Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put aside headlines about his relationship with a reporter 40 years his junior to introduce Donald Trump at a campaign event in Michigan on Friday.
And it was exactly the wild ride you’d expect from a man whose presidential campaign included stories about dumping dead bears in Central Park, brain worms, and cutting off a whale’s head.
He warned about declining sperm counts among teenagers, gave a no-nonsense account of Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian president and was interrupted by a call from his doctor.
The 70-year-old, who promoted anti-vax conspiracy theories, accused the Democratic Party of siding with Big Pharma, Big Agriculture and Big Food.
“When my uncle was president, we spent nothing on chronic diseases,” he said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put aside headlines about his relationship with Olivia Nuzzi, a reporter forty years his junior, to propose to Donald Trump at an event in Michigan on Friday
“Now we’re spending $4.3 trillion and our children are so sick that 77% don’t qualify for military service.
‘Our fertility levels have fallen to the lowest in the world. Teenagers today have 50 percent of the sperm count, 50 percent of the testosterone, as American teenagers did two generations ago.
“Little girls now hit puberty at the age of eight because all the estrogen is generated by the toxins and the toxic foods.”
It was familiar territory for a politician who gained fame as an environmental lawyer.
Over the past week, he has dodged questions about a sexting scandal involving Olivia Nuzzi, a 31-year-old reporter who profiled him for New York magazine.
She has been placed on leave while the editors investigate.
RFK Jr. reportedly bragged to friends about receiving intimate photos of Nuzzi.
And his wife of 10 years, actor Cheryl Hines, was seen without her wedding ring amid the fallout.
Olivia Nuzzi has been placed on leave while New York magazine investigates the relationship
The event in Kent County, Michigan, is intended to highlight Trump’s economic policies
Trump took the stage after Kennedy’s introduction. “He’s a good man,” Trump said
Kennedy himself has avoided discussing the relationship except through friends who claimed the reporter was pursuing him.
“I never comment on stories like that,” he told Fox News this week.
He ended his own presidential run last month and endorsed Trump.
On Friday, he warmed up a crowd waiting for the former president at the loading dock of a Michigan factory.
He lashed out at his uncle JFK’s presidency and drew parallels between the Cuban missile crisis and current tensions with Russia.
And he spoke about Trump’s diplomatic skills after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky.
“He was friendly and polite to President Zelensky, but he was also firm and said, ‘I had a nice meeting, but I haven’t changed my mind,’” he said.
Trump has made it clear that he wants to end the conflict before the US spends more money supporting Ukraine.
“And it was especially impressive to me because I know what Donald Trump was thinking while he was having that meeting,” Kennedy continued.
“He thought, ‘I want to turn this guy around and hold him by the legs and shake all the money out of his pockets.’ And I hope it goes up to $208 billion, because that’s what we’re getting.
“That’s what the Democrats gave them, and we need to take that money home and spend it here in our communities.”
But he clearly forgot to turn off his phone.
At one point he took it out of his pocket and apologized to the crowd. “Sorry my doctor is calling,” he said, rejecting the call to laughter from the audience.
Trump paid tribute to Kennedy in his speech.
“He has great ideas,” he said. “And getting a Kennedy to support a Trump Republican was a big deal, right?
“He’s a good man.”