During a 45-minute public address in Warren, Michigan Thursday night, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the Democratic and Republican parties as the “uniparty” and called on a room of about 300 people to vote for him for president in 2024.
Kennedy, the son of the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said he would compete in the Democratic primary against President Joe Biden and Marianne Williamson, but he has been making moves to run as an independent or third-party candidate, as he’s failed to catch fire in the polls.
Kennedy said during the event held at Macomb Community College that far too many Americans are hurting economically and “feel like they are being gaslighted.”
The environmental lawyer teased that an announcement is coming soon.
“I’m running against two presidents [Biden and former President Donald Trump] who have served four years in office and who are running on the idea that they brought tremendous prosperity to our country and I’ve spent a lot of time over the past six months sitting at people’s kitchen tables and talking to them about their lives,” Kennedy said
Kennedy, who offered few specifics, pledged to implement short-and long-term policies to “reverse the decline of the American working and middle class and address rising costs of food, energy, medicine and housing, which has created increasing homelessness.”
A member of the Kennedy political dynasty with an estimated family fortune of $1.2 billion, he is the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)
“The cost of housing is rising exponentially all across our country,” Kennedy said about securing a mortgage.
“It is very difficult for young people to find a home,” said the father of seven added. “My oldest is 39 and he has a home. The only six aren’t even thinking of getting a home. They are worried about paying off their college loans.”
During the Warren speech, Kennedy also railed against corporations and their influence in wars and health care.
“Shouldn’t we be skeptical about this collusion between pharmaceutical companies and the regulatory agency?” Kennedy said, referring to the opioid crisis and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
Previous Kennedy statements and stances in recent months have been controversial. He told reporters at a press dinner that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” at some white people and Black people and has railed against vaccines for years. He did not directly address that statement in Macomb County but did continue to question whether COVID-19 vaccine was properly tested and wants to see “robust science.”
“I’ve never been anti-vax. I never tell people ‘don’t get this vaccine …,’” Kennedy told the Warren audience. “What I want [to see] is the peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled trial for the vaccine.”
The mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has been in development for over 15 years and has undergone clinical trials with tens of thousands of participants, with Johns Hopkins researchers noting the evidence shows they are safe and effective at preventing severe disease.
During a recent “In the Room With Peter Bergen” podcast interview, Kennedy raised a conspiracy theory about 9/11. He refused to say that al-Qaeda was responsible for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
“I don’t always accept official explanations,” Kennedy said on the podcast.
Margaret Weertz, a former Grosse Pointe Board of Education trustee, attended the Warren event and liked what she heard.
“I think he’s very vital,” Weertz said about Kennedy. “He can talk long-form on all the issues. … So much about him is refreshing and hopeful.”
Kennedy is scheduled to hold a public event in Lansing from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Doubletree by Hilton Lansing.
This story was published earlier by the Michigan Advance, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix.
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