Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of a former Attorney General and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has announced that he’s running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He is nearly seventy years old, and has never held public office. “There’s nothing in the United States Constitution that says that you have to go to Congress first and then Senate second,or be a governor before you’re elected to the Presidency,” he tells David Remnick. With no prominent elected Democrat challenging President Biden, Kennedy is polling around ten to twenty per cent among Democratic primary voters—enough to cause at least some alarm for Biden. He is best known as an influential purveyor of disinformation: that vaccines cause autism; that SSRIs and common anxiety medication might be causing the increase in school shootings; that “toxic chemicals” in the water supply might contribute to “sexual dysphoria” in children. He wrote a book accusing Anthony Fauci of helping to “orchestrate and execute 2020’s historic coup d’état against Western democracy.” He seems not at all concerned that Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Tucker Carlson, and Alex Jones—all of whom would like to see Biden bruised in a primary challenge—have praised him. “I'm trying to unite the country,” he says to Remnick. “You keep wanting to focus on why don't I hate this guy more? Why don't I hate on this person more?” Kennedy, who regularly attends recovery meetings for addiction to drugs including heroin, says that “the recovery program is an important part of my life, is an important part of keeping me mentally and physically and spiritually fit. . . . And my program tells me not to do that. I’m not supposed to be doing that.”
“Maestro” is the “Scariest Thing I’ve Ever Done”
Geoffrey Hinton: “It’s Far Too Late” to Stop Artificial Intelligence
A Rise in Antisemitism, at Home and Abroad
Emerald Fennell’s Anatomy of Desire
Will the Government Put the Reins on Amazon?
From “On the Media”: David Remnick Talks with Brooke Gladstone About Reporting in Israel
Is a “Win-Win” Still Possible in Policing?
Sybrina Fulton: “Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Anybody’s Son”
From On the Media: We Don’t Talk About Leonard Leo
Is there a Path Forward for Gaza and Israel?
”Fellow Travelers”: A Showtime Series Explores a Forgotten Witch Hunt
Spike Lee on His “Dream Project,” a Joe Louis Bio-Pic
Rodrigo Duterte’s Deadly Promise
Werner Herzog Defends His “Ecstatic” Approach to the Truth
Rubén Blades Wasn’t Supposed to Be a Salsa Star
Al Gore on the Climate Crisis: “We Have a Switch We Can Flip”
Introducing Critics at Large: The Myth-Making of Elon Musk
Should Biden Push for Regime Change in Russia?
Olivia Rodrigo Talks with David Remnick
Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” a Novel of High Finance
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Should This Exist?
Without Fail
Hannibal Buress
Longform
Conversations