CNN
—
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued Monday that President Joe Biden is a greater threat to democracy than former President Donald Trump.
His argument on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront” centered on the blocking of social media platforms under the Biden administration, calling it “censorship of political speech” and a violation of the First Amendment. deemed to be an infringement.
“I would argue that President Biden is an even more serious threat to democracy because he is the first candidate in history to censor political speech. “He’s the first president in history to use a federal agency to censor his opponents,” he said.
Kennedy blamed his removal from social media platforms on pressure from the Biden administration as evidence that the president is trying to censor political speech.
Kennedy’s Instagram account was suspended in 2021 “for repeatedly sharing demonstrably false claims about the coronavirus and vaccines,” but was reactivated shortly after announcing his presidential campaign last year. In a statement, Instagram’s parent company Meta cited Kennedy’s bid for the White House as the reason for restoring his account.
In December, the Supreme Court blocked Mr. Kennedy from joining a challenge to a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana over the Biden administration’s interactions with social media companies about posts the government deemed disinformation. . Kennedy currently has a similar lawsuit pending in a lower court.
Kennedy, who has made free speech issues a central part of his campaign, testified last year before a House Judiciary subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government. Kennedy was invited to speak by House Republicans as part of an investigation into allegations of censorship of conservatives at social media companies.
Kennedy said he believes both Biden and Trump are unfit to run for re-election in November, but he does not believe in rhetoric suggesting either candidate will “destroy democracy.” Ta.
He added that if he had to choose one party as a greater threat to democracy than the other, he would choose Biden. Because the president feels he is “weaponizing federal agencies” against his adversaries.
The independent candidate acknowledged that President Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election is a “clear threat to democracy,” but believes Biden is a greater threat. was maintained.
“I think this is a threat to democracy. Toppling (Trump) is clearly a threat to democracy,” Kennedy said. “But the question was, who is the more serious threat to democracy? And what I’m saying is…I’m not going to answer that question. But I, Erin, believe that the First Amendment is the most important, so you can argue that President Biden is.”
“I’m not going to defend President Trump on this, but it was appalling. And there are a lot of horrible things that President Trump has done,” he added.
The Democratic National Committee issued a statement to Kennedy saying there was “no comparison” between Biden and Trump.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is prohibited from spreading conspiracy theories online, so Joe Biden is better than Donald Trump,” DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement. “He said with a straight face that this is a huge threat to democracy.” “There’s no comparison to summoning a mob to the Capitol and promising to be a dictator from day one.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making himself a spoiler candidate tonight by pushing MAGA talking points in prime time. This dispelled any doubts that it was.”
In the interview, Kennedy minimized the potential risks of questioning the integrity of the election, as he has in previous presidential elections, but he also said that voters who believe the election was stolen will not be persecuted for their beliefs. He said he felt it was important.
“Those who say the election was stolen…we should not ostracize those people. We should not demonize them. We should not vilify them. “What we need to do is come together, Republicans and Democrats, and fix our election system.”
Kennedy said in an interview that he believed the 2000 presidential election was “stolen,” and questioned whether the 2004 presidential election was stolen, according to a 2006 Rolling Stone article. Cited the article.
Mr. Kennedy, 70, initially began his presidential campaign as a Democrat who ran against Mr. Biden in last year’s primary, but in October he decided to run as an independent. Last month, he announced his running mate, lawyer Nicole Shanahan, 38, at a campaign rally in Oakland, California.
Although he has never held public office, he has inspired a small following drawn to his advocacy against public health mandates and the influence of money on government and private business decisions. Kennedy has sought to distance himself from previous anti-vaccine rhetoric since launching his campaign last year, but has continued to attack mandatory COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic-era lockdowns at campaign events. There is.
03:00 – Source: CNN
RFK Jr. responds to family’s opposition to White House bid
Kennedy Jr., the son of former Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy, regularly uses his family’s heritage to strengthen his campaign message. However, some members of his family have criticized him for challenging Biden.
Kennedy called Biden “a friend of mine and my family for 40 years,” but said he wasn’t worried about running for president without his family’s support, adding that despite their political differences, “I have a lot of love from my family.” He added that he feels that he is being treated as such.
Kennedy’s comments came after his extended family, including some of his siblings, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at the White House last month and expressed support for Biden in social media posts. “From one proud Irish family to another, it’s great to have you back in the White House,” Biden responded to a post by Kennedy’s sister Kerry Kennedy.
And in an interview with CNN last week, Mr. Kennedy’s sister, Rory Kennedy, said she was concerned that Mr. Biden’s chances of defeating Mr. Trump would be hurt.
Kennedy told Burnett on Monday that he grew up regularly disagreeing with members of his family and that he still loves his family, who still support President Biden.
“I have a large family, about 105 cousins at last count,” Kennedy said. “We have a big family. I don’t know anyone in America whose family agrees with him on everything.”
“I come from a family where I would come home at night and have dinner with my dad, and an environment where he would orchestrate discussions between us and us, just like he did with my dad. We disagreed on issues, we disagreed on passions and information, but we still loved each other. And I love Rory. I love my family. . I feel loved by them.”
Kennedy also said several members of his family supported his campaign, including his daughter-in-law and campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, and his cousin Anthony Shriver, who works for his campaign. He said that
Kennedy also downplayed concerns about playing the spoiler role, saying he believed neither Biden nor Trump would advance the policy goals Biden wants to prioritize, such as reducing the national debt and the U.S. defense budget. He claimed that
“I don’t believe that either President Trump or President Biden will be able to solve this nation’s existential debt crisis. Neither policy will force us into foreign wars, this addiction that we will have to continue fighting forever.” I don’t think we can get out of it,” he said.
“For me, it’s about actually changing the nature of governance in this country, restoring democracy, restoring our moral authority abroad, and building it on the projection of economic power rather than war and the projection of military power overseas. It’s an opportunity to give a strong foreign policy and mental strength. “The possibilities are too big and too important for me to give up on this contest,” he added.
This article has been updated with additional reporting.
