Despite his close relationship to two of the most celebrated Democrats in the nation’s history, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing backlash from within the party now that he is running against President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential primary.
Although he has not traded heavily on his dynastic family thus far in the campaign, he did open up during a recent interview about the circumstances surrounding the 1963 death of his uncle, then-President John F. Kennedy.
“There is overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved in his murder,” he said. “I think it’s beyond a reasonable doubt at this point. The evidence is overwhelming that the CIA was involved in the murder — and in the cover-up.”
RFK Jr. says the CIA killed John F. Kennedy! pic.twitter.com/xoB7SYxDqB
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) May 7, 2023
Following the assassination, an investigation determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but questions and conspiracies have continued to swirl in the nearly 60 years since.
In a separate interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that his uncle’s opposition to U.S. involvement in military conflicts around the world was a key factor in the decision to have him killed.
He explained: “When my uncle was president, he was surrounded by a military-industrial complex and intelligence apparatus that was constantly trying to get him to go to war in Laos, Vietnam, etc. He refused. He said that the job of the American president is to keep the nation out of war. He refused to send combat troops.”
Kennedy said he has read countless books on the topic, but believes Jim Douglass’ 2010 book “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters” is the best of the bunch.
An online synopsis of the book describes JFK’s shift “away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace,” which the nation’s military and intelligence apparatus deemed “a direct threat to their power and influence.”
Today’s Democratic Party has taken a clear position against giving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — or any other Biden challenger — a fair shake in the upcoming primary, in large part by asserting that there will be no debates ahead of next year’s election.
Despite partisan efforts to suppress his campaign and prop up the widely unpopular incumbent, recent polls show Kennedy is polling at around 20% among Democratic voters.
