RFK Jr.’s latest conspiracy theory is the last straw
Editor’s note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM Radio’s daily show, The Dean Obeidallah Show. Follow him on threads below www.threads.net/@deanobeidallah. The opinions expressed in this comment are his own. To read more opinion at CNN.
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is once again caught in a firestorm, this time over recent comments in which he irresponsibly and unfoundedly suggested that Covid may have been manipulated to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.
At an event in New York City last week, Kennedy said, “Covid-19 — there’s an argument that it’s racial.” “Covid-19 is disproportionately affecting certain races,” he said. His remarks were captured on video and first published by the New York Post.
“Covid-19 aims to target Caucasians and Black people. “The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” Kennedy said, adding, “We don’t know if that’s being targeted or not.”
Amid the outcry that has erupted since those comments, the Democratic presidential nominee, son of famed Democrat Robert F. Kennedy, has tried to push them back.
On Twitter SaturdayHe denied being bigoted, adding that the remarks were made at an “unofficial” gathering.
“I never claimed that the COVID-19 virus was aimed at sparing Jews. I have correctly pointed out during a confidential conversation that the US and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to be disproportionately affecting certain races since the Furin The Docks von cleave is most compatible with Blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns, and Ashkenazi Jews. In that sense, it serves as a kind of proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons. I do not believe, and have never suggested, that the ethnic effect was deliberate,” Kennedy wrote.
And in a spate of follow-up tweets Sunday, Kennedy condemned what he called “MSM attack dogs— the acronym often used by right-wing critics to berate the “mainstream media” for covering the story.
It’s just the latest example of Kennedy voicing absurd — but also dangerous — views on public health issues. For example, last week he suggested that chemicals in drinking water could be causing gender confusion in American children. And he has long been a prominent anti-vaccination advocate spreading disinformation about a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.
But Kennedy’s comments on Covid potentially mark a new low for many people and have been summarily debunked by scientists and dismissed by civil rights and advocacy groups. Rapid condemnations came from Jewish groups and Asian-American organizations, among others. The American Jewish Committee told CNN in a statement Saturday that Kennedy’s “claim that Covid was genetically engineered to spare Jews and Chinese is deeply offensive and incredibly dangerous.”
The organization added, “Every aspect of his comments reflects some of the most heinous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in history and contributes to today’s dangerous rise in anti-Semitism.”
Jane Shim, the head of the Stop Asian Hate Project, called Kennedy’s words “irresponsible” and “hateful” to the Washington Post and compared his comments to the “dangerous rhetoric” of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly referred to Covid-19 ” the China virus.”
Importantly, many leading Democrats also expressed condemnation. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison criticized Kennedy’s remarks, tweeting, “These are deeply disturbing comments and I want to make it clear that they do not reflect the views of the Democratic Party.”
US Representative Ted Lieu from California tweeted in response: “Millions and millions of people have died from COVID-19 worldwide, including Americans who were of Jewish or Chinese descent.”
“It is hard to imagine a son who has done more to dishonor his father’s name than RFK Jr.”, New York US Representative Ritchie Torres wrote on Twitter.
Other Democrats joined in the public denigration of Kennedy, including presidential candidate Marianne Williamson called the remarks “eerie”, “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Chinese”.
I expect Democratic officials to condemn Kennedy’s comments outright — or they can expect other members of the party to condemn them for not having done so. Anyone can apply for a political party nomination. But a party is defined by how leaders respond to those in their party who spit out bigotry. There can be zero tolerance in the Democratic Party for any self-proclaimed Democratic candidate who does so.
What a contrast to the Republican Party during the presidency of Donald Trump, who openly spewed bigotry and hatred and received little or no rebuff from most Republican officials. While it’s true that some Republicans condemned some of his most egregious statements, we generally heard silence from Republicans or a favorite saying, “I didn’t see the tweet.”
For example, last year Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago residence with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who denied the Holocaust — who had threatened violence against Jews and blacks in the past — and with Ye (the musician who used to be Kanye West was). had made anti-Semitic remarks.
PBS asked 57 Republican lawmakers for an answer. Mitt Romney condemned Trump in the strongest possible terms, stating, “I think it’s become clear that there is no end to the extent to which President Trump will belittle himself and the nation,” the Utah Republican senator said. Then-GOP leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Fuentes, though not Trump, for eating with him.
More often than not, however, Republicans choose not to respond. The deafening silence of most Republican officials about Trump’s dining with fanatics — and his past racist remarks — sends the message that hate is at least tolerated, if not welcomed, in the Republican Party. Today’s Democratic Party must never allow that to happen.
Overall, RFK Jr.’s views align far more closely with today’s Republican Party than they do with the Democratic Party, as I wrote last month. He has spearheaded dangerous conspiracy theories on everything from gun violence to vaccines, and he has been publicly praised by Trump allies Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. Kennedy has made other horribly insulting remarks, such as that the Covid vaccination requirements are somehow worse than the Holocaust because, as Kennedy said, “Even in Hitler’s Germany you could cross the Alps and get to Switzerland.” One could make Anne Hide Frank in an attic.”
Against the backdrop of bigotry and dangerous health disinformation, it should be clear why some of Kennedy’s own family members have failed to support him. Kennedy’s baseless conspiracy theories have no place in the Democratic Party. And given his views that are outside the box, neither is he.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com