MAGA Republicans are so desperate to find evidence for their so-called investigations built on debunked conspiracy theories that they have invited Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to their latest hearing this week. Not only is he a known conspiracy theorist whose anti-vaccine views have put lives in jeopardy, a Russian propagandist who has sided with Putin over Ukraine, and a total whack job whose views and conspiracy theories would be completely ignored but for his last name, but we now have video evidence of his horrific antisemitic and xenophobic views which are simply beyond the pale. Providing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. with a platform at a Congressional hearing is dangerous, inappropriate, and insulting, and shows just how far the MAGA House GOP is willing to go to push partisan stunts to further their extreme agenda. In response, Congressional Integrity Project’s Executive Director Kyle Herrig wrote to Chairman Jim Jordan earlier this week calling on his to disinvite Kennedy from appearing at this week’s hearing.
July 2023: Kennedy Spread A Xenophobic And Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory About Covid-19 Being “Ethnically Targeted” To Spare Jewish And Chinese People. At a July 2023 dinner in Manhattan, Kennedy proposed that the Covid-19 virus may have been ethnically targeted to spare Jewish and Chinese people. “There’s an argument that it is ethnically targeted,” Kennedy said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
- Neo-Nazis, Holocaust Deniers, And Antisemites Celebrated Kennedy’s Conspiracy Theory As “100% Correct.” Although Jewish and Asian groups were swift to condemn Kennedy’s theory that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to exclude Jewish and Chinese people, a report from Media Matters found antisemitic and neo-Nazi commentators rushing to praise and amplify his conspiracy theory. Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin said he “totally supports” Kennedy’s theory, Holocaust denier Henrik Palmgren tweeted that “#RFK is 100% correct,” and praise for Kennedy was widespread on the far-right social media platform Gab.
Kennedy Has Frequently Met With And Promoted Antisemitic Conspiracy Theorists. The July 2023 dinner was not Kennedy’s first foray into antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories. In the summer of 2023 alone, Kennedy touted meeting with the rapper Ice Cube, who has a long history of bizarre conspiratorial antisemitic tweets, and he publicly defended musician Roger Waters, who was embroiled in antisemitism controversies after, among other things, donning a costume intended to evoke Nazi attire at a concert in Germany. Kennedy has also repeatedly promoted and praised fringe online broadcaster James Corbett, a Sandy Hook and 9/11 conspiracy theorist who has claimed that “Hitler and the Nazis were one hundred percent completely and utterly set up.”
Kennedy Has Repeatedly Made Offensive Comments Comparing Vaccine Mandates To Nazi Germany. At a 2022 rally against vaccine mandates in Washington, DC, Kennedy compared vaccine mandates in the US to Nazi Germany, outlandishly claiming that Anne Frank was better off when she was hiding from the Nazis than life in the US as an unvaccinated person. “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic, like Anne Frank did,” said Kennedy. Kennedy’s comments at the rally were condemned by numerous Jewish organizations and he was forced to apologize to “the extent my remarks caused hurt,” but he had actually invoked comparisons between Nazis and vaccines numerous times previously, including posting images of Anthony Fauci with a Hitler mustache on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic and using the word “holocaust” to describe children he believes were hurt by vaccines in 2015.
Kennedy Has Had A Long Partnership With Virulent Antisemite Louis Farrakhan. Kennedy has often allied himself with National of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who regularly launches into tirades about alleged Jewish control of media and government. Kennedy met with Farrakhan at his Chicago home in 2015, with Farrakhan later tweeting that they discussed “a vaccine that is designed to affect Black males.” At a protest at the CDC in Atlanta later that year, Kennedy praised Farrakhan, calling him “a truly great partner in this battle” and claimed that African American children were particularly at risk for “vaccine injury.” Kennedy’s partnership with the Nation of Islam has continued until at least 2021 when Kennedy premiered a documentary targeting African Americans with anti-vaccine propaganda called Medical Racism at an NOI conference in Chicago. In a speech at the event, Farrakhan praised the film and told the audience, “You need to follow Robert Kennedy.”