Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is raising concerns about the rise in chronic illness among children, the poisoning of the nation’s food supply and the struggle of younger generations to buy their first home.
These are central planks of the message that Mr. Kennedy — a scion of the nation’s most famous political dynasty — is using to shake up the presidential race, reframe the national debate and dispel the notion that he is a “crazy person.”
Mr. Kennedy, 70, has been an equal opportunity critic on the stump. He has sounded off on how President Biden and former President Donald Trump have pursued policies that have eroded voters’ faith in the nation.
He said both of them enriched Big Pharma and big corporations such as Amazon with COVID-19 pandemic policies that crushed other businesses.
Both turned a blind eye to the corporate takeover of federal watchdog agencies, sank the nation deeper into a sea of red ink and exacerbated the political polarization that has prevented elected leaders from finding common ground on issues such as health care, immigration, education and military veterans.
“It is like jangling keys over here while they are robbing the bank over here, and you know when the king and queen look out … over the parapet of their castle and they see all their subjects fighting each other, they go back to the banquet hall and they pop champaign corks because they know nobody is coming over the wall for them,” Mr. Kennedy said at a recent campaign stop in Arizona. “I’m going to end the rancor. I am going to stop feeding into the vilification, the demonization of other Americans.”
For most of the past decade, Mr. Trump has been the most powerful unconventional force in American politics and has built a movement from the boiling frustration with the status quo.
Mr. Biden was elected to bring a steady, experienced hand after four turbulent years of Mr. Trump that ended with the Jan. 6, 2021, melee at the U.S. Capitol fueled by his claims of a stolen election.
Many voters are now sick and tired of both men, according to polls that show they are less than thrilled with the idea of living through a Biden-Trump rematch this fall.
That has created fertile ground for Mr Kennedy.
He left the Democratic Party to run as an independent after deciding the party that helped give rise to his famous uncle and father — President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — had lost its way.
The environmental lawyer, labeled a conspiracy theorist, is getting a look from voters longing for something different and is stirring spoiler concerns from both parties.
Signs show his message is catching on and that he could play a more prominent role than expected in the November election.
Mr. Kennedy has qualified for the ballot in Utah and said he has enough signatures to be eligible for the New Hampshire ballot. Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, urged the secretaries of state in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan on Friday not to accept any signatures gathered by a pro-Kennedy super PAC helping him get onto ballots in battleground states.
The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Mr. Kennedy’s campaign illegally coordinated with the super PAC American Values 2024. A DNC official said Mr. Trump and his supporters have turned Mr. Kennedy into a “stalking horse” who will hurt Mr. Biden’s reelection bid.
The Kennedy campaign has denied coordinating with the group.
Polls have shown roughly a third of all registered voters are open to supporting Mr. Kennedy in a three-candidate race and that he outperforms Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump with voters younger than 45 in crucial battleground states.
“You ask yourself, why is that?” Mr. Kennedy said. “Because they understand I am the only candidate that is addressing the issues that are critical to them: the chronic health crisis and the housing crisis.”
Mr. Kennedy is pushing to establish 3% mortgage rates for younger buyers and warning about a “stranglehold that the big pharmaceutical companies have on American democracy and what it is doing to the chronic disease epidemic in this country.”
He sees a connection among the power of Big Pharma, the rise of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, ADHD and Alzheimer’s, and the dramatic spike in national spending on health care.
“We have a whole generation now that is damaged,” he said. “They are damaged because we are poisoning them with their food, with their medicines, and in some cases with their water and their air.
“Don’t you think we ought to have a president who is thinking of that issue?” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Kennedy derides the “military-industrial complex” for getting the nation involved in unnecessary foreign conflicts, including in Ukraine, hurting the nation’s image on the global stage and lining the pockets of big corporations with taxpayer money.
“They have the contracts to destroy Ukraine, and they got the contract to rebuild it, which will be half a trillion dollars, and they are the biggest donors to the Democratic and Republican Party, which are both the parties of war,” he said.
He said that money would be better spent rebuilding the nation’s industrial base and lifting the working class.
Mr. Kennedy envisions a path to victory that starts with cementing the support of independents and disillusioned young voters and leaning on them to help win over members of his generation.
“The one group that I don’t do well in is with baby boomers, and I think it is because they get all their news from MSNBC, CNN and ABC,” he said. “So you know, if you are a kid, what you need to do is tie your parents down and listen to a Joe Rogan interview.”
“Teach them, teach them something new,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Joe Rogan’s last name.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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