Kennedy, condemning “censorship,” hits Democrats and brings the disaffected to justice
Speaking at a festival hosted by a libertarian group in New Hampshire, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ranting against the “mainstream media” for serving as “propagandists for the powerful”. Whenever he mentioned the perfidy of the press—for silencing dissent, for following the government’s line, for labeling him a conspiracy theorist—he elicited a supportive shower of ridicule.
It was a page from Donald J. Trump’s playbook. But for Mr. Kennedy, who is taking on a longstanding challenge with President Biden for the Democratic nomination for president, it was more than a rhetorical flourish.
Censorship is a central theme of his campaign, uniting an unlikely coalition of ancient acolytes in what is known as the “health freedom” movement; donors from Silicon Valley; and new admirers from across the political spectrum.
“The mainstream media here today will report that I have, you know, paranoid conspiracy theories, which they always say, but I’m just going to tell you facts,” Kennedy said at the event. week. He added: “If the press thinks it’s their job to protect you from dangerous information, they’re manipulating you.”
The idea that the press has a stranglehold on public information is a core belief in the health freedom movement, which broadly opposes regulation of health practices, including vaccinations. Two political action committees in support of Mr. Kennedy were formed by people who knew him through this movement, which accounts for some of his most fervent support.
Censorship, and specifically contempt for efforts to regulate the flow of disinformation and hate speech, is also a motivating factor for its powerful Silicon Valley backers. Tech executives and investors have reinforced Mr. Kennedy’s anti-establishment message, celebrating his willingness to challenge liberal orthodoxy and scientific consensus — let alone spread oft-discredited claims about vaccines and other public health measures in the process.
And for many would-be voters drawn to Mr. Kennedy, anger at censorship is a natural outgrowth of a deep distrust of authority that accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, especially in response to the lockdowns called for by government officials to curb the spread of the virus. stop the virus.
It is the last group that is the most diverse. Some are libertarians, looking for a standard bearer; others are disgruntled Democrats; some are Republicans looking for an alternative to Mr. Trump. Kennedy’s New Hampshire audience of at least 250 people included at least one person wearing a Trump 2020 hat.
A fundraising email from his campaign on Tuesday said it had raised “less than $4 million” since entering the race in April. Official figures will be released in July, along with figures from its PACs, who have separately said they raised several million dollars.
Mr. Kennedy’s recent public appearances have mostly been to conservative or libertarian audiences. Last week, he spoke about environmental stewardship at a sold-out dinner hosted by the Ethan Allen Institute, a right-of-center free-market think tank in Burlington, Vt. This week he was scheduled to speak at an event hosted by Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization that has pushed for, among other things, books that deal with race, gender and sexuality to be banned, but later canceled that appearance, citing a scheduling conflict, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Despite this rightward leaning, Mr. Kennedy has emerged as a persistent thorn in Mr. Biden’s side, posing less of a serious threat to the president’s renomination than a high-profile reminder that many Democratic voters prefer new blood.
Kennedy’s support among Democrats has reached as high as 20 percent in polls in recent months, but a Survey from Quinnipiac University this month also found Mr. Kennedy’s standing among Republicans quite high: 40 percent had a favorable view of him, compared to 31 percent of independents and 25 percent of Democrats. In New Hampshire, a poll from the Saint Anselm College Survey Center raised its Democratic support to 9 percent in June.
Mr. Kennedy’s old admirers are not surprised. Debra Sheldon, 48, a Democrat from upstate New York, campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008. But when she had a child, she said, Mr. inform me, as a new mother, about what was right for my child.
Children’s Health Defense has been widely criticized for spreading misinformation about vaccines, including discredited claims linking them to autism.
Ms. Sheldon is now a volunteer for Mr. Kennedy’s campaign, and was in New Hampshire selling his books and other materials on autism at the libertarian retreat, the Porcupine Freedom Festival. She described her mission in almost spiritual terms: “We are here to protect the soul of America.”
Some of Mr. Kennedy’s newer supporters said they were drawn to what they saw as his message of unity and fairness, an almost nostalgic perspective he often embeds in stories about his childhood in one of America’s most famous political families. But others described feeling “awakened” during the pandemic by questions Mr Kennedy raised about vaccines, masks and school closures, issues they felt were being ignored – or, worse, suppressed – by the mainstream media.
“All those people spent years watching where Bobby was censored in every mainstream venue,” said Tony Lyons, whose company, Skyhorse Publishing, has picked up authors considered unsavory or risky by other presses, including filmmaker Woody Allen, the former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Lyons co-chairs a PAC that supports Mr. Kennedy.
“Every TV show, every venue — they just wouldn’t let him talk about his views on what Big Pharma companies were doing to the American public,” said Mr. Lyons. “He then became something of a free speech hero,” a group that encompasses many political identities, he said.
Mr Kennedy was kicked off social media platforms during the pandemic for spreading debunked claims about the virus. Instagram lifted the suspension in June, citing his presidential candidacy, after Mr Kennedy complained about the suspension on Twitter. The complaint prompted Elon Musk — who calls himself a free speech absolutist — to invite him to a discussion on Twitter Spaces.
Mr. Kennedy has also embraced cryptocurrency: he spoke at a major Bitcoin conference in Miami last month and his campaign is accepting Bitcoin donations.
He’s also embraced podcasts, recently recording a three-plus hour performance with Joe Rogan, whose hugely popular show reaches 11 million listeners per episode. The show, which has been criticized for spreading misinformation, largely targets young men, and many of its listeners fall on the center right of the political spectrum.
During the show, Mr. Kennedy described the modern Democratic Party as the “party of censorship”.
Jason Calacanis, a co-host of a popular podcast on which Mr. Kennedy appeared in May, in response to questions about Mr Kennedy’s call, said his willingness to spend hours talking on a podcast was in contrast to Mr Biden, who has held few press conferences.
“In the age of podcasting, Americans want someone sharp and willing to engage in lively debates,” said Calacanis. “Trump won in 2016 because of social media, and the next president will win because of podcasts.”
Mr. Kennedy and his PAC receive significant support from the tech world, including Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter who supported Mr. Kennedy, and David Sacks, a venture capitalist who has raised money for both Republicans and Democrats.
Mark Gorton, a New York City merchant who founded the file-sharing service LimeWire, helped set up and fund a PAC in support of Mr. Kennedy. The PAC, American Values 2024, has brought in at least $5.7 million, the leadership says — official figures to be released next month.
Mr Gorton said the pandemic has “unlocked all this energy” among a “very marginalized group” of people who are recoiling from public health protocols that have been banned or “deformed” on social media. In Mr. Kennedy they saw a hero.
Bill Barger, a 31-year-old from Manchester, NH, who attended Mr Kennedy’s speech on Thursday, said he was “absolutely interested” in Mr Kennedy. But he was not yet convinced of Mr. Kennedy’s commitment to free speech.
He said he would like to see Mr. Kennedy debate Mr. Trump, whom he described as “funny as hell.”
On a Monday radio show, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Kennedy’s polls, calling him a “very smart guy.”
The two candidates share common fixations. During his speech in New Hampshire, Mr. Kennedy repeatedly cited The New York Times as an example of corrupt media.
“The New York Times, which is in this room today,” he said, as an onlooker pointed to the Times reporter’s chair, leading to a chorus of boos so angry Mr Kennedy’s campaign manager – the former Democratic presidential nominee Dennis Kucinich – told the audience member to call it quits.
Mr. Kennedy gave a small smile and then walked back across the stage. “I’m not saying the reporter who’s here. She is a very sweet person in every way.
Ruth Igilnik reporting contributed.