two former senators including Robert Jr’s own father – would tighten the ranks behind “Bobby’s” White House bid. He is nothing. Robert Kennedy Jr, 70, had to apologize to some of his people in February after the broadcast of an ad during the Super Bowl. The spot for his candidacy for the Oval Office used the same codes as a 1960s advertisement for his uncle JFK.
Third man in the American presidential election which is to take place on November 5, Robert Kennedy Jr revealed on Tuesday the name of his running mate – who would be vice-president if he were elected to the White House, the lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan. At a campaign rally in Oakland, California, he sang the praises of this “surf fan,” “young,” with a “strong spiritual dimension.” He assured that he “shared a number of values” with this thirty-year-old, known to be very connected in the world of tech and political philanthropy. An independent candidate after having given up on obtaining the Democratic nomination, he is running against two heavyweights, the Republican Donald Trump and the Democrat Joe Biden.
“The official narrative”
Antivax, leading a battle against Bill Gates, Pfizer or mercury in vaccines, but also defender of the environment, Robert Kennedy Jr attracts with his candidacy a galaxy of voters tempted by alternative theories. Theories that “Bobby” does not hesitate to take on board. “At home, we watch the news on television not to learn the truth but to understand the official narrative,” wrote-he in May.
Opposed to Ukraine’s entry into NATO, the candidate no longer wants the United States to send money to this country under attack by Russia. For this former lawyer, the conflict, which he describes as a “proxy war”, mainly benefits American arms manufacturers. He thinks that Russia has offered “very favorable terms for Ukraine” and the United States to end the conflict.
His father murdered when he was 14
He himself acknowledges this on his campaign website. “Bobby” is a pure product ofestablishment : His father was a senator who was assassinated when he was the favorite to be nominated for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 1968 United States presidential election.
His story is also marked by tragedies: the assassination of his uncle in 1963, then that of his father five years later, when he was 14 years old. For this campaign, Robert Kennedy Jr also requested protection from the American Secret Services, which he had not obtained at the time of publishing this article.
A graduate of Harvard, he also studied at the prestigious London School of Economics and received a law degree from Pace University. This father of six began his career as an environmental lawyer. He made a name for himself by specializing in defending access to clean water.
“About vaccines, he is wrong”
It was by taking the helm of the Children’s Health Defense that Robert Kennedy Jr made a name for himself among anti-vaxxers and supporters of alternative health. This organization, very active on the Internet, relays anti-vax postulates. For the past year, JFK’s nephew is no longer officially the president and legal advisor of the organization.
A cause from which certain members of the Kennedy clan were keen to distance themselves. On the subject of vaccination, “Bobby is an isolated case in the Kennedy family,” Joe, Kathleen and Maeve Kennedy, a brother, sister and niece of Robert, said in 2019. “We love Bobby, they wrote then in Politico, a leading media outlet in Washington. […] We support him in his fight to protect our environment. However, on the subject of vaccines, he is wrong. »
Our file on the 2024 American presidential election
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is part of this campaign to attack the institutions responsible for reducing the tragedy of preventable infectious diseases,” they continued. He helped spread misinformation and dangerous information on social media and was complicit in distrust of the science behind vaccines. » A fight that “Bobby” is taking today to the 161 million registered American voters.