RFK Jr. Keeps Insisting Biden Is a Bigger Threat to Democracy Than Trump
Independent presidential candidate Rober F. Kennedy Jr. has little chance of winning the 2024 election, but that isn’t stopping him from weighing in on the de facto Republican and Democratic nominees: former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
On Monday, Kennedy told CNN that — in his view — Biden represents a bigger threat to American democracy than Trump, who attempted to overturn his election loss in 2020.
Burnett: When people talk about the threat to democracy that Trump poses, do you really think that that is as equal to Biden?
RFK Jr: I can make the argument that President Biden is a much worse threat to democracy pic.twitter.com/TQXP9zEj1Z— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) April 1, 2024
“I can make the argument that President Biden is the much worse threat to democracy,” Kennedy told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “And the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history — the first president in history — that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, to censor his opponent.”
Burnett pressed Kennedy on how he could make that claim given Trump’s actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Trying to overthrow the election clearly is a threat to democracy,” Kennedy added. “But the question was, who is a worse threat to democracy? And what I would say is … I’m not going to answer that question. But I can argue that President Biden is because the First Amendment, Erin, is the most important.”
Biden himself has not barred Kennedy from speaking on his policies and views — including his many conspiratorial claims about vaccines — but Kennedy was temporarily banned from Instagram for spreading Covid-19 misinformation. His anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, has been banned from multiple social media platforms.
On Tuesday, Kennedy doubled down on his statement in interviews with Fox News and Newsmax.
Kennedy appeared alone in the roundtable discussion on Fox News, despite Nicole Shanahan — his recently christened running mate — having been promoted as a scheduled guest. Shanahan, a major donor to Kennedy’s campaign, was selected from a mish-mash crop of potential VP candidates including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Hawaii Senator Tulsi Gabbard. ABC News reported on Tuesday that Gabbard rejected an offer for the position from Kennedy.
Shanahan has not made a major public appearance since joining the ticket, and Kennedy flew solo on Tuesday. “President Biden has done something no other president in history has done, to order media, particularly social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google to censor his political opponents,” Kennedy told Fox News, reiterating his accusations that the Biden administration directed tech companies to suppress his speech during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last month, the Supreme Court signaled it was not convinced by oral arguments alleging the Biden administration had overstepped in consulting with social media companies to stop the spread of covid misinformation. The court had previously rejected a bid by Kennedy to intervene in the case.
“What Trump said about questioning the election, and the extent that he engaged in an effort to overthrow that, is a threat to democracy. But it is not the worst threat, undermining the first amendment of our Constitution, and weaponizing federal agencies to get opponents off the ballot,” Kennedy added. The independent candidate also repeated his comments in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday, adding that the Biden administration has denied him Secret Service protection as a presidential candidate. Secret Service protection is typically granted to major candidates 120 days, about four months, before the general election.
The comments drew widespread condemnation from prominent Democratic groups. “With a straight face Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that Joe Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than Donald Trump because he was barred from pushing conspiracy theories online,” DNC Senior Adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement. “There is no comparison to summoning a mob to the Capitol and promising to be a dictator on day one. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid to rest tonight any doubts that he’s a spoiler candidate by pushing his MAGA talking points in prime time.”
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