On Wednesday, the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., formally started his Democratic presidential candidacy for 2024, with the promise of ending the consolidation of state and corporate power.
Kennedy is the son of the deceased Democratic presidential candidate and former United States attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy. Last month, Kennedy hinted to a 2024 campaign on Twitter, encouraging supporters to visit his website to make contributions.
“I’ve come here today to announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,” Kennedy announced at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. A new corporate feudalism is threatening to impose itself on our country, and it will be my job over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my administration to eliminate the corrupt fusion of state and corporate power that has led to this predicament.
After longtime author, lecturer, and self-help guru Marianne Williamson announced her candidacy last month, Kennedy became the second Democrat to announce a bid for the White House, both hoping to replace President Joe Biden, who has said he intends to seek another term but has yet to make his bid official.
I, along with the rest of my family, have known Vice President Joe Biden for a long time, Kennedy said, adding that some of his relatives work in the current government and “plain disagree” with Biden. And they have every right to their viewpoints, which I value and respect, and I adore them for it. Is it too much to want that our country might have the same? There hasn’t been division this poisonous and harmful in the United States since the Civil War.
Kennedy promised that he would make it a priority during his administration to talk about ideals that everyone could agree on.
To achieve this goal, Kennedy stated, “I will tell the American people the truth.”
Best-selling author and environmental lawyer Kennedy has made headlines in recent years for his outspoken opposition to vaccinations.
On its website, the non-profit he formed, Children’s Health Defense, states its goal of creating a “world free of childhood chronic health conditions caused by environmental exposures.”
During the pandemic, Kennedy voiced his disapproval of COVID vaccinations and said that they may have contributed to the death of baseball great Hank Aaron. Aaron, who passed away at age 86, died of natural causes, according to the medical examiner.
At an anti-vaccine event in 2022, Kennedy made headlines by accusing the nation’s foremost infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of plotting “fascism.” After the occasion, Kennedy said he was sorry for making references to Anne Frank and the Holocaust, and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, termed his remarks “reprehensible and insensitive.”
New national poll from USA TODAY/Suffolk University conducted after his announcement found that 14% of people who backed Biden in the 2020 presidential race would vote for Kennedy in 2024. Two-thirds indicated they would stick with Biden, 5% said they’d vote for Williamson, and 13% said they weren’t sure yet.
Former President Trump is running for reelection as a Republican. Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and current ambassador to the United Nations, as well as businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and ex-governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson, have all declared their candidacies for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Former VP Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are two other possible candidates.