Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump while speaking at the Libertarian National Convention on Friday afternoon.
Starting his speech with a critique of the restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic under Trump, Kennedy stated that the former president “presided over the greatest restriction on individual liberties this country has ever known.”
“He didn’t stand up for the Constitution when it really mattered,” Kennedy remarked.
In a humorous moment, Kennedy joked about his “brain worm,” referring to a 2012 deposition uncovered by the New York Times in which a doctor attributed his memory lapses to a parasite eating part of his brain and then dying.
“Maybe a brain worm ate that part of my memory, but I don’t recall any part of the United States Constitution where there’s an exemption for pandemics,” Kennedy said about the COVID-19 restrictions.
Kennedy received applause multiple times throughout his speech, which focused on perceived constitutional violations by both the Trump and Biden administrations.
“The Constitution isn’t just a legal document, it’s also an inspirational document, and that’s why if you treasure your freedom, you better elect leaders who are inspired by it and who will wield it to inspire others,” Kennedy said.
“I’m sorry to say neither President Trump nor President Biden pass this critical examination,” Kennedy continued. “Neither of them upheld the Constitution when it really counted.”
The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy said the “assault on the Constitution intensified” under Biden, citing vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic as a “violation of bodily autonomy.”
“That’s what happened during the pandemic: A program of coercion and information chaos and information control that prevented the public from making fully informed choices,” Kennedy said. “But that wasn’t the worst of it. He put the power of his office behind the assault on the one freedom upon which all other freedoms rely — the freedom of the press.”
Kennedy discussed his lawsuit alleging that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor protected speech.
“At 37 hours after he took the oath of office, President Biden was colluding with the FBI to coerce the social media sites — Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram — to open portals to allow the federal agencies to censor political speech of Americans,” he stated.
Kennedy pledged to drop all charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and pardon National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden if he became president. He described both as heroes deserving of monuments in Washington.
Concerns that Kennedy’s campaign will act as a spoiler in the November presidential election have grown as the election approaches.
While Trump leads Biden by 1 percentage point according to the RealClearPolitics average, when Kennedy enters the race, the margin increases in Trump’s favor, with Trump leading Biden by 5 points.
“He has more energy than Joe Biden and more maturity than Donald Trump,” Reform Party Convention Secretary Richard Kasa said in a statement. “The Reform Party aligns with him better on the issues than we do with the establishment politicians. We are sure that he will be the next President of the United States.”
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
