2024 Presidential Candidate Spotlight: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
William Calabrese
Staff Writer
With the 2024 Presidential Election approaching very soon, all of the candidates for the Republicans and Democrats have begun their campaigning with hopes to be nominated for their respective parties. The candidate highlighted in this article is a candidate that is seen as one of the more controversial figures in the race today for his tendencies to traverse traditional political lines on certain issues and provide strong statements on hot-button issues like the handling of COVID-19 and vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), son of former New York senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, is one of the candidates running on the Democratic ticket for the 2024 election. So far, RFK Jr.’s campaign has garnered some support. However, with that support has also come a lot of controversy. On his campaign website, RFK Jr. lays out a lot of his plans for what he’ll do if he wins the presidency.
For starters, some of his main plans he writes is to make the U.S. Government “more transparent.” To do this, he plans to prosecute corrupt officials, fight against lobbyism by private interest groups, and “get money out of politics.” He also explains that he wants to give the American people a stronger voice in Government, bring soldiers back home from foreign wars, and end the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. He also gives specific means to accomplish these goals. For the border crisis for example, one of the ideas that he emphasizes is sophisticated use of technology. He states:
“Tighten border security to regain control over the border. We will use technology that was installed at the border then dismantled by the Biden administration, such as cameras, lights, and motion detectors, coupled with physical barriers in key areas (there is no need to build a wall across the entire 2000 mile border). We have the technology to prevent people from getting through undetected. We can control the border. We have the technology. We can deploy the personnel. All we need is the will.”
By taking care of the border crisis he also hopes to handle the drug cartels and the overwhelming number of refugees in cities such as New York. This has become one of the main priorities of RFK Jr.’s 2024 campaign. With these core ideas underpinning his campaign, it is clear why he has gained some traction. He is tackling issues in a way that voters from both parties can latch onto.
But with these strengths come some issues he has had with voters. One of, the main issues that has turned many potential voters away from RFK Jr. were his controversial comments on issues such as COVID-19 and vaccinations. RFK Jr. has been an outspoken critic of the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine mandates throughout his professional career and campaign. For example, when asked about the pandemic RFK Jr. has theorized that there was and continues to be a conspiracy to target certain ethnic groups, while sparing others. An article from CBS News quotes RFK Jr., stating, “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” and also adds, “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.” (CBS News). RFK Jr. has also heavily attacked vaccinations, saying on the Joe Rogan Experience statements of how the pharmaceutical industry is immune from vaccine liability and how every 1 out of 1,000,000 patients have dealt with injuries from a vaccination. We encourage readers listen to the podcast and other interviews with RFK Jr. in order to fully understand the accusations levied against him ). Because of this proclivity to take these types of views, these statements have had the media and news outlets label RFK Jr. as a “spreader of misinformation,” and “a conspiracy theorist.”
Even with these setbacks, RFK Jr. still has a large group of supporters behind him, with one Super PAC donating him $5 million to support his campaign during the summer. According to FiveThirtyEight and as of September 14th, RFK Jr. is coming in around 12% in democratic primary polls. These numbers, compared to incumbent Biden’s 66%, mean that RFK Jr. still has some work to do to convince voters before the election cycle concludes.
With the 2024 election approaching quickly, voters all across the country are deciding which candidate they believe is the best fit to run the country. Whether it be RFK Jr., Biden, Trump, or the myriad of other candidates, the 2024 election will be a monumental moment in recent American history. We encourage all readers to research all potential candidates of interest in order to make a serious decision come the election year.
Contact Will at william.calabrese@student.shu.edu