PHILADELPHIA (CN) — Dropping his bid to defeat President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary, environmental attorney and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that he will run for president in 2024 as an independent.
“I've come here today to declare our independence from the tyranny of corruption, which robs us of affordable lives, our belief in the future, and our respect for each other,” Kennedy said Monday outside the National Constitution Center. “But to do that, I must first declare my own independence. Independence from the Democratic Party, and from all other political parties.”
Kennedy is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running for president.
Speaking to a crowd of 500, Kennedy promised a presidency uninfluenced by the dollars of big corporations, Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Ag and military contractors.
He vowed to create a new, united America under his presidency.
“As Abraham Lincoln observed, quoting Jesus Christ, ‘a house divided cannot stand in a polarized nation,’” Kennedy said, addressing the audience from a stage across from Independence Mall.
While born into American political legacy, the candidate himself became a household name for his support of conspiracy theories surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine.
He announced his run against Biden in April but struggled to attract widespread support from Democrats and generally garnered more favor from Republican voters. Kennedy expressed dismay with the political system during Monday's announcement.
“The system runs on inertia, year after year, decade after decade. It's like a runaway bus filled with teenagers fighting for control of the wheel, and ultimately whoever the driver is, they're all following directions from a GPS with a program that's written by lobbyists and current corporate insiders,” the 69-year-old Kennedy told the crowd.
The Virginia native began preparing for the switch after a national poll designed to gauge his viability in a hypothetical three-person race against Biden and former President Donald Trump showed Kennedy would steal more voters from Trump than Biden, Politico reported. Kennedy's political action committee, American Values 2024 PAC, commissioned the poll conducted by the firm John Zogby Stragegies.
At Monday's event, an employee of American Values 2024 said Kennedy’s focus on fighting some of America’s biggest challenges, like the rising costs of housing and food, appeal to voters across party lines.
"In times of crisis, there is a dissolution of parties," said Deborah Sheldon, who wore a tan cape with “Kennedy 2024” embroidered across the back. "Instead, people have to focus on the real issues facing our country, like quality of life."
Sheldon called Kennedy the “most responsive and most dignified” candidate, regardless of his party affiliation.
Kennedy made a similar pitch on his own behalf: his goal is to free Americans from “the addiction of taking sides” and press “the importance of treating each other with respect.”
Despite being a scion of an American political dynasty, Kennedy sought to position himself as a political outsider leading a “populist movement that defies left-right division” with its sights set on more transparent government and blocking corporate interference in politics.
His speech touched on cost of living, war in Ukraine and young Americans' loss of pride in the country.
Some attending Monday's speech said the Kennedy name drew them to rally for the candidate.
"I love everything about the Kennedys," attendee Eloise Gordon said. "All of the Kennedys."
Barbara Cobb, who traveled from the Philly suburbs to the event, echoed the sentiment.
"I support him in a million ways," Cobb said, adding that she once saw the candidate's father walking down the street in Washington. "Whatever party he runs with, I’ll vote for him."
Despite having an estimated $15 million net worth, Kennedy labels himself a grassroots candidate for the working and middle class. After a career in environmental law that included legal victories over DuPont and Monsanto, Kennedy gained a following during the Covid-19 pandemic as an anti-vaccine advocate. He claimed the disease was engineered and criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, then the director of the National Institutes of Health tasked with leading the government's response to the virus.
Kennedy chairs Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit lobbying legislators and Americans to be more vaccine-hesitant.
He is an active critic of BlackRock, the investment management company that owns large or majority stocks for hundreds of corporations, from Apple and Exxon to Visa and CNN. Kennedy posits that BlackRock manipulates the federal government to its own advantage, at taxpayers' expense.
BlackRock owns a majority share in Moderna and Pfizer, two companies that created Covid vaccines. Kennedy argues that Big Pharma companies have gained control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies. His book "The Real Anthony Fauci" accuses Fauci of neglecting to advocate for the use hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria medication unproven to prevent deaths from Covid.
The pandemic is not the only subject Kennedy and his supporters have theories about: Kennedy has claimed the Central Intelligence Agency was in on plans to kill his John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for their anti-Vietnam war stances.
In a video his campaign posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Kennedy claims the CIA has continued "Operation Mockingbird," a reported large-scale program that began in the early years of the Cold War in order to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. He says editors and journalists from some of the nation's most influential publications have been "compromised" by the CIA to spread government propaganda.
Kennedy has also criticized the Biden administration's spending on the war in Ukraine. He believes peace was obtainable in the first month of the conflict, but the American government wanted to use Ukraine as a pawn to damage Russia.
The candidate was accused of antisemitism and racism in July after he suggested at a press dinner that the novel coronavirus was specifically engineered to target white and Black people while Jewish and Chinese people had better immunity. Members of Kennedy's family, including his brother and sister, have condemned his spreading of misinformation concerning vaccines.
An analysis by Politico found Kennedy received donations from donors who also contributed to former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' campaign.
Follow @@lexandrajones
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
