Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of a celebrated political dynasty in the United States, announced this Wednesday a bid to challenge current President Joe Biden in the Democratic nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
Kennedy, 69, is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and the son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1968 during his presidential candidacy.
Robert, a controversial figure for his anti-vaccine stance during the Covid-19 pandemic, credited his father and uncle, but also acknowledged that many current members of the extended family do not support his presidential candidacy, Reuters news agency reported.
At a meeting in Boston announcing his candidacy, Robert did not mention vaccines or question their effectiveness. On health, he said only that he would prioritize chronic disease research if elected president. “This is crippling for the middle class of this country. We need to find out why,” he said.
Banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the Covid-19 pandemic, his anti-vaccine activism has earned him right-wing allies
During the pandemic, Kennedy further criticized social distancing rules, suggesting at a January 2022 rally in Washington that Americans had less freedom during the pandemic than Jews living in Nazi Germany. He later apologized for these comments, Reuters recalls.
Self-help guru Marianne Williamson has also announced that she will challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination.
Current President Joe Biden, 80, said last Friday that he plans to run for re-election and will make a formal announcement “relatively soon.”
On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump also names two possible rivals in the race for the White House: biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswany and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. But there are other names in the pipeline, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Source: DN
