RFK Jr. steps into a dangerous spotlight
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. greets people during the Michael Smerconish SiriusXM Town Hall live broadcast in Philadelphia on June 5. Credit: Getty Images for SiriusXM/Lisa Lake
On Wednesday, a conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccine activist, and misinformation peddler was again handed a national platform — a prime-time town hall forum on small cable network NewsNation.
And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, used his newfound stage to once again espouse dangerous and controversial views and untruths on a host of issues, including the topic he is perhaps best known for — vaccination.
Physician Tariq Butt stood at the microphone in the Chicago auditorium, like so many voters at town halls before him. He called Kennedy’s well-known views on vaccination “dangerous.” And he posed a question.
“How can we help you come to the side of science?” Butt asked.
Kennedy began by attempting to rewrite his own history.
“I’ve never been anti-vaccine,” Kennedy said. “Using that pejorative as a way of describing me is a way of silencing me or marginalizing me.”
Neither silenced nor marginalized, Kennedy went on to lay out the anti-vax case, interrupted only by a few brief attempts from moderator Elizabeth Vargas and Butt to push back.
Kennedy has made the arguments before. Now, as a presidential candidate, he has a field where he can play the same game as everyone else. But as his audience grows, the consequences become more frightening.
Vaccines are not safety tested, he said. (Yes, they are.)
Vaccines aren’t subject to placebo-controlled clinical trials, he argued. (Yes, they are.)
The chickenpox vaccine causes a shingles epidemic, he theorized. (No, it does not.)
No one studies “vaccine injuries” or knows the long-term risks, he claimed. (Yes, they do — and such risks and injuries are incredibly rare and often not directly caused by the vaccinations.)
When Vargas tried to direct viewers to correct information, Kennedy suggested they look at his anti-vax organization, Children’s Health Defense, for “the other side of the story.”
The NewsNation forum came less than two weeks after controversial podcaster Joe Rogan challenged well-regarded vaccine scientist Peter Hotez to debate Kennedy on the vaccination issue. Hotez quickly became the target of vitriol and harassment from anti-vaxxers and Kennedy supporters. Twitter’s Elon Musk suggested Hotez was “afraid of a public debate because he knows he’s wrong.”
Hotez, of course, is right on the facts and on the science — but a debate with someone who is anti-fact and anti-science is a no-win situation, especially when Kennedy’s retort is often: “We’re being lied to.” No daytime talk show or podcast back-and-forth or town hall could go well for a scientist in Hotez’s shoes, or a journalist like Vargas, when Kennedy chooses to filibuster with a running stream of lies.
But Kennedy also cannot be ignored. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 40% of Republicans view him favorably, compared with 25% of Democrats and 31% of independents. A meaningful 17% of Democrats say they’d vote for him in the primary. Much of that is likely due to his famous name and his well-remembered father and uncle, more than his own ideas.
Journalists, scientists, physicians and others are going to have to consider carefully how they handle his candidacy, how they avoid normalizing his views, and whether they provide an open, unchallenged forum for his rhetoric.
Thankfully, however, Kennedy is wrong about one more thing.
“Virtually every American would agree with my stance on vaccines,” Kennedy said during Thursday’s town hall.
Hopefully, most Americans also will recognize when they’re really being told a lie.
Columnist Randi Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
