Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is bidding to appear on the Nevada presidential ballot, spoke Friday at FreedomFest offering himself as an alternative to the major party candidates.
The environmental lawyer’s appearance came at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas where he delivered the keynote address to the nonpartisan conference focused on “liberty.”
At FreedomFest, Kennedy presented himself as an “anti-establishment” alternative to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. He repeatedly accused Trump and Biden of colluding with mainstream media outlets to erode public trust and sow national division, emphasizing Biden’s lackluster debate performance.
“The current disarray in the Democratic Party is a symptom of something much much larger,” Kennedy said. “We have a sitting president who is barely able to string together a sentence. The crises I want to address are our crisis of trust and the connected crisis of a divided nation.”
At the national and state level, the Kennedy campaign has been mired in controversy and legal hurdles. Kennedy has repeatedly petitioned to get on Nevada’s ballot, struggling to meet eligibility requirements.
Kennedy’s independent presidential campaign said it has submitted sufficient signatures to place him on the November general election ballot in Nevada, and county election officials have begun a signature verification process.
The Nevada Democratic Party has sued to keep Kennedy off the ballot, alleging his affiliation with other political parties violates state requirements for independent candidates.
The Democrats’ lawsuit comes amid fears that Kennedy’s inclusion on the Nevada ballot could prove costly for Biden. Polls show Trump leading Biden in Nevada by an average of about 4 percent when no third-party candidates are included, but by about 5 percent when third-party candidates are counted. Kennedy consistently receives about 10 percent of the Nevada vote when matched against Biden and Trump, according to polls.
Kennedy has faced similar struggles to get on the ballot in other states, as well. He is only currently eligible to run in Utah, Michigan, California and Hawaii.
William Shaw, 25, who works in marketing said that though he supports Kennedy’s campaign, he is doubtful the campaign “will go anywhere.” Despite this, Shaw said he believes that Kennedy provides an important counterpoint to more “establishment” presidential candidates.
“To have someone who is willing to call out corporate and bureaucratic rot in the system, and who actually has the language for it, unlike Trump, I think that is pretty refreshing.” Shaw said.
Others in attendance agreed. Justin Moore, a farmer and airline worker, said that though he was hesitant to give RFK his vote, there was “no way in hell” that he’d vote for Biden and that he doesn’t back all of Trump’s policies. Moore said an RFK book helped elucidate that “the government is always trying to seize power. During the pandemic, they revealed themselves.”
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, rose to prominence during the pandemic because of his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Kennedy has said “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” — a comment he has since tried to walk back — however, the World Health Organization reports that vaccines “are very safe” and prevent adverse effects from harmful diseases.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine theories provided a major talking point during his FreedomFest speech, as he repeatedly claimed that Trump’s and Biden’s response to the pandemic led to an erosion of free speech. The shutdown violated freedom of worship, he said, and the government censored public health information, spreading what he called “medical misinformation.”
Left out of the most recent presidential debate, Kennedy used Biden’s debate performance as a launchpad to air grievances against mainstream media. Halfway through his speech, members of the crowd started chanting “hog the debate.” Directly after his speech, FreedomFest staged its own version of the presidential debate, featuring Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party members Chase Oliver and Randall Terry.
“Each day the media offered a new truth contradicting the truth of the day before,” Kennedy said about the Biden-Trump debate.
The nephew of John F. Kennedy and son of Robert F. Kennedy, RFK Jr., 70, has framed himself as inheriting his family’s esteemed political legacy, though some family members have criticized his policy views and distanced themselves from his campaign. The assassination of his uncle and father has contributed to Kennedy’s deep mistrust of the government. In the past, he’s said he’s found “overwhelming evidence” that the CIA was involved in JFK’s death.
Earlier in the day, the Washington Post and NBC News reported that Kennedy sent a text message of apology last week to a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s when she worked as a babysitter for the family.
Over the years, Kennedy has been accused of several instances of infidelity during both of his marriages. The candidate has acknowledged having “skeletons in his closet” and conceded that “I’m not a church boy.”“RFK Jr. continues to offer dismissive and inadequate excuses in response to these sexual assault allegations,” said Matt Corridoni, a spokesperson for the DNC, in a statement. “Like Donald Trump, RFK Jr. is not only plagued by scandal and a closet full of skeletons, but he has no shame or regard for the women he assaulted and harassed.”
