Robert F Kennedy Jr. kicked off his long-awaited bid for the White House on Wednesday by being honest about his past as he revealed plans to force big drug companies out of government and create peace in Ukraine.
Kennedy, 69, had a reputation for being a serial womanizer and abusing drugs, in the wake of the deaths of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
More recently, he has made waves as a prominent anti-vaxxer.
“I told my wife the other day, I said, I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could vote, I could be king of the world,” Kennedy told supporters during his nearly two-hour speech at a Boston hotel .
Before the speech, the Kennedy campaign launched its website, which listed six priorities for the Democratic nominee.
Robert F Kennedy Jr. (left) kicked off his long-awaited bid for the White House on Wednesday by being honest about his past as he revealed plans to force big drug companies out of government and create peace in Ukraine. He poses with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines (right)
Kennedy rolled out his campaign website with six priorities including peace, fair government, the environment, reconciliation, civil liberties and revitalization
In a column on “fair government,” the Democratic hopeful says special interests are too entrenched in the government agencies they’re supposed to control.
Wall Street controls the SEC. Polluters and extractive industries dominate the EPA and BLM. Pharma monitors the CDC, NIH, and FDA. Big Ag controls the USDA. Big Tech has conquered the FTC,” Kennedy said. No wonder trust in government is at an all-time low.
It’s time to earn it back.’
To untangle these entities, Kennedy said he would “protect whistleblowers and prosecute officials who violate public trust.”
“We will rein in the lobbyists and close the revolving door that pushes people from government agencies to lucrative positions in the companies they are supposed to regulate, and back again,” the candidate added.
Kennedy outlined his idea of achieving peace in Ukraine as he rolled out his 2024 campaign website on Wednesday
In a section titled “peace,” Kennedy explained what he would do in Ukraine.
“Diplomacy was never really attempted,” Kennedy said. “We will offer to withdraw our troops and nuclear-capable missiles from Russia’s borders.”
He argued that this would tempt Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
“UN peacekeepers will guarantee peace in the Russian-speaking eastern regions,” he continued. “We will end this war.”
During his speech, he said that discussions about the war should be more nuanced.
“We cannot tell on the one hand that they are Nazis and on the other hand that they love Putin,” he said.
Kennedy said the US government should clarify 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 also said. “We are there because of our compassion for the Ukrainian people who have been mistreated, who have been invaded illegally.”
But Kennedy questioned the cost of supporting Kiev.
“We have money for wars and we have money for bail [out] bankers,” he said. “But what happens to American people who are struggling?” he mused.
Other priorities Kennedy outlined included “healing the divide” – rejecting the hyper-partisanship in the country.
Actress Cheryl Hines (left) hugs her husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) Wednesday on stage during his 2024 announcement in Boston
In his announcement speech, he spoke of the divisions within his own family – noting that several of them did not support his presidential bid.
Several of his family members have ambassador roles in Biden’s current administration.
But he said if they can respect each other, there is hope for the whole country.
“No one is deplorable,” said his policy platform — a word once used by Hillary Clinton to characterize supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Everyone wants their children to be safe. Few enjoy the thought of dead fetuses, nor do they want to force women to have unwanted babies. Everyone wants safe streets, but few want millions of people to languish in prison,” Kennedy’s policy document continued.
While Kennedy did not explicitly support reparations, he said he would help heal the nation’s racial wounds by implementing a “Targeted Community Repair” program.
“In the case of race relations, reconciliation also includes repairing the damage caused by centuries of bigotry,” he said. “Our starting point is not guilt for the sins of our ancestors, but rather compassion. We will instill in all Americans, white and black, liberal and conservative, the authentic desire to better the condition of our black and native brothers and sisters.”
Kennedy said he “would not fire the cops,” as some progressive Democrats have insisted, but would instead transform them to have a less adversarial relationship with the public
Kennedy said another of his six priorities is civil liberties, but said he “would not fire the police.”
Instead, he said, “we will transform the police.”
“We will encourage them to prevent violence, not to make unnecessary arrests,” he said. “Their relationship with the public will no longer be hostile.”
Kennedy, himself a drug offender, also pledged to grant amnesty to nonviolent drug offenders.
He also promised to end the “censorship-industrial complex,” claiming that “big tech” was deplatforming and censoring Americans what the government asked them to do.
In August, Facebook and Instagram suspended Kennedy’s nonprofit from its social media sites, accusing it of spreading medical disinformation.
In a section on “revitalization,” Kennedy vowed to “reverse America’s economic decline” and address the country’s “widening wealth gap,” which he calls “the most unequal since the 1920s.
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He said his government would make “public support for the most vulnerable in the country a high priority.”
His campaign website lashes out at “misguided ‘free trade’ arrangements” and how the US economy has been “ruined by 40 years of off-shoring.”
Kennedy claims he will “enforce policies that favor small and medium-sized businesses,” but does not specify what those policies actually are.
And in a clear nod to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, he said he would support “reclaiming his share of American prosperity.” ‘
“We will break up too-big-to-fail banks and monopolies, and when the crisis hits, bail out homeowners, debtors and small business owners instead,” the website says.
Finally, RFK — who was known for his environmental advocacy long before he became a prominent anti-vaxxer — said that as president of the United States, he would “address the most pressing environmental issues in America and beyond.”
“Good environmental policies – 100% of the time – are identical to good economic policies,” his campaign website states.
He says his government would reconsider how farm subsidies are distributed.
The policy review would reform them “to encourage regenerative practices” such as “building soil, replenishing groundwater and detoxifying land.”
“Second, we will drive the industry’s transition to zero-waste cycles and clean energy sources, and sign agreements with other countries to implement these policies throughout the global supply chain.
“These first two policies will massively reduce the toxic waste, industrial toxins and pesticides that make people and ecosystems sick,” its website says.
The Kennedy campaign also says it will protect wild areas by cracking down on “mining, logging, oil drilling and suburban sprawl.”
“We will become a global advocate for rainforest conservation and marine restoration,” its website says.
But RFK’s team gave no details on how his government would convince countries like China and India, which use massive amounts of coal, to adopt green policies.