Robert F Kennedy Jr. said on Saturday that he “hoped” actor Woody Harrelson now supported his bid for the 2024 White House and ruled out being former President Donald Trump’s running mate during his appearance at the Iowa State Fair.
Kennedy and fellow presidential candidate Marianne Williamson were the two Democrats to attend this year’s fair, which was scheduled back-to-back Saturday afternoon at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox.
With President Joe Biden in the White House — and skipping the fair for Rehoboth Beach — much of the political focus at the fair has been on Republicans vying for their party’s nomination.
But Kennedy’s speech in particular drew crowds of Trump supporters — who had previously spoken across the street — with calls of “Trump-Kennedy!” and ‘Drain the swamp!’
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer turned prominent anti-vaxxer, told reporters afterwards that he “wasn’t going to be” Trump’s running mate.
Robert F Kennedy Jr. said Saturday he “hoped” actor Woody Harrelson now supported his bid for the 2024 White House and ruled out being former President Donald Trump’s running mate during his appearance at the Iowa State Fair
On Friday, Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines (right) posted a photo with actor Woody Harrelson (left), showing Harrelson wearing a “Kennedy” hat, suggesting he was supporting the prominent anti-vaxxer’s presidential campaign
However, he was more optimistic about getting some more star power.
Kennedy is married to Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines.
On Friday, she posted a photo with Harrelson — and he was wearing a Kennedy hat.
When asked by DailyMail.com Saturday if he had another celebrity supporter, the candidate replied, “I hope so.”
My wife did a podcast with him. And she gave him a hat at the beginning of the podcast and she said, “Well, will you take it off now that we’re doing it?” He said no, so,” Kennedy said.
“You know, he’s very hard to get on a cell phone,” Kennedy also said of Harrelson. “Because he doesn’t use cell phones.”
Both Kennedy and Williamson have the disadvantage that there is already another Democrat in the White House.
Democratic presidential nominee Marianne Williamson confirmed that the Democratic National Committee has told her there will be no primary debates against President Joe Biden, but said she is having success reaching some voters through TikTok
Williamson confirmed Saturday that the Democratic National Committee has informed her campaign that there will be no Democratic primary debates, which is standard practice when there is an incumbent president in office.
She said that while she is ignored by many mainstream media outlets, she has success on TikTok, which is why her strongest numbers come from the country’s youngest voters.
“They support me because they hear me,” she said. “And they hear me because they’re on TikTok.”
“So when you’re young I have access to you and it doesn’t cost any money,” she continued. “When you’re older, you probably get your political information from MSNBC, CNN and so on,” she said, in places where she’s been “blacklisted.”
Biden was represented on opening day at the trade show by Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who appeared on Thursday alongside Iowa Democratic Party chairman Rita Hart.
Walz said he was not disappointed that Biden would not be attending this year’s trade show.
“I think the president is everywhere. I know, Vice President Harris was here two weeks ago, I think you’ll see a lot of surrogates,” he said.
He answered flatly ‘no’ when asked if he was concerned that Kennedy and Williamson would represent the party at the fair.
“We are concerned that Robert Kennedy Jr. made some anti-Semitic remarks,” Hart said, breaking in.
Kennedy at one point invoked Anne Frank, suggesting that Jews had more freedoms during the Holocaust than unvaccinated people during the pandemic.
More recently, he said COVID was “ethnic” so spare Jewish people and Chinese.
“But, you know, again, Iowa is very proud of the state fair tradition and welcomes everyone,” Hart said.