RFK Jr.: Should We Give a Damn?

By David Corn  July 15, 2023

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a rally against Covid vaccine mandates in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2022. Bryan Olin Dozier/AP

My small town in Maryland recently had a rousing neighbor-against-neighbor controversy. It wasn’t about a zoning issue or what to do about the deer overrunning our yards. It was about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Supporters of his presidential campaign requested a spot in our annual and very homespun Fourth of July parade. My local listserv was full of passionate missives and counter-missives. Some residents believed the event should reflect our devotion to free speech. After all, many other politicians would be in the parade. How do we decide—did we have the right to decide—who is worthy? Others claimed we had a responsibility not to amplify RFK Jr.’s disinformation and conspiracism, particularly his false anti-vax claims, which undermine public health and endanger people. In the end, the Kennedyites marched—and were met by much jeering along the route. Now we can get back to arguing over whether to let a developer turn a parking lot into a mixed-use project next to an over-trafficked state road.

I did not participate in the Great Kennedy Debate of 2023. I admit I am in a bit of a quandary over Robert Kennedy’s second eldest son. Should we care about his quixotic presidential crusade? Should we worry about it? In recent weeks, he has been all over the news, earning extensive write-ups by star writers at the New Yorker and New York. He’s a constant presence in the podcast cosmos, a favorite on Fox News.

Much of the attention is negative. Those big mag profiles depict him as a total crank and BS artist, a conman who has made millions off various conspiracy theories. The New York Times listicled all the crazy notions—beyond his anti-vax crap—that he peddles. He’s about as nutty as Alex Jones. In fact, imagine if Jones were running for president. Would he receive all this attention? Or would he be dismissed as a sideshow and left to wallow (shirtless?) in his own website studio?

What’s the right way to approach this sad and tragic Kennedy candidacy? Obviously, Bobby Jr. is exploiting—and abusing—his DNA. He certainly knows that anything Kennedy has long been catnip for the media and the public. But do even the pieces that chronicle his perfidious disingenuousness and debunk his bonkers assertions serve to boost his self-serving, disinformation-spreading project? That’s possible.

Kennedy seems to have adopted an all-publicity-is-good-publicity strategy. He’ll stride into any lion’s den and distort the facts, if it will result in a magazine cover or buzz on Twitter. (Look at him pumping iron!) Given he has little chance of snatching the Democratic nomination from Joe Biden, ought journalists (like me) chase after every crazy Kennedy nook and cranny? I am not sure.

A few days ago, Media Matters, a liberal outfit, put out a damning but unsurprising story about Kennedy. He and the misnamed organization he leads, Children’s Health Defense, it seems, “are fans and promoters of James Corbett, a Sandy Hook and 9/11 conspiracy theorist who has claimed that ‘Hitler was a Rothschild’ and ‘Hitler and the Nazis were one hundred percent completely and utterly set up … by the international banking community and the international crony capitalists.’” Corbett is an Alex Jones–like conspiracist. Yet Kennedy and CHD have embraced him as an authoritative source of information, promoting him as “an expert on geopolitics and open-source journalism.”

Sheesh. Just one more indication of the deranged Kennedy’s recklessness and cynicism. He will make common cause with antisemites and extremists to get attention. Kennedy has happily hobnobbed with the worst of the deplorables: Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson. He has agreed to testify before Rep. Jim Jordan’s bogus “weaponization of government” committee, presumably to complain about being censored. Seriously? This guy is getting more airtime than Taylor Swift. (Sorry, Taylor.)

The other night he was on Fox pushing gibberish about the Ukraine War. He claimed that Biden and Ukrainian ultranationalists had forced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to not make peace with Russia. “We have to remember that Putin twice agreed to sign to treaties that would have given us essentially everything,” he asserted. Hail, Comrade Vlad!

This was bunk. He was referring to two events: the Minsk Accords of 2014, and the failed negotiations that occurred weeks after Putin invaded Ukraine last year. What happened with the Minsk Accords is complicated. (If you want a summary, read this.) But the bottom line is that this was hardly a treaty that gave “us” everything, and Russia did not abide by its provisions. These agreements failed in part because Russia would not withdraw from territory it seized in Ukraine. As for the more recent negotiations, they never reached a point that satisfied Ukraine or gave “us” everything, and they, too, failed.

Kennedy was echoing Putin’s own talking points and blaming the United States and Ukraine for the continuation of the war. This happens to be a popular argument on the Trumpy far right and on the far left. In a way, Kennedy, who says the CIA killed his uncle, offers left-ish and Democrat-ish cover for the Deep State conspiracy theories peddled by Trump and his cult. There’s probably not much reason to fret that he will persuade sane Americans to believe the outlandish ideas he sells. (5G networks are causing brains to bleed!) But he is a useful idiot for the Trump right, buttressing the paranoia, anti-elites sentiment, and anti-science irrationality it relies and preys upon.

Kennedy is not catching fire with Democratic voters. When he first entered the race, pundits were shocked to see him polling at 20 percent. Was it because of his brand? Surely, most voters did not know about his bizarre beliefs and kooky ideas. As he and his assorted conspiracy theories have received more attention, he has slipped in the polls, losing about a quarter of his support. He’s heading in the wrong direction (for him).

Perhaps, then, he is not a cause of great concern. More media stories about him could lead more voters to realize he’s a loon. In that case, additional press attention could be the best way to counter this political virus. Yet, elevating Kennedy has its costs. He may not become more than an inconvenience for Biden, but he will gain a louder voice on the national stage and increase his ability to insert dangerous nonsense—be it about vaccines or the war in Ukraine—into the discourse.

Like Trump, Jones, Carlson, and other egomaniacal bullshitters who propagate disinformation for profit and personal gain, Kennedy is a serious menace. He has craftily used a family tradition—running for president—to pump up the volume for his war on the truth.

Robert Kennedy once said of Lyndon Johnson, “He tells so many lies that he convinces himself after a while that he's telling the truth. He just doesn't recognize truth or falsehood." It is disturbing that this observation can be applied to his son. Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to America, not because he might upset Biden’s reelection bid, but because he relentlessly and ruthlessly purveys conspiracism and irrationality, adding his famous name to the ongoing assault on reason that emanates (mainly but not exclusively) from the right. Any coverage of Kennedy that does not focus on this aids the destructive forces of distortion and disinformation.

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.

Coming Soon: The Our Land Zoom Get-Together

Once more, here’s a repeat of a previous announcement: As promised—or threatened—we will be holding a Zoom gathering for premium subscribers to Our Land. The time: 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 18. The place: wherever you have an internet connection. Here’s how it works: Premium subscribers—which means those of you who pay that small monthly amount to receive the full version of Our Land—will get a separate mailing with a Zoom link the day of the event. Click on it, and you will be transported to our group chat, where we will discuss recent news, recent issues, and whatever else might be on your (or my) mind. To be clear: Only premium subscribers will receive this invitation. So, if you’d like to be part of this jamboree, sign up before then at www.davidcorn.com. Will folks show up? I have no idea. But if this goes well, we just might make it a regular thing.

Dumbass Comment of the Week

The other day, a message arrived from the judges via the old-but-reliable pneumatic tube system at Our Land, Inc. I opened the container and removed the note, which, as is our custom here, was written with a quill pen and India ink: “We know that the title of this contest limits us to the seven previous calendar days. But can an exception be made?” Hmmm, I thought. Was there a good reason to change the rules? I replied, “Please explain.” My response disappeared with a whoosh.

Before I reveal our decision—and the winner—let’s run through the (dis)honorable mentions that did emerge within the usual timeframe. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was in the running for another dose of nonsense: “Why not extend NATO to Russia and make it an anti-China alliance?...If we had to pick Russia or Ukraine for NATO, one could reasonably make the argument that Russia probably provides more benefit long-term.”

Gaetz, embodying ultraconservative House Republicans, is once again overlooking the inconvenient fact that Vladimir Putin, a murderous tyrant, is waging a horrific and arguably genocidal war in Ukraine. This comment is reminiscent of the call made by right-wingers in the 1930s for the United States to hook up with Nazi Germany. (Remember Charles Lindbergh!)

Donald Trump took a similar stance. This past Wednesday—when President Joe Biden was in Finland celebrating NATO’s expansion and its united front against Putin—marked the fifth anniversary of an infamous press conference, held in Helsinki. At that event, then-President Trump, as he stood next to Putin, declared that he accepted Putin’s assertion that Russia had not intervened in the 2016 US election over the conclusion of US intelligence that it had. This was a foul moment of betrayal, given that it was clear that the Kremlin had attacked the election to help Trump and that Trump had aided and abetted this assault by denying its existence.

For no good reason, Trump decided this week to remind us all of this. He put up a social media post proclaiming, “Remember in Helsinki when a 3rd rate reporter asked me, essentially, who I trusted more, President Putin of Russia, or our ‘Intelligence’ lowlifes…Who would you choose, Putin or these Misfits?”

Trump has a long history of canoodling with Putin. Once again, he was throwing him a kiss, and despicably ignoring his bloody and illegal rampage in Ukraine. Trump just can’t quit the guy.

The House Republicans got a mess of egg on their faces when the fellow who they considered the Big Witness in their crusade against Joe Biden and his supposed “crime family”—an Israeli American dual citizen named Gal Luft, who claimed to have damaging information on Hunter Biden—was charged with arms trafficking, sanctions violations, and acting as an unregistered agent for China. The indictment included the allegation that he had made false statements to federal agents about his weapons deals. In February, Luft was detained by law enforcement officials in Cyprus, but took a powder while awaiting extradition and remains on the lam.

This is the guy who was going to drop a dime on the Bidens and supposedly show the world they were bigger thieves than any Mafia clan. After the DOJ indictment, you might think the GOP would dial back its love for Luft. But…no.

While talking to reporters, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked if Luft’s indictment undermined “the case at all.” He replied, “No, it wouldn’t undermine…It only make[s] the case stronger.”

Stronger? After the news of the indictment broke, Republicans immediately argued that Luft was charged because he possessed dirt on Hunter Biden. You know, to discredit him and shut him up. One problem with that conspiracy theory: Luft was indicted last November, before he had started peddling tales of Biden corruption. His indictment was unsealed this week.

There were so many contenders this week. Far-right actor Jim Caviezel, who stars in the new QAnonish movie, Sound of Freedom, had a meltdown on Steve Bannon’s show and yelled at Pope Francis, “Are you a Rothschild pope? Answer that!”

The Rothschilds are the European banking family often cited by antisemitic conspiracy theorists as an evil cabal that covertly run the world. Using an antisemitic trope to assail the pope is rather creative.

When FBI Director Chris Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee this week, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) said to him, “You have personally worked to weaponize the FBI against conservatives."

This was idiotic. Wray is a lifelong Republican who was appointed by Trump. He shot back: "The idea that I'm biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background." By the way, in 2016, when Hageman was a delegate for Sen. Ted Cruz, she called Trump “racist and xenophobic.” Last year, she ran as a Trump-lover and defeated Rep. Liz Cheney in the GOP primary.

Back to the judges’ request. They want to award this week’s prize to Lawrence Summers, former Treasury secretary and Harvard University president. Not for something he said this week but for an observation from a year ago. This is a bold move. Summers, given his pedigree, might be considered a smart fellow. But 12 months back, he opined in a speech, “We need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation. In other words, we need two years of 7.5 percent unemployment or five years of 6 percent unemployment or one year of 10 percent unemployment.”

Uh, no. As you saw this week, inflation has now dropped to 3 percent—which is a third of what it was in the summer of 2022. It did not take draconian measures and sustained levels of high unemployment to tame inflation (at least not as of now). Unemployment is currently 3.6 percent. Summers was way, way off. Thus, judges, your request is granted.

The Mailbag

Though much of what I wrote in the last issue about Rudy Giuliani being a Russian disinformation stooge has been in the public record, several readers wrote in to say that they had not been aware of his links to a Kremlin disinformation operation to undermine Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign. Unfortunately, the Trump years have been full of so much skullduggery, it has been hard to keep track of it all. The media has been overwhelmed by this tsunami of sleaze. It should have been front-page news—and now a widely recognized fact—that Giuliani pushed a conspiracy theory adjacent to a clandestine Moscow project to tarnish Biden and boost Trump. But this narrative never became a main plotline in the Trump tale.

Jeanne Fuller wrote:

Thank you for this article which exposes Giuliani's cooperative disinformation efforts and connections with Russia. I was not aware of many of the pieces of information shared. But I am curious and would like to see a further deep dig into GOP legislators (and present/former GOP powermongers) who promoted the same lies and would like to see their Russian connections revealed. These connections (Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, even Mark Zuckerberg, etc.) are also not being fully exposed, as well as many GOP congressional leaders quietly undermining our democracy. Would also like to see if there are any SCOTUS-Ginni Thomas or other SCOTUS-spouse and Russian connections. Would like to see in-depth articles exposing and unraveling the web of Russian interference being wielded in the highest branches of our democracy by Russia.

The connections and links are not always direct; they don’t need to be. But sometimes they are. We now know that Paul Manafort was secretly meeting with a Russian intelligence agent during his stint as chief executive of Trump’s 2016 campaign. A report put out by the bipartisan Senate intelligence committee in 2020, when it was chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), raised the possibility that this Russian agent was tied to the Kremlin operation that hacked Democratic computers and disseminated the purloined documents to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump. And we know that Manafort, Jared Kushner, and Trump Jr. secretly met with a Kremlin emissary and signaled to Russia that the Trump campaign had no issue with Vladimir Putin covertly assisting the Trump campaign.

But not everyone involved in denying Russian interference on behalf of Trump or whose actions facilitated that operation (say, Zuckerberg) are directly linked to Russia. We’ve seen a lot of Republicans spread Russian disinformation because it advances their own pro-Trump political narrative. There’s no evidence that they are doing it at Moscow’s bidding. Still, this partnership (implicit or explicit) has been dispiriting to witness. Even after all these years, there’s more work needed to fully expose this essential story of the Trump era.

Readers also weighed in on the article in which I described Ron DeSantis’ latest homophobic campaign tactics as moves necessary for him to triumph in a crucial component of the GOP presidential contest: the primary of hate.

Edward Hackett observed (sarcastically):

Fortunately, we don't have any serious problems facing America, so we can focus on hating various minority groups. What is so bothersome is the number of voters who agree with this hate speech. If this contingent of voters continues to grow, our country will become a dictatorship headed by bigots and funded by some very wealthy people. The only thing that will save us is the younger generation waking up and realizing we are destroying their future. Their votes can halt this slide into a country controlled by a few wealthy people and people who are afraid of the “others.” 

Keep in mind that MAGA Republican haters have not made up a majority of the past two presidential elections. In fact, since Trump voters tend to be older, they are most likely dying at a faster rate than non-Trump voters. I’m not so worried about this cohort expanding. What matters most is that they still have tremendous political influence within key swing states. There is now a race between their ability to maintain this power and the growing sway of younger voters who tend to be more tolerant and appreciative of our country’s diversity.

Lisa Spears shared this:

Once again, your highlighting of the insanity displayed by DeSantis and his cult followers, screams to be heard. While saddened by the hateful chatter this guy spews daily, I counter my sadness by scrolling through the endless photos of DeSantis wearing the now-famous gleaming white rubber boots, with nary a smidgeon of dirt to highlight how hard-working this guy is in a disaster (Hurricane Ian). For me, these gleaming white rubber boots would be more fitting for a night out at the club rather than surveying the needs of communities affected by the power of Mother Nature. 

John Lennon once sang, “Whatever gets you through the night.” I would add, whatever gets you through a column on Ron DeSantis.

MoxieCam™

“C’mon. It’s time to play with the ball. Let’s go.”

“Moxie, how do always know each day when it’s 6:00? You can’t tell time.”

“No, but I can tell.”

Read Recent Issues of Our Land

July 11, 2023: Don’t forget Rudy Giuliani was a Russia disinformation stooge; Elliott Abrams, again; the tantalizing Silo; Chrissie Hynde as Frank Sinatra; and more.

July 8, 2023: Ron DeSantis and the GOP primary of hate; from Twitter to Threads; an Our Land Zoom get-together; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Linda Yaccarino); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

July 1, 2023: The patriotism of government bureaucrats; Marvin Kitman, RIP; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Rick Scott); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

June 27, 2023: When lying doesn’t matter (including John Durham’s testimony); Hightown, a crime drama that explores the underside of Cape Cod; and more.

June 24, 2023: Why Jack Smith must go farther; Dumbass Comment of the Week (the Trump and DeSantis war rooms); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

June 21, 2023: How Daniel Ellsberg changed the world—and my life; how you can support Our Land; Loves Goes to Buildings on Fire’s love letter to the NYC music scene of the 1970s.

June 17, 2023: How dangerous is Elon Musk?; anatomy of a (No Labels) scoop; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Fox News); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

June 13, 2023: HBO’s brilliant Reality—and my appearance in it; Jenny Lewis rocks mid-life; and more.

June 10, 2023: Pat Robertson’s obits left out a key fact: his crazy antisemitic conspiracy theory; how best to post a Santos scoop; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Jay Monahan); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.