Anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his White House bid on Wednesday, along with his granddaughter and three of his children.
The 69-year-old, known as RFK Jr., appeared with four-year-old Bobcat, his daughter Kyra and two of his sons Finn and Aidan at a campaign launch event in Boston.
Kennedy delivered a rambling, nearly two-hour speech after being introduced to supporters by fellow Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines.
He said the US would have a “really funny first lady” if he were elected, while admitting that despite his surname “Kennedy,” he was a non-traditional presidential candidate.
“I told my wife the other day I have so many skeletons in my closet that I could be king of the world if they could choose,” Kennedy said.
Four-year-old Bobcat was joined by Hines and RFK Jr.’s two sons, Aidan and Finn, with his cousin Anthony Shriver (far left) also on stage
Hines had previously told that she fully supports her husband’s plans to run for the White House
Dennis Kucinich, a former congressman who represented Ohio, has become one of RFK Jr.’s key gatekeepers on his campaign team
The former environmental lawyer is also being advised by ex-MPs. Dennis Kucinich, who ran for the White House himself in 2004 and 2008.
The 76-year-old is currently Kennedy’s best deputy and jealously guards access to the member of America’s most famous political family.
Also present at Monday’s event in Boston was his glamorous British wife, Elizabeth Kucinich, a 45-year-old environmental activist.
She made a name for herself as an advocate for vegan and organic food during her husband’s tenure in Congress.
Kennedy thanked several members of his famous family who came to his Boston launch — including Doug Kennedy and Anthony Shriver.
“There are other members of my family who are not here today,” the 69-year-old Kennedy scion said with a laugh. “I know most American families – they never have any differences with each other,” he said sarcastically.
He spoke about how his family members “have different views on politics in this country” and have “long personal ties with President Biden” — as some Kennedys work for the current administration.
Kennedy said they disagreed with him on issues like government censorship, war and public health – alluding to his pronounced vaccine hesitancy – as he spoke to his crowd about the poisoning of children by “chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces a 2024 Democratic nomination against President Joe Biden in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left) waves to the crowd at his 2024 campaign kickoff alongside his wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines (right).
A supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds up a “Heal The Divide” sign at a campaign launch event in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday. She wore a MAGA-inspired hat that read “Put Vaccine Manufacturers Again Liable.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) leans in for a kiss from his wife, actress Cheryl Hines (left).
RFK Jr. repeatedly joked that not all of his family members supported his presidential bid, before joining backstage (left to right) are his daughter Kyra, his wife Cheryl, and two of his sons, Finn and Aiden
“And I love her back,” he said of his family.
He revealed to the crowd that many of them wrote him “lovely love letters” this week before his announcement and called and emailed him.
Kennedy said he respects the beliefs of his family members and said they are entitled to their opinions – adding that he believes the country can learn from it.
“We have a polarization in this country today that has been as toxic and as dangerous at any time since the Civil War,” Kennedy said. “And part of the main purpose of my campaign and my presidency will be to end this division.”
“I will try to do that by encouraging people to talk about the values we have in common and not the issues that divide us,” Kennedy added.
“During this campaign and throughout my tenure, my goal will be to help as many Americans as possible forget they’re Republicans or Democrats and remember they’re Americans,” he said.
Kennedy spoke at length about how he began his career as an environmentalist and lamented the environmental degradation of recent decades.
He noted that children today would not see butterflies and songbirds as often as he did as a child.
“I think we deserve a president in this country who cares and speaks about these things,” Kennedy said.
At 48 minutes, Kennedy warned the crowd, “I’m about halfway through with this speech.”
“That’s what happens when you censor someone for 18 years,” he said to jubilation.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left) and Cheryl Hines (right) wave to the crowd after delivering a nearly two-hour speech to kick off his 2024 presidential campaign
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) is photographed as a child with his uncle, President John F. Kennedy (left).
He then slammed former President Donald Trump for enforcing lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Trump will be blamed for a lot of things he didn’t do, and he’ll be blamed for some things he didn’t do,” Kennedy said. “But it was the worst thing he did to our country, our civil rights, our economy, the middle class.”
Kennedy pointed out that Trump said “a lockdown wasn’t my idea,” adding, “but that’s not a good excuse.”
The contestant spoke of how children have been cooped up at home with their abusers and people have weighed 29 pounds heavier for staying at home during COVID-19.
More broadly, Kennedy attacked the health care system — including the rise in the most severe types of autism. ‘Why don’t we ask what happened?’
“When I am President of the United States, I will end the chronic disease epidemic,” he promised. “If I can’t significantly reduce the incidence of chronic disease in our children after my first term, I don’t want you to re-elect me.”
Kennedy ended his speech by talking about the war in Ukraine.
He said discussions about the war need to be more nuanced than they are.
“We cannot tell one side they are Nazis and the other side that they love Putin,” he said.
Kennedy said the US government needs to make it clear why we are helping Ukraine.
“It is not in America’s national interest to push Russia closer to China,” Kennedy argued. “It is not in America’s national interest to involve us in anything that could lead to a nuclear exchange.”
“We are in Ukraine for the right reasons,” Kennedy said. “We are there because of our sympathy for the Ukrainian people who have been brutalized and illegally assaulted.”
But Kennedy questioned the cost of supporting Kiev.
“We have money for wars and we have bail money [out] bankers,” he said. “But what happens to Americans who are going through hard times?” he thought.
He pointed out that “inflation is a tax on the poor”.
Kennedy combined his own readiness for war with his own father’s push against the Vietnam War.
Kennedy also noted that Martin Luther King Jr. was also opposed to Vietnam because he associated it with “poverty and violence and oppression at home and around the world.”
Before his speech, he launched a six-priority platform.
In the “Peace” section, he said he would consider a diplomatic solution for Ukraine.
Kennedy was introduced by Hines, known for Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Kucinich, who had previously submitted his own White House bids.
“Hi, I’m Dennis Kucinich and I’m a Kennedy Democrat,” said the ex-Congressman from Ohio.
He called RJK Jr. the “Paul Revere of our time.”
“They move from city to city, warning us when water is safe to drink, warning us when our air is safe to breathe…warning us when our food is unsafe.” And to warn us when it’s unsafe to use medicines,” Kucinich said.
Kennedy spent part of his speech also talking about Revere’s ride, which happened 248 years ago this week.
The presidential candidate opened his speech by discussing his family’s roots in Boston.
The event took place at Boston’s historic Park Plaza Hotel and Kennedy was able to fill a ballroom, with supporters stretched out behind the press stands.
The organizers announced that an overflow room would also be available in case participants wanted to be more comfortable.
An hour and 35 minutes into the speech, the hotel’s fire alarm went off, causing a brief interruption.
Kennedy tried to plow through his speech anyway, but then waited for the ringer to turn off.
‘We love you Bobby!’ yelled a supporter as he continued.
Signs read Kennedy 2024: Heal the Divide and I’m a Kennedy Democrat.
One supporter wore a MAGA-style red hat, but it read: “Bring vaccine manufacturers back to liability.”
Paula Chandler, a real estate investor from Woodstock, New York, said she supports Kennedy because of his stance on COVID-19 policies.
“I just don’t trust Joe Biden. I don’t like what’s going on in our country,” she told . “The most important thing for me were the suspensions. The people who are not vaccinated have been ostracized. We really lost enormous civil liberties here.”
Peter, a Chicago businessman who declined to give his full name, said RFJ Jr. will crack down on “corruption in Washington.”
“He knows where the bad guys are in every department[of the US government],” he said.
Prior to Kennedy’s announcement, family photos were displayed on a jumbotron, including historical photos of RFK and JFK, and images of RFK Jr. with prominent Democrats, including Al Gore.
Kennedy’s official campaign launch came about two weeks after he submitted documents regarding his plans to run on the Federal Elections Commission.
Biden has yet to officially announce a re-election campaign, but said earlier this month that he “plans” to seek a second term.
Kennedy was criticized by his own relatives for repeatedly parroting false conspiracy theories that FDA-approved vaccines were unsafe.
He has also made the entirely fictional claim that childhood vaccinations are linked to autism.
The nephew of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and the son of assassinated New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy was kicked off Facebook in 2021.
The social media giant suspended his account as part of its crackdown on alleged COVID-19 disinformation.
Kennedy’s announcement that he will run for the White House will also put his colorful personal life back in the spotlight.
A leaked copy of his diary from 2001 contained sordid details of his serial cheating, in which he spoke of his “lust demons.”
They contained scorecards of more than two dozen sexual conquests accumulated behind his second wife’s back.
They bore the women’s names and numbers from 1 to 10 next to each entry.
The codes corresponded to sexual acts, with 10 denoting full intercourse.
The father of six married his third wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines, in 2014.
In 2012 he asked his second wife Mary for a divorce.
Just four days later, the mother of four of his children – Conor, Finny, Kyra and Aidan – was found hanged at home in Mount Kisco, New York.
She was reportedly convinced RFK Jr. was having an affair.
Hines was introduced to RFK Jr. by Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Larry David in 2012
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of Robert F. Kennedy (left), the late Attorney General and US Senator who was assassinated in 1968 while running for president. He is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963
Joe Biden has grappled with a drop in his approval rating as the US economy struggles to emerge from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic
His attempt to become the next commander in chief won’t be the first time someone from the Kennedy clan has challenged an incumbent Democratic president.
The late Senator Ted Kennedy picked up President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980.
Carter, plagued by low approval ratings and a sluggish economy, won against Kennedy’s bid but lost to Republican Ronald Reagan.
Biden is also facing similar challenges as Carter.
Its popularity has waned after years of slow growth and rampant inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to polling experts FiveThirtyEight, up to 52.3 percent of Americans say they disapprove of his presidency.
That it is less than a 36 percent disapproval rating that Biden had when he took office in January 2021.
Kennedy is entering the race with 14 percent of Biden’s 2020 supporters saying they would pick him as their pick, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday ahead of Kennedy’s announcement in Boston.
Other polls of Democratic and Independent voters suggest Biden is too old to run again, but no high-profile member of his party has come forward to challenge him.
And only one sitting President-elect has ever lost his party’s nomination for a second term — Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, in 1852.
Kennedy is supported in the Democratic race by Marianne Williamson, a self-help author.
Marianne Williamson, who was accused of bullying her staff during her last presidential election in 2020, has announced plans to run against Joe Biden in a Democratic primary