Robert F Kennedy Jr, an anti-vaccine activist and scion of among the most popular American political households, is running for president.
Kennedy, 69, submitted a declaration of candidateship on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
The project to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic election is a long shot, in the vein of that introduced by the self-help author Marianne Williamson.
Kennedy, a nephew of President John F Kennedy and child of the United States chief law officer and New York senator Robert F Kennedy, was as soon as a bestselling author and ecological legal representative who dealt with problems such as tidy water.
More than 15 years ago he ended up being focused on a belief that vaccines are not safe. He became among the leading voices in the anti-vaccine motion, his work explained by public health professionals and members of his own household as deceptive and harmful.
Kennedy’s efforts heightened amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and the advancement of a vaccine.
His anti-vaccine charity, Children’s Health Defense, flourished, with profits more than doubling in 2020 to $6.8 m, according to filings with charity regulators.
The company has actually targeted incorrect claims at groups that might be more vulnerable to suspect the vaccine, consisting of moms and Black Americans, specialists have actually stated, which might have led to deaths throughout the pandemic.
In 2021, Kennedy launched a book, The Real Anthony Fauci, in which he implicated the leading contagious illness medical professional of helping in “a historical coup d’etat versus western democracy” and promoted unverified Covid treatments such as ivermectin, which is implied to deal with parasites, and the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
His push versus the Covid vaccine has actually connected him with anti-democratic figures and groups. Kennedy has actually appeared at occasions pressing the lie that the 2020 governmental election was taken and with individuals who cheered or minimized the insurrection at the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021.
An image published on Instagram revealed Kennedy backstage at a July 2021 Reawaken America occasion with the Trump ally Roger Stone, previous nationwide security consultant Michael Flynn and anti-vaccine profiteer Charlene Bollinger. All 3 have actually promoted the lie about the 2020 election being taken.
Bollinger has actually appeared with Kennedy at several occasions. She and her other half sponsored an anti-vaccine, pro-Trump rally near the Capitol on January 6. Bollinger commemorated the attack and her other half attempted to get in the Capitol. Kennedy later on appeared in a video for their Super Pac.
Kennedy has actually consistently conjured up Nazis and the Holocaust when discussing procedures focused on reducing the spread of Covid, such as m