From: allin
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a top presidential hopeful for the 2024 election, joining the political arena as a candidate for the first time at age 69 [01:21:00]. He is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy [02:23:00].
Background and Career
Kennedy Jr. graduated from Harvard and the University of Virginia Law School [02:41:00], becoming an environmental lawyer who litigated against corporate polluters and government agencies failing to regulate them [02:44:00]. His activism has sometimes been controversial, particularly when he questioned the safety of certain pharmaceutical products and criticized COVID restrictions during the pandemic [02:55:00]. Mainstream media has labeled him a “conspiracy theorist” for these views, but some of his claims about COVID have been “vindicated” [03:03:00].
His candidacy is seen by some as a return to a Democratic Party that prioritized peace over war, free speech over censorship, and building the middle class over the donor class, while opposing corporate greed, especially in the military-industrial complex [03:21:00].
Core Political Views
Foreign Policy
Kennedy Jr. supported initial humanitarian aid to Ukraine but believes that subsequent U.S. decisions have been aimed at prolonging and maximizing the violence of the war [04:45:00]. He suggests that “neocons in the White House” desire regime change in Russia and aim to exhaust Russian armies [06:00:00]. He cites former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s 2022 statement about degrading Russian forces and President Biden’s acknowledged objective of removing Vladimir Putin [06:07:00]. He states that if these are the objectives, it contradicts a humanitarian mission and aims to maximize casualties in a war of attrition [06:27:00].
He highlights the catastrophic Ukrainian casualties, with over 300,000 dead, and claims Russians are killing Ukrainians at a 5:1 to 8:1 ratio, citing leaked Pentagon documents [07:02:00]. He asserts that Russia cannot afford to lose this war, viewing it as existential [07:27:00].
Kennedy Jr. attributes the war’s origin to the 2014 U.S.-supported overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected government, which led to an anti-Russian government [08:04:00]. This prompted Russia’s preemptive invasion of Crimea, fearing the U.S. Navy’s presence in the Black Sea [08:31:00]. He also notes new Ukrainian laws that turned Russian populations in the Donbas region into “second-class citizens,” leading to 14,000 deaths and a civil war [08:50:00]. While calling Putin a “gangster and a thug,” he doesn’t consider Russia’s response irrational given the circumstances [09:17:00].
If elected, he would immediately call for a ceasefire and settle the war [09:43:00]. He believes the best settlement aligns with the 2014 Minsk Accords, which proposed autonomy for Donbas within Ukraine, an agreement not to place NATO missile systems in Ukraine, and Ukraine not joining NATO [09:55:00]. He would stop sending armaments to Ukraine, stating that Ukraine cannot fight without U.S. support [10:38:00]. He suggests that the U.S. “induced” the conflict by integrating Ukraine into NATO forces despite Putin’s “red line” on NATO expansion [11:14:00]. He cites his uncle, John F. Kennedy, who believed a president’s main job is to keep the nation out of war [11:31:00]. He also criticizes the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Missile Treaty as a provocation to Russia [15:05:00]. He questions the continued existence of NATO after the Soviet Union’s collapse, advocating for a Marshall Plan for Russia instead of treating them as an enemy [15:52:00].
On Taiwan, Kennedy Jr. would seek to de-escalate the conflict, attributing the current tensions to a “war party in Washington” [17:30:00]. He believes Chinese-Taiwanese relations should be resolved by them, and U.S. provocations towards China should cease [17:55:00]. He would not commit to defending Taiwan if China invaded, citing strategic reasons to leave room for negotiation and debate with the American people and Congress [18:19:00].
Economy and Debt
Kennedy Jr. expresses alarm about the U.S. fiscal deficit and national debt, which stands at 25 trillion [21:05:00]. He identifies military expenditures as the primary cause, with the U.S. spending 6 billion a day, mainly from China and Japan, just to service the debt [22:40:00].
While he cannot provide exact boundaries for fiscal discipline, he believes cutting defense spending is a priority [23:21:00]. He is strongly against touching Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, viewing them as “red lines” to protect people who have paid into the system their whole lives [26:05:00]. He highlights the 16 trillion on the pandemic lockdowns, with little to show for it [27:55:00]. He criticizes bank bailouts and the simultaneous cutting of food stamps and Medicare for millions of Americans while increasing aid to Ukraine [29:40:00]. He describes the U.S. fiscal situation as an “alcoholic who is behind on his mortgage and who takes the milk money and goes into the bar and buys rounds for strangers” [32:00:00].
He believes Congress “has to negotiate” on the debt ceiling, stating it is “insane to play this game” given the high stakes [33:07:00].
Deep State and Intelligence Agencies
Drawing on his family’s history, Kennedy Jr. believes his father suspected the CIA’s involvement in his uncle’s assassination, making calls to the CIA desk and a Cuban exile to inquire if “their people” did it [34:36:00]. He states that his uncle, John F. Kennedy, realized after the Bay of Pigs invasion that the CIA had lied to him and wanted to “shatter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind” [36:35:00]. He believes the intelligence agencies became “captive of the military industrial complex and the military contractors,” with their function being to provide a “constant pipeline of new Wars” [37:03:00].
His father’s proposed solution was to separate the “Espionage division” (information gathering) from the “dirty tricks” or “clandestine action” division (assassinations, fixing elections, Black Ops) within the CIA, ensuring accountability [37:40:00]. He believes the CIA was “definitely involved” in his uncle’s murder and the subsequent 60-year cover-up [39:40:00].
He would rethink the CIA, FBI, and DOJ, and “at a minimum” release documents for greater transparency [40:39:00]. He advocates for pardoning whistleblowers like Julian Assange, a newspaper publisher, and Edward Snowden, who revealed mass surveillance [41:31:00]. He argues that laws were passed based on Snowden’s revelations, questioning why whistleblowers are punished instead of those who illegally spy on Americans [42:42:00].
Kennedy Jr. avoids the term “deep state” as a “group of people in black coats in a smoky room” [43:31:00], preferring to describe the issue as “systemic corruption” and “agency capture.” He states that agencies like the CIA are “captive” to industries such as oil, coal, and military contractors [43:48:00]. He asserts that this corruption is “the rule,” not the exception, where individuals who rise to powerful positions in these agencies are often “in the tank with industry” [45:25:00].
COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Vaccines
Kennedy Jr. characterizes the U.S. COVID-19 response as “militarized and monetized” rather than a public health response, which was “the inverse of everything that you would want to do” [46:55:00]. He states that established protocols from WHO, CDC, EU, and NHS all advised against mass lockdowns, instead recommending quarantining the sick and protecting the vulnerable while keeping society moving to avoid “cataclysmic” consequences [47:10:00].
He claims that early treatments like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were known to be effective, citing a 2004 NIH study that found hydroxychloroquine “obliterates Coronavirus” [48:21:00]. He alleges that these early treatments were suppressed because a federal law prevents emergency use authorization for a vaccine if an existing drug is effective against the disease, thus protecting the “hundred billion dollar vaccine enterprise” [48:41:00]. He criticized the practice of sending symptomatic patients home from hospitals without treatment until their condition worsened, which he calls a “super spreader event” [49:29:00].
He highlights that the U.S. had the highest COVID-19 death count globally, with 4.2% of the world’s population accounting for 16% of COVID deaths [50:19:00]. He contrasts this with countries like Nigeria and Haiti, which had very low vaccination rates but significantly lower death rates, attributing their protection to widespread use of hydroxychloroquine (for malaria) and ivermectin (for river blindness) [50:42:00]. He believes the “pharma industrial complex dictated our response to Coronavirus” [52:20:00], noting that Operation Warp Speed and pandemic response were run by the NSA, not HHS, and vaccines were manufactured by military contractors [52:48:00]. He also claims civil liberties were “crushed,” with churches closed, assembly rights banned, jury trials against pharmaceutical companies removed, and businesses shut down without due process [53:38:00].
Regarding vaccines generally, he clarifies that he is not “anti-vax,” as he and his children are fully vaccinated, though he now regrets it [56:03:00]. His “principal objective” is to address that childhood vaccines are “immune from pre-licensing safety testing,” unlike other medical products [56:15:00]. He states that of the 72 doses of 16 vaccines children now receive (compared to 3 when he was a child), none have been tested in placebo-controlled trials prior to licensure [56:29:00]. He explains this stems from a historical classification of vaccines as “biologics” for national security, exempting them from standard safety trials [56:51:00].
He points to the 1986 law signed by Ronald Reagan, which granted full immunity from liability to vaccine manufacturers, leading to a “gold rush” in vaccine development due to no downstream liability, no upstream safety testing, and mandated federal government purchase [57:42:00]. He alleges that the dramatic increase in vaccines since 1989 correlates with a chronic disease epidemic in the U.S., including neurological (ADD, ADHD, autism), allergic (peanut allergy, eczema, asthma), and autoimmune diseases [59:08:00]. He notes that vaccine manufacturer inserts list 420 associated diseases, including all those that became epidemic in 1989 [01:00:22:00]. He states that NIH refuses to study these correlations, becoming an “incubator for pharmaceutical products” instead [01:03:04:00]. He cites an example of the DTP vaccine, which was linked to severe brain injury in the U.S. and Europe but is still given to 161 million African children annually [01:03:25:00]. He references a Danish-funded study in West Africa that found girls who received the DTP vaccine were dying at 10 times the rate of unvaccinated girls from other diseases, implying the vaccine ruined their immune systems [01:04:17:00].
Energy and Environment
Kennedy Jr. is known for his environmental work, including the Watershed project in New York [01:06:00:00]. However, he holds a controversial stance on nuclear power, citing concerns about its safety and economics [01:06:15:00]. He points to the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant leaking tritium into the Hudson River and the unsolved issue of nuclear waste storage [01:06:49:00]. He warns that a terrorist attack on the plant, located 18 miles from Midtown Manhattan, could render New York uninhabitable for “5,000 years” [01:07:04:00]. He states he is “all for” nuclear power if it can be made safe and economical, but highlights that the insurance industry considers it too dangerous to insure without the Price-Anderson Act, which shifts accident burden onto the American public [01:07:37:00]. He also notes that no public utility builds nuclear plants without massive public subsidies, and the high construction costs (16 billion) make them uncompetitive in a free market [01:09:22:00].
He advocates for an “agnostic” and “eclectic” approach to energy sources [01:12:40:00]. He believes the U.S. has abundant wind energy, particularly in North Dakota, Montana, and Texas, enough to produce five times the amount of the entire grid [01:12:47:00]. The primary impediment is an “antiquated grid system” that cannot efficiently move electrons across the country, necessitating a DC grid system [01:13:17:00]. He asserts that current energy rules reward “dirtiest filthiest most poisonous most toxic fuels from Hell rather than cheap clean green wholesome fuels from heaven” [01:14:10:00]. As president, he would support initiatives to advance and approve safe nuclear fission production systems in the U.S., provided they are “competitive in a Marketplace” and internalize their costs [01:14:47:00].
Culture Wars
Kennedy Jr. believes in bodily autonomy and respecting people’s choices about their bodies without shaming them [01:16:42:00]. However, he states that a biological male should not compete on a women’s sports team, citing the importance of preserving women’s sports and the dedication of female athletes [01:16:55:00]. He believes adults should have the choice for gender reassignment surgery, but children should not, “certainly not without parental permission” [01:18:11:00]. He acknowledges this as a difficult issue where people should not be judged or hated [01:18:32:00].
On education, regarding critical race theory, he believes the U.S. should be honest about its history of genocide and racism, “not to shame people,” but to understand “Milestones that we never want to go near again” [01:19:43:00]. He would be against making this theme dominate all historical teaching, emphasizing the importance of instilling children with optimism, hope, love, and a love of history, including its “heroic aspects” and shared aspirational values [01:20:25:00]. He opposes cancelling advanced placement classes in the name of equity, stating that children should be inspired “towards excellence” [01:21:34:00]. His view on education is to put “huge resources into public schools and making them the best schools in the world,” suggesting that cutting production of expensive military planes could fund this [01:22:14:00]. He needs to “look at that issue more” regarding school vouchers and competition [01:22:49:00].
Campaign and Media Challenges
Kennedy Jr. criticizes the mainstream media for carrying water on certain issues, suppressing uncomfortable truths, and censoring dissenting views [01:23:10:00]. He recounts an experience with Fox News founder Roger Ailes, who told him that pharmaceutical ads constituted 70% of news network revenues and 17 out of 22 ad spaces on evening news [01:26:49:00]. Ailes refused to let him discuss vaccine-related issues on air due to fear of offending advertisers [01:26:27:00]. He also describes a CNN journalist, Jake Tapper, having an exclusive story pulled by corporate due to vaccine-related content [01:27:49:00]. He asserts that newscasters know there are “consequences” for departing from orthodoxy, and that many are “working for them,” not the public [01:28:19:00]. He questions why pharmaceutical ads are allowed on TV, noting that only New Zealand and the U.S. permit it, and both have high pharmaceutical sales with worse health outcomes [01:28:56:00].
He recounts a recent ABC interview where the journalist, who described herself as a “journalist journalist,” promised not to censor or cherry-pick but then cut out his detailed explanation about vaccines and autism, framing his views as “false” and labeling him a “chronic liar and a disinformation spreader” [01:30:30:00]. He interprets this as manipulating public information and having “contempt for their audiences” [01:32:47:00].
Kennedy Jr. highlights that he has a “robust factchecking operation” with over 320 MDs, PhD scientists on his advisory board, and that his statements are cited to government databases or peer-reviewed publications [01:37:50:00]. He invites critics to “show me the piece that you don’t agree with or that you know I I made a false statement” [01:37:22:00], asserting he would change his opinion in the face of new facts [01:38:26:00].
He is described as an “odd person” born into the establishment but raising “uncomfortable questions about the establishment” [01:33:42:00]. His “anti-establishment energy” plays through many of his points of view [01:41:31:00]. His sophisticated critique of regulatory capture, extending to Big Pharma and the military-industrial complex, resonates with observations that a “ruling Elite” is managing the country for its own benefit, “screwing the middle class” [01:47:54:00]. This critique is seen as compatible with similar arguments from the right, but Kennedy Jr. blames financial incentives (“following the money”) rather than ideology [01:49:12:00].
He is viewed as a “truth teller” who offers a version of his truth “researched and reasoned from his own lived experience as well as history and facts” [01:45:26:00], and is willing to admit when he doesn’t know enough about an issue, like school choice [01:45:36:00]. His campaign is expected to force “Elites” to consider views that are often labeled as “misinformation” as a “suppression tactic” [01:36:05:00]. Given the media’s expected efforts to block his message, podcasts and social media are seen as crucial platforms for unorthodox candidates in 2024 to get their message out [01:53:02:00]. He is described as a “breath of fresh air” with a “moral compass” and a well-reasoned critique of the system [01:53:32:00].